So what does all of this mean?
Well, paying your bills on time and not maxing out your revolving debt, such as your credit cards, is important in maintaining your score at a high level.
As you can see, payment history is the most impactful portion of your credit score. It is very important to make all of your payments on time, or even early if possible. If you have an account with late or missed payments, get caught up on your past due amount and work on a plan for making future payments on time. This won't make the late payments go away sooner, but making this effort to correct your payment history will improve your score moving forward.
A good rule of thumb is to keep your credit utilization, the amount of your credit limit you are using, to 30% or less of the total credit limit. If you are unable to pay the balance in full each month, 30% is a good place to keep your balance while working on paying it down to 10% or less - the ideal percentage to improving your credit score.
The age of your credit accounts is how long you have had your credit accounts open. The older the average credit age the better. So, if you have an older credit account you are not using do not close them down!
Improving your score and maintaining a good score is a great goal. Not only is your credit score important in major purchases such as a home or car, but your insurance rates can be affected by your credit scores too.