 TITLE: Does Income Affect Credit Scores? CONTENT: What Can Affect Your Credit Score?\n----------------------------------\nWhen working toward building up your credit score, of course it's more important to understand what does affect your credit score than what does not. Different credit scoring systems calculate scores differently, but all look for patterns of behavior that reflect responsible credit management habits. FICO, creator of the FICO® Score☉ , lists the following as the most important factors that affect credit scores:\n1.  Bill payment history: Whether you're paying your debts on time as agreed is the single most important factor in determining your credit score. Timely payments promote score improvement over time, and even one missed payment will have a negative impact on your score. Payment history accounts for 35% of your FICO® Score.\n2.  Credit card balances: Your credit utilization ratio measures your total credit card debt relative to your total credit limit, on both an individual card basis as well as overall. It's almost always represented as a percentage, and as it climbs above 30%, it will have a negative effect on credit scores. Credit utilization accounts for 30% of your FICO® Score.\n3.  Length of credit history: The number of years you've held and managed debt makes up 15% of your FICO® Score. As long as you avoid missing payments and more serious credit missteps such as bankruptcy or foreclosure, your credit score will tend to increase as your credit history grows.\n4.  Credit mix: Credit scoring systems tend to favor credit histories that reflect a diverse portfolio of credit accounts, including a combination of installment loans (such as auto loans, student loans and mortgages) and revolving credit accounts (such as credit cards). Credit mix accounts for 10% of your FICO® Score.\n5.  New credit and recent applications: The number of credit accounts you've recently opened, as well as the number of hard inquiries that may have resulted from applications for credit, accounts for 10% of your FICO® Score. Too many new accounts or inquiries can hurt your credit score. END