Your credit score is determined by weighing the following five categories of information:
About 35% of your score is based on your payment history, where timely loan payments increase your score and missed or late payments reduce it.
About 30% of your score is based on the amounts you currently owe on all types of credit accounts. This includes not only credit cards, but also automobile loans, mortgages, personal loans, and any other type of loan you may have.
About 15% of your score is derived from the length of your credit history. This criteria looks at how long you have held any kind of credit account, how long each of your accounts has been open, and how long it has been since you have accessed particular accounts.
About 10% of your score depends on whether you are trying to get additional credit. If you have applied for new loans or credit cards recently, this will be reflected in your score.
About 10% of your score is based on the mix of the different types of credit that you have access to. This factor is less important than the others, and it is not considered necessary to have one of every type. This factor mainly becomes important when there is less information available about the other factors.
