- Don't Close Credit Card Accounts. This reduces your combined credit limit and will make your relative debts appear higher.
- Don't Max Out or Over Charge Credit Card Accounts. Try to keep your balances below 40% of their limit during any loan process. Pay down balances if possible.
- Don't Consolidate Your Debt. When you consolidate all of your debt onto one or two credit cards, it will appear that you are "maxed out" on that card and you may be penalized.
- Don't Do Anything That Will Cause The Credit Scoring System To Create An Alert. This includes increasing your credit limits, applying for or adding new credit accounts, and co-signing on a loan.
- Call me before Paying Off Collections or "Charge Offs".Oddly, paying off old collections can lower your score.
Have questions about credit? Give me a call. I’ll be happy to explain what you can do to improve your credit score.