Flipping the Script: 4 Surprising Things That CAN Affect Your Credit Score

In our most recent issue, we shared possible hard-to-believe things that won’t affect your credit score. We flip the script with this issue as we share seemingly innocent things that could indeed have a negative impact on your credit score.

Ways You Could Be Hurting Your Credit Score Without Knowing It

1. Closing accounts you haven’t used in a while. When it comes to your credit score, time is definitely on your side. The longer an account has been open, the higher your credit score, in general, will be. In other words, the longer an account in good standing is open, the better off you are.
2. Having unpaid taxes. If you have unpaid taxes that are owed to Uncle Sam, a lien could be placed on your property or your wages may be garnished. As for your credit report, federal tax liens can show up on it for 15 years. That means not paying Uncle Sam what’s owed can hurt your credit report for more than a decade.
3. Not paying traffic and parking tickets. Most of us are good about paying traffic and parking fines we incur in or near our home towns. But tickets we receive while on vacation can be easy to ignore. Even if the government agency mailed your citation to an old address, it’s up to you to make sure unpaid tickets aren’t turned over to a collection agency, where they could seriously damage your credit score.
4. Having unpaid power and water bills. Admittedly, it’s unlikely that utility companies will report you being timely with your payments, but if you are habitually late or have unpaid bills, they’ll likely not be as unreserved about turning things over to a collection agency.

Tired of Living With Crippling Debt? The Oswalt Law Group Can Help You With That

There are a host of options available to you so that you can finally get beyond living with crippling debt. For a free consultation, call us here at The Oswalt Law Group. Our number is 602-225-2222.