Mistakes People With Good Credit Never Make

Having a good credit score is the key to many things: purchasing a car, financing a home, even getting a job. There are many mistakes that people make regarding their credit that cause it to go down, both big and small. No one is perfect when it comes to managing money – everyone slips up at some point or another. The key is to keep those big mistakes at minimum and to avoid major mishaps.

Here are a few mistakes that people with good credit never make:

1. Closing a credit card

Quite possibly one of the worst mistakes you could ever make to your credit score is closing your account. If you have had the card for a long time, you could be hurting your length of card profile. Also, you will be cutting down your available credit when you close your account.

2. Having no emergency fund

You should always have a savings fund in the event of an emergency, like getting an unexpected job loss. Even putting away a little bit of extra money away each month will help you build the fund.

3. Paying the minimum of credit card balance

You may be required to just pay the minimum balance on your credit card if you’ve acquired quite a bit of debt over the years and can’t pay the balance in full. However, this will cause you to pay more interest over time. If you can, pay it in full!

4. Charging frivolously

Many Americans are making purchases that they do not have the money for but still charge to their credit card. The average credit card bill in the U.S. is $5,000 – credit cards should really only be used to build credit.

5. Not paying bills on time

Another big mistake is missing a payment or two (or more!) of your bills. It can cause you some pretty hefty late fees as well as even lower your credit score. Make sure to keep track of your bill payment dates.

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