Five Things that Can Hurt Your Credit Score

I get questions all the time that go something like this:

"If I do such and such, will it hurt my credit score?"

So, in the interest of answering any current and future questions on this issue, I thought I'd share Smart Money's list of five things that can hurt your credit score. Here's their list:

• Too many inquiries
• Small, unpaid debts
• Store credit cards
• Authorized users
• Name changes

And if you're interested in getting a higher credit score, you can see their list of seven ways to boost your credit score.

Not much to add other than what I've already said. I have a great credit score and it's saved us a good amount of money, so this is an issue you'll want to pay some attention to for you're looking for an easy way to save money.

Comments

[Megastar]

Great information. Also too much revolving credit card debt in relation to your available credit lines.

[Lauren]

Crap, I didn't know that about name changes. Thank you for posting that so I can start that notification process. I got married in June and have changed my name with pretty much everyone but I didn't realize I had to specifically tell the credit bureaus. I always assumed credit was tied to social security numbers. Obviously I am very wrong.