My Score Restoration

A good credit tip - Racking up big balances can hurt your scores, regardless of whether you pay your bills in full each month. What's typically reported to the credit bureaus, and thus calculated into your scores, are the balances reported on your last statements.

A good credit tip - A new rule is that the credit card companies will have to show you how long it will take to pay them back with minimum payments. Make sure you ask the companies where you have active credit cards.

Good credit info - Canceling credit cards can actually hurt your credit score, particularly if they are an old and established part of your credit history. 15% of your score is based on the length of your history. In addition, keeping accounts open gives you a better debt to credit ratio, which makes up 30% of your credit score.

A good credit tip - Don't charge more than you can afford just to get rewards department store, credit cards and gas credit cards promise gift certificates or cash back when you charge a certain amount of money. Fact is you'll save more than they give you in rewards by keeping your purchases to a minimum.