Did you know it's impossible to have a perfect score (850) on your credit score unless you have had an account open for at LEAST 15 years?

Credit Scoring Calculations:

Credit performance                 35%

Credit Utilization                    30%

Length of Credit                    15%

Type of Credit                       10%

Inquiries                              10%

you can see that your performance on paying your bills has the largest effect on your credit score. Followed by utilization. If someone is trying to raise their scores a easy way to do so (assuming they are paying their bills on time and cannot make a large payment to bring down balances) would be to ask their creditors to actually RAISE their credit limits. this lowers the utilization and actually raises their scores. Yes...amazing! Take on additional credit limits and increase your score! One of the best ways to keep your scores high is to make sure you use less than 30 percent of your available credit.

It was mentioned before that it can actually lower your score by closing accounts. Again this affects your Utilization calculations.

Consumers who don't understand their credit report and score are at a severe disadvantage when it comes time for a mortgage loan. Some preliminary work on their part can increase their score and can save themselves money on a loan!