 TITLE: How to Protect Your Credit During a Recession CONTENT: How Does a Recession Impact Credit?\n-----------------------------------\nA credit score is an indicator of how you manage your financial obligations. And when things in your financial life change—for better or for worse—your credit score could fluctuate.\nThough recessions impact many aspects of the economy, one of the greatest risks consumers face is reduced income or unemployment. Losing your income could mean not being able to pay your monthly expenses—including your debt payments. Because payment history is the most important factor in calculating credit scores, if you fall behind on debt payments, your credit will likely suffer.\nA loss of income may also force you to take on more debt, which can hurt credit scores. Running up credit card balances to pay for expenses can increase your credit utilization ratio, which is the percentage of available credit you're using. Credit utilization is the second most important aspect of your credit scores.\nIt's best to keep your utilization ratio for each of your credit cards, and overall, under 30% to avoid hurting your credit scores—but the lower your utilization, the better.\nWhether or not your income is affected during a recession, it's still important to take action to protect your credit score in uncertain economic periods. Here are five ways to protect your credit during a recession. END