3 Ways by Which You Can Ruin Your Credit Score

3 Ways by Which You Can Ruin Your Credit Score

Jul 30, 2014

There are several obvious tips that are usually offered when it comes to improving your credit score – and some of them are as simple as paying your bills on time or even not applying for too much credit.

However, there are strange ways in which you can ruin your credit score and that you might not know about, and here are three of them:

#1: Closing your credit cards

While the fact that closing your credit cards affects your credit score negatively is less strange than usual, the reason for this to happen is because in closing a credit card, your credit utilization increases. Also, if the credit card you’re closing is one of the oldest you’ve had in a while, then the average age of your credit cards will fall, which is also considered to affect your credit score negatively.

#2: Not Reporting a Change of Address when moving

As simple as this might sound, not reporting a change of address when you move to the United States Postal Service will affect your credit score negatively as you might miss important mail such as credit card or utility bills.

#3: Asking a Banker Friend to Check Your Score

Since there are only a certain number of times in a year that you can check your credit score for free, you might be tempted to ask a friend of yours who works in lending and at a bank. Apart from being guilty of misusing company resources, the credit bureau might conduct an inquiry due to the fact that a ‘bank’ has looked up your credit score.