Your credit score is an important element. Why? It is used by creditors and lenders to gauge your credit score. So, you need to protect your credit rating as much as you could.

You have to consistently monitor your credit records with the three credit report bureaus. You must maintain its accuracy and credibility. By doing this, you possibly can protect the financial prospects and credit options that you might take in the future.

But what factors can pull your credit score down? What must you do to stop your credit score from sliding down? You will have the answers to these questions from this article.

Factors that Can Hurt your Credit Score

1. Late Payments.

Your payment record is one of the basis of your credit score. If you make late payments on your debts, your credit score will surely go down. Thus, you need to make a conscious effort to pay all your installments and bills on time. If you find it difficult to do so, you can arrange for automatic payments of your bills. This way, you can prevent your credit score from sliding down.

2. Not paying at all.

If you completely ignore your bills for more than six months, your creditors may deem your credit uncollectible. If this happens, your creditors will inform the three credit report firms to mark your debt in your credit report with a charged-off. And this mark will surely pull your score down. So, be mindful of all your obligations. And make sure that you pay them on time.

3. Filing bankruptcy.

Even if bankruptcy can provide you a fresh start from debts, seeking out this option can devastate your credit score. It is a proven fact that bankruptcy can reduce your credit score by as much as 100 points. But if this option is inevitable, you can have the chance to repair bad credit and rebuild your credit reputation.

4. High credit card balances.

Aside from payment records, your credit score is also based on how much of your credit limit you have used up. If you have high credit card balances, your credit score will surely drop. Thus, it is advised that you use credit cards lightly.

5. Applying for several credit cards or loans.

Submitting multiple credit applications within short periods of time can also pull your credit score down. So, keep your applications to a minimum so that you can maintain high credit ratings.

These are five of the factors that can pull your credit score down. The tips on how you can avoid them are also provided above. This way you can focus on maintaining only high credit scores. But what if you are currently battling with one of these factors? What should you do?

You need to thoroughly repair bad credit. You can do this by practicing good credit habits especially in making on time payments. You may also need to implement changes on the way you spend your money. In so doing, you can avoid falling into debt traps and accumulating large debts.