Will opening a new line of credit help or hurt one’s credit score? How much of available credit should be utilized? Will credit inquiries negatively affect one’s score?
There seems to be a lot of confusion around credit scores, as a recent Transunion survey suggests: 43% of consumers believe checking their credit score has the same effect as when a lender checks it and 44% of consumers believe marital status is factored.
As such, let’s clarify the factors that actually affect FICO credit scores. Each of the following percentages represent how important each category is in generating a credit score:
- 35% payment history.
- 30% amounts owed.
- 15% length of credit history.
- 10% types of credit used.
- 10% new credit.
