 TITLE: Understanding Credit Score Risk Factors CONTENT: Facts About Risk Factors\n------------------------\nAll credit scoring models you're likely to encounter are broadly sensitive to many of the same basic credit management behaviors: Late and missed payments, high credit card balances and excessive debt tend to lower scores on all models, while timely payments, low credit balances and a wide variety of credit accounts tend to promote higher scores.\nRisk factors show you which specific influences are lowering your scores and can help you focus your efforts on improving them.\nWhen going over your risk factors, it's helpful to understand their context and how they're generated. That knowledge can give you some perspective on how to prioritize your actions. Understanding your risk factors will also help you figure out which ones you can do something about now and which ones will require patience and persistence to address.\nHere's some context and background on credit score risk factors: END