How to Tell What Affects Your Credit Score Negatively in Your Credit Report
- 1). Look for anything that mentions past-due payments. Past-due payments negatively affect your credit score and typically appear past due in increments of 30 days. You can usually find reports of past-due payments by looking at each individual lender in your report or by glancing at the "Negative" or "Potentially Negative" items section.
- 2). Examine the "Inquiries" section. Hard inquiries, such as those that come from lenders who check your credit before deciding on a loan approval, damage your credit. Most credit reports display a visual aid to help you determine if you have too many inquiries
- 3). Look for anything that refers to a closed account. Closed accounts occur when you fail to make payments for an excessive amount of time. The lender typically turns your account over to a collections agency when it feels it cannot collect the money from you, which damages your credit score.
- 4). Inspect your report for any red font and minus signs. Some credit reports attempt to attract your attention to negative items by highlighting them in red font and placing a minus sign in front of them.
- 5). Look at your total available credit. Most credit reports show your total available credit in the form of a pie chart. Using a high percentage of your available credit worsens your credit score. According to CreditReport.com, it's best to use 25 percent or less of your total available credit.
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