 TITLE: How Often Should I Check My Credit Score? CONTENT: What Determines Your Credit Score?\n----------------------------------\nWhile there are many credit scoring models used to calculate a score, they tend to be impacted by similar factors. So, while an exact score depends on the scoring model and which credit report it's analyzing, your credit scores are likely to trend in the same direction.\nCommon scoring factors include:\n*   Your account payment history\n*   Credit account balances\n*   Experience with different types of credit\n*   The age of your credit accounts\n*   Whether you've recently applied for or opened new accounts\nIn general, having a long history of making on-time payments and maintaining low balances on your credit cards can help all of your credit scores. Missing a payment, filing for bankruptcy or having an account sent to collections can hurt all your credit scores, although the impact can also diminish over time and eventually the negative information disappears completely. END