5 Sneaky Ways To Ruin Your Credit Score

Thanks to my friend Michael in Oakland for alerting me to this Yahoo Money & Finance article. I've Been Mugged readers want to protect and control their identity information, and maintain good financial health. Not only do consumers with low credit scores pay more via higher interest rates, but the FTC is studying how to tie auto insurance rates to consumers' credit scores. (You'd think that your driving record would be a better, more logical way.) Ways to ruin your credit score which you probably aren't aware of:

"2. Accepting credit line increases: Being the responsible, on-time bill-payer that you are, your credit card company rewards you by upping your credit line. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but remember how much you can afford to reasonably charge. Resist the urge to spend more or risk being unable to meet your new minimum payments."

"3. Consolidating your accounts: So you’re considering transferring all your credit card balances to one card so you’re only dealing with one bill every month. It sounds sensible, right? A big no-no, according to the keepers of the credit score. Think of it this way: One big balance looks a whole lot worse than multiple low balances."

To read the complete list, visit the Marie Claire site.