 TITLE: What’s the Most Important Factor of Your Credit Score? CONTENT: How to Improve Your Payment History\n-----------------------------------\nIf you're looking to improve your payment history and potentially bump up your credit score, the simplest advice is to always pay your bills on time and be sure you've budgeted enough money to cover them. Other recommendations include:\n*   **Catch up on past-due payments.** Bringing unpaid bills current will help your score over time.\n*   **Activate** **automatic bill payments****.** If you put your payments on autopilot, you reduce the chance that a bill will go unpaid.\n*   **Set up payment alerts.** Many creditors let you create reminders to inform you when upcoming payments are due.\nOther Factors That Impact Your Credit Score\n-------------------------------------------\nWhile payment history ranks as the top factor in calculating your FICO® Score, it's important to be aware of the four other factors:\n1.  **Amounts owed (30%):** The amount of available revolving credit you're using (also known as your credit utilization ratio) and how much debt you're carrying accounts for 30% of your score. If you're using too much of your available credit, it may be a sign that you're financially strapped and might end up defaulting on your debt. For the best scores, keep your credit usage on each of your individual revolving accounts and overall under 10%.\n2.  **Length of credit history (15%):** Generally, a longer credit history can result in a higher score.\n3.  **Mix of credit types (10%):** Managing different types of credit, such as credit cards, mortgage loans and personal loans, can help your score.\n4.  **New credit (10%):** Opening several new credit accounts over a short period of time may signal risky financial behavior. It also reduces the average age of your accounts, which can lower your score. END