one reason why your credit may be bad is because of erroneous information reported on your credit report. This can happen to anyone and is actually quite common. This is one reason why you need to check your credit report out at least once per every 12 months. By checking you credit report for free you can keep an eye on your credit and make sure that you take care of any erroneous information when it happens, not when you are trying to apply for a loan and it comes as a surprise to everyone. Utilize your one free annual credit report each year to take a look over your credit to make sure everything looks well. There are many reasons as to why credit report errors can happen so make sure that if errors do happen to you that you rectify the situation immediately.

Credit scores generally range from about 350 to 850. 800+ = Great credit 700-799 = good credit 600-699 = average credit500-599 = bad credit under 500 = hard to get a loan at all

One area people overlook that can negatively impact their credit report is failing to honor mobile phone contracts. Cell phone companies give away free phones to customers who sign on with their services for a specified period of time, usually one to two years. Terminating subscription to the phone service before the expiration and failing to reimburse the phone carrier for the cost of the free phone is considered breaking the contract. Cell phone companies would then report to the credit bureaus and cause a blemish on the credit history. Such blemishes are not serious, but they nonetheless lower credit scores.

Why is my credit bad? Credit is merely an indication of how likely you are to repay a loan. By paying obligations on time you can have good credit. Even if your credit is bad, it can be improved by talking to your mortgage professional.

If your credit score is low because of a high balance on a credit card, transfer some of the balance to another card. Try not to open a new card because to do this can also reduce your score.

Credit can be bad for a variety of reasons: late payments high account balances bankruptcy collections charge-offs to minimize negative on your factors you will need to pay down balances, make payments on time, dispute incorrect information, and let the passing of time lessen the impact of past bad credit.

Maintaining high balances on your credit cards and other revolving debt negatively impacts your credit score. Paying down credit cards balances below the 70%, 50%, and 30% thresholds is a quick way to boost your credit score.

It is also important to note that a credit score is a snapshot. Although it shows your payment history, length of credit, etc., having inaccurate (negative) information removed from your credit bureau report will immediately reflect an increase in your score.

Things that may go into a collection or judgment that will hurt you credit include unpaid medical payments, unpaid utility payments, and unpaid cell phones or cable payments.

Remember that a credit score amounts to a prediction of how likely it will be that you go 60 days late or more on your mortgage in the next two years. One thing that will really lower this score is if you carry high balances on revolving debt and then start making a few of the payments late. This is the pattern of a consumer who is close to getting in trouble with debt.