As you work to improve your credit, it is important to know what kinds of behaviors help your credit and what kinds of behaviors hurt your credit. Some of these behaviors are obvious and some are more obscure.

Free credit card offers

Many stores attempt to entice you into signing up for one of their credit cards by offering a discount on your first purchase with their credit card. Sometimes credit card companies offer free t-shirts, Frisbees, coupons, and cups to convince you to get their credit card. College students are often exposed to that type of activity. While it may seem harmless, and you feel you are just singing your name and getting free stuff, you really are potentially hurting your credit score. Opening too many credit accounts can hurt your score.

Maxing out credit cards

Maxing out credit cards may also hurt your credit. When you over use credit cards (called over-utilization) it appears to credit rating companies that you are unable to manage the credit you have. If you have a big purchase you need to make, you may want to look into increasing your credit line.

Build your credit history

Avoiding the use of a credit card is another mistake. Some people feel that they don’t want to fall into the trap of debt. Some feel that a credit card will cause them to spend too much without realizing how much they have spent before it was too late. This is a mistake. If you don’t use a credit card, than you will not be able to build a credit history. If you are nervous about using credit, just use the credit card a few times a month on small purchases and make sure you pay the bills in full on time.

Other bad behavior

Transferring the balance from one card to another with a lower interest rate may damage your credit score if you forget to cancel the first card. Two cards appear to be more debt than one card.

Even parking tickets and library fines can affect your credit adversely. Make sure you take care of those charges so they don’t show up to hurt you on your credit score.