 TITLE: Will Paying My Mobile Phone Bill Late Hurt My Credit Score? CONTENT: Other Ways to Improve Your Credit\n---------------------------------\nFive factors go into the calculation of your FICO® Score. Here's what they are and what you can do to improve on each:\n*   **Payment history**: Make it a goal to pay all your credit accounts on time each month. If you have any delinquent or collections accounts, try to get current as quickly as possible.\n*   **Amounts owed**: This factor is primarily driven by your credit utilization rate, or your credit card balances divided by their credit limits. If you carry a balance from month to month, work to pay it off. Then try to keep your balance low relative to the card's limit going forward.\n*   **Length of credit history**: The more time you spend using credit responsibly, the better your credit score will be. This factor takes time to build, so it's important to develop and sustain good credit habits now for the future.\n*   **Credit mix**: Having a good credit mix shows that you can responsibly manage different types of debt. As a result, it's good to have various credit accounts, including a mortgage, an auto loan, student loans, and a credit card. That said, this factor doesn't have as much of an impact as others, so it may not be wise to take out debt just for the sake of building your credit.\n*   **New credit**: Every time you apply for a credit account, the lender runs a hard inquiry on your credit report. For most people, the inquiry will only knock a few points off your score. But if you apply for multiple accounts in a short period—rate shopping excluded—it can have a compounding effect. So try to space out credit applications. END