This photograph by the Consumerist: http://www.flickr.com/photos/consumerist/ Today’s “Secrets for Money” are how to know and manage your credit score.

The best tip for credit card use is to pay your bill in full each month. Many people have been asking me what technique they can use to ensure they do this each month.

The answer?

A wise way to use your credit card is to treat it as if it was a debit card—keep your receipts and immediately record each transaction and then subtract the total from your checking account as you do so.  Then, at the end of the month you simply write a check for that total (that you have already subtracted from your checking account balance), thereby paying your credit card bill in full.

What makes up your credit score according to FICO?

35%=your payment history
30%=how much of your available credit you are using (the lower the better)
15%=the length of time you have had credit
10%=the duration of time from your last credit application (the longer the better)
10%=the mixture of credit types you have and use (better to have both installment accounts (such as a car loan or mortgage) and revolving accounts (such as credit cards) instead of just one or the other.

Copyright © 2009 by Mara Rogers of Secrets for Money http://www.SecretsForMoney.info

Photo Credit: This photograph “commerce bank card 2″ by the Consumerist. For more of this Photographer’s work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/consumerist/ and http://www.flickr.com/people/consumerist/

For more “Secrets” to making money, saving money, and managing your money go to the Archives at Secrets For Money http://www.SecretsForMoney.info/blog


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