There are several factors that could negatively affect your credit scores and there are ways to prevent these factors from affecting your scores.

* Check your credit report regularly for your history of making debt payments and the amount of debt you presently carry. If you notice any irregularity or discrepancy, immediately report to the credit bureau to have it corrected. Once corrected, it will raise your credit score.

* The length of your credit history is another factor. The longer your good credit history, the better it is for you.

* Do not close old or paid off accounts. These show the length of your credit history and contribute to higher credit scores. It used to make sense to close old accounts you’re not using, but with today’s system of scoring, this actually hurts your credit score. Closing these older accounts, in effect, lowers the total credit available to you and causes the balances you have, to appear larger when calculating credit scores.

* Paying down your debts or paying them off is a good way to improve your credit score. Your outstanding balance on your credit card is reported once a month to the credit bureaus, and they don’t care whether you pay or carry your balance forward every month. What matters is the spread between the amounts of debt you carry and your credit limit. The more wide the gap, the better your credit score.

* Make your payments on time. Delayed payments appear on your credit reports and adversely affect it. 35% of your credit score is dependent on your payment history. The current or recent payment history has more weight than that of three years ago. Remember, missing one payment affects your credit score by 50 to 100 points. Timely payments are the best way to rebuild and raise your credit score.

* Avoid bankruptcy - This is a sure shot way to destroy your credit score, as much as by 200 points. A bankruptcy gets reported up to 10 years. Avoid bankruptcy at all costs.

* Your race, sex, age, level of education, or marital status has no bearing on your credit scores and neither does the fact that your application for credit has been turned down.

Read more about Factors that Affect Your Credit Score