There are 5 different aspects that determine your credit score and this article shows how these different aspects are weighted to make up your total score.
This will give you an idea about which factors to focus on if you're keen to improve your credit score.
The factor with the highest percentage rating is your payment history.
It makes up 35% of your credit score.
So to get a good score you want to focus on paying your bills on time every month.
One late payment can lower your score significantly so be mindful of paying your bills by their due date.
The next highest percentage belongs to how much debt you have accumulated and how much of that debt has been paid against the original loan amount.
This makes up to 30% of your credit score.
So if you have a car or home loan that you've been paying off for a while and you only owe half of what you borrowed that will contribute to a better score than if you have just taken out a loan and have only paid back a small amount on it.
The same thing applies with your credit cards.
If you only use 40% of your available limit, that will contribute to a higher score than if you have maxed it out to its limit.
How long you've had credit is the next most important factor, weighing in at 15% of your total score.
So the longer you've had credit the better but not only that, they like to see you using it as well.
The type of credit you have has a bearing of 10% towards your score.
They like to see an individual with a mix of both revolving credit (like credit cards and store cards) together with installment credit such as home loans or auto loans you pay by monthly installment.
Last but not least is any new inquiries you make for credit.
This also has a weighting of 10% towards your score.
They don't like to see too many inquiries showing up from loan or credit card requests.
Too many will negatively affect your score.