 TITLE: Can You Raise Your Credit Score by 200 Points? CONTENT: What Factors Affect Your Credit Score?\n--------------------------------------\nUnderstanding what goes into your credit scores can help you start gaining points faster and build up a strong credit file. Here are the main factors that go into calculating your scores:\n*   **Payment history**: Whether you pay your credit cards and loans on time accounts for 35% of your FICO® Score☉ , the score most often used by lenders.\n*   **Credit balances**: Credit utilization, or the percentage of your available credit that you're using, makes up 30% of your FICO® Score. Keeping your balances under 30% of total credit available is key to maintaining a solid credit score; for top scores, aim to keep your utilization in single digits.\n*   **Length of credit history**: The length of time you've had your credit accounts open makes up 15% of your FICO® Score. The longer you have your accounts open, the better.\n*   **Applications for new credit**: Applications for credit cards and loans can cost you a few points each, and they impact your scores for a year. New applications account for 10% of your FICO® Score. END