With Credit and Credit Scores being in the news so much and being so important the past few years, many people are trying to get their Scores as high as possible to prevent any type of problems.

The BIG question everyone asks is “What can I do to raise my Credit Scores?”. The bigger question should be “What shouldn’t I do to raise my Credit Score?”.

Even though the Credit Score comes from the Credit Bureaus, the Bureaus really have nothing to do with the Score except provide the report that runs through the Scoring program that analyzes your report and calculates your Score. You have to be VERY careful what you do to your report as ANY change to your report will have an effect on your Scores and if you do the wrong thing that takes points off of your Score, its not like you can flip a switch and get those points back. It may takes months or longer to get back lost points.

Here are some the most common things I still hear companies tell their clients to do to help raise the Score. Every item will hurt your Scores in the short term and can drop them significantly.

DO NOT do any of the following:

Closing credit cards will help raise my Scores. No! No! No! (This is the #1 mistake people still do)

Lowering credit limits on your credit cards raises my Scores.

Having 1 credit card maxed out is better for my Score than having 3 or 4 credit cards with balances lower than 50%.

Paying off old collections/charge offs will immediately help my Credit Scores.

If I pay off old debts, they will be removed (deleted) from my report.

Skipping a payment and catching up next month is OK and will not hurt my Score.

Multiple inquiries in a short time will NOT hurt my Score.

The score I pay for and get online is my Score for any type of credit application.

You are NOT responsible for debts on joint or co-signed accounts because you did not make the actual purchase.

Once you have credit problems, your score will not increase for 7 years.

The government owns the Credit Bureaus.

EVERY one of the above myths (except the last one as it will not effect your Score, but is a myth) will drop your Scores enough where you may not qualify for what you are applying for. There is a lot of misinformation being told about what can be done to increase your Scores, and you have to be very careful what you hear and do. Make sure you check your information before doing anything to your credit report.

For Region: Chicago

• Gary Novel
• President, Kreditguru, Inc.

Hear the Kreditguru on the TOWNSTONE FINANCIAL SHOW on WIND-AM 560 on your radio dial Saturdays from 1pm – 3pm