What Makes Up Your Credit Score
By: Diane Tuman, Content Manager | September 19, 2007
Today’s Wiki Wednesday Feature: Hints on Raising Your Credit Score
Sometimes the obvious and safe things to do are not always the right things to do. For 
example, I have about 7 credit cards — a few from many years ago. I just cancelled two that had a zero balance. I didn’t use them anymore for various reasons: the rates were high, I get better incentives with other cards, and I didn’t want them stolen or their numbers used fraudulently. So, I followed the mantra to “cut ‘em up.” All valid reasons to cancel the cards, right? WRONG!
According to Donna Maestas, a real estate agent with Sunsets in Paradise Financial Group/Vintage Group, having 4-6 open credit lines — especially lines that are old — is beneficial in having a healthy credit score. Donna’s article “Hints on Raising Your Credit Score” in the Real Estate Guide was a real eye-opener for me — especially the neat little breakdown of what makes up your credit score:
- 35% of the score is based on payment history.
- 30% of the score is based upon the balances of revolving credit cards, not installment accounts.
- 15% of the score is based on your credit history.
- 10% of the score considers the type of credit you have.
- 10% of the score is affected by the number of inquiries on your credit report.
So, put your scissors down, and get schooled on how to protect and raise your credit.
Ed: Wiki Wednesdays is a weekly feature that highlights helpful or interesting articles from the Real Estate Guide.
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- Categories: Real Estate, Wiki Wednesdays, Zillow
Comments
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Credit - mint flavored credit card? | thecheapwebhosting.com on September 19, 2007 8:38 pm
[…] What Makes Up Your Credit ScoreAccording to Donna Maestas, a real estate agent with Sunsets in Paradise Financial Group/Vintage Group, having 4-6 open credit lines especially lines that are old is beneficial in having a healthy credit score. …
What is your credit score made up of? | p2p Capital Group | on September 20, 2007 5:53 am
[…] clipped from http://www.zillowblog.com […]
Phil S on September 26, 2007 5:20 pm
The link to Donna’s article isn’t working - I get “Access Denied”.
Diane Tuman on September 26, 2007 5:48 pm
Phil:
I’m not sure why you’re getting “Access Denied.” Please tell me if this link is working for you after you cut ‘n paste in your browser. Thanks.
http://www.zillow.com/wikipages/Hints-on-Raising-your-Credit-score
Phil S on September 27, 2007 8:54 am
Still not working for me, but maybe it’s my company’s connection. Thanks for the response.
David Gibbons on September 27, 2007 11:15 am
Phil,
Thanks for following up with Diane.
Your businesses’ IP address is blocked from accessing Zillow servers. This happened because we noticed what looked like spider’ing activity (automated scraping of Zillow data.) Your system administrators were contacted by Zillow operators but didn’t respond and so the IP address had to be blocked.
Please pass on this info and Diane’s contact details on to the IT folks at your company and we’ll work on getting you up and running.
Stella Sabian on November 27, 2007 5:08 am
A very useful post… well, it always seemed to me that keeping one or two long-term credit lines (not more preferably) is quite favorable for banks… someone hold 10 credit cards, three of these, say, grant 7% discount on the first purchase, and after these first purchases the plastics are not so useful anymore, so the owner just cancels them… and what then? something that you are talking about.
Robert Green on December 13, 2007 5:52 pm
This is some great information! Thanks for the advice, I’ll add this to my toolbox when dealing with my credit issues too.
Warmest Regards,
Robert Green
http://ourcreditscore.blogspot.com/
Eric on January 1, 2008 7:46 pm
So 80% of your score is how much you owe, how you’ve paid, and how long you’ve had your debt?
Mike Clover on March 13, 2008 8:19 pm
I just came across your blog about Free Credit Score Reports and wanted to drop you a note telling you how impressed I was with the information you have posted here. I also have a web site & blog about Free Credit Score Reports I know what I’m talking about when I say your site is top-notch! Keep up the great work, you are providing a great resource on the Internet here!” Visit my website as well http://www.creditscorequick.com
Geloinasianic on March 20, 2008 2:31 am
Snx for you job!
It has very much helped me!
New Home Sales Fall on Restricted Credit | Quick Loan Finder on March 26, 2008 3:22 pm
[…] you visit mortgage lenders, check your credit score to determine what you need to do in order to bump it up a bit. And prepare to moderate your wishes. […]
Rob Schmidt on June 3, 2008 12:03 pm
Good Advice and right on the button
berchta on August 31, 2008 9:46 am
It was such a great article. I personally think credit score charts are dead useful because we will need them when applying for bank loans even payday loans. You can find some cool tips about how to improve your credit score at http://www.repaircreditscore.info. They helped me a lot.
creditscores on September 8, 2008 1:36 am
It was a great article. You can find some a great tips about how to improve your credit score at http://www.creditscore.pro and will sure that it will help a lot
Andy Jolls on October 7, 2008 12:53 pm
Don’t forget to check out my posts on the Zillow Mortgages Unzipped blog. My latest is about how the rescue plan will impact your credit scores http://www.zillow.com/blog/mortgage/
carluew on November 18, 2008 6:40 pm
I found something called a cpn number that will
give you a new credit profile within 30 days.
the website is
http://www.creditmenow.info