1. You can improve your credit rating by closing your credit card accounts.
FICTION! Closing your credit card contributes to the cutting down of your credit account's age, which is also one of the primary determinants your credit rating. The credit scores on your records, therefore, will not improve even if you do opt to close your credit card accounts.
2. You can improve your credit rating by settling your installment loans.
FICTION! Settling installment liabilities will never increase your credit score. The factor that has implications on your credit rating is not the amount you paid for the loan, but the exact date you settled the loan. Actually, credit report agents are only concerned with determining if you took care of your financial responsibility on time or not.
3. Only one credit score is issued to you.
FICTION! Actually, you can have a maximum of three credit ratings. Each of the three major consumer credit reporting agencies in the country has its own way of calculating your credit rating. The figures achieved by the three agencies result to three credit ratings with minute differences. All three credit ratings are acknowledged by the FICO, which is the company that is responsible for the calculation of your FICO scores.
4. You can never remove a negative entry in your credit report until the seven-year requirement is up.
FICTION! A bad entry, whether it is a late payment item or an existing debt account, can be removed from your credit record. You can start this by asking for a goodwill adjustment from your creditors or by testifying against the inexactness of your credit records.
5. You can improve your credit by holding your credit card balance.
FICTION! It is actually the opposite. It is perfectly fine to have credit card activity; but it has no implications on your account balance. Maintaining a profoundly low balance or no balance at all is actually one of the best ways to keep a considerable credit rating and improve it.
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