How Negative Items Can Affect Your Credit Score

Your credit is an important measure of your financial well-being, especially is you plan to take out a loan for a car, home, business, or apply for credit cards in the future. According to CreditCards.com and CNNMoney, even a single negative item on your credit could affect your score.

Negative items that can report on your credit report are delinquent payments, collection accounts, repossessions, bankruptcy or even foreclosure. Not only do these lower your score, but they can stay on your history for years, affecting the willingness to of a lender to approve your application.

Negative items on your credit report can have a significant effect on your credit score. The exact effects of negative items on your credit report depend on the type of item and how long it has been in your credit history as well as other factors that make up a credit report. Please see What factors make up your credit score?

It can be difficult to know where to start when it comes to improving your credit. We recommend beginning with a basic understanding of how credit works and looking at your credit report. For additional information on credit scores and how they are calculated, please look at the following resources:

- https://www.equifax.com/personal/education/credit/score/how-do-your-actions-affect-your-credit-scores/

- https://money.cnn.com/2010/04/22/real_estate/foreclosure_credit_score/ - https://www.creditcards.com/credit-management/how-to-dispute-and-fix-credit-report-errors/