Back to Basics: How to Establish Good Credit
There are three primary components of a credit score: Your payment history. Do you pay your bills on time? Then you’re perfect. Late payments and collection actions seriously damage your credit. The length of your credit history. If you’ve only had credit for a couple of months, your score will be lower than if you’ve been using credit for several years, assuming everything else is equal. That’s why it’s important to get started today. Your utilization ratio. If your credit card limit is $2,000 and your balance is $1,000, your utilization ratio is 50%. Always keep your utilization below 35%. Any higher than this will result in a lower credit score.