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Your credit score plays a major role in your financial life. A stronger score can make it easier to qualify for loans and access better terms, while a weaker score can make borrowing more expensive or harder to access at all.
The challenge is that many people do not think about their credit until they need it. The good news is that while no one can guarantee a perfect score, there are clear patterns that can hurt your credit and make it harder to borrow money when you need to. Here are seven of the most important ones to watch.
1. Late payments
Late payments are one of the clearest ways to hurt your credit score. Payment history is the single biggest category in a FICO Score, accounting for 35% of the score calculation.
That means missing payments can do real damage. Even if you eventually catch up, the negative effect may not disappear immediately. The best way to protect yourself is to stay current, use reminders or autopay when possible, and contact creditors early if you are struggling to keep up.
2. Maxing out your credit cards
Using too much of your available revolving credit can hurt your score because credit utilization is a major factor in credit scoring. Experian notes that lower utilization is generally better, and that 30% is the point where utilization tends to have a more pronounced negative effect on credit scores.
For example, if your credit card has a $1,000 limit, keeping the balance below $300 is a much healthier range than carrying a balance near the limit. People with the highest scores tend to keep utilization in the low single digits.
3. Closing old credit card accounts without thinking it through
Closing an old credit card can seem like a smart cleanup move, but it can actually hurt your score. When you close a card, you reduce your total available credit, which can raise your utilization ratio.
Older accounts can also help your profile by contributing to the length of your credit history, which makes up 15% of a FICO Score.
That does not mean you should never close a card. But it does mean you should think carefully before closing older accounts, especially if they are helping keep your utilization lower.
4. Applying for too many new accounts at once
Opening several new credit accounts in a short period of time can hurt your score. FICO treats new credit as a scoring factor, and myFICO notes that opening several accounts quickly represents greater risk, especially for people without a long credit history.
Hard inquiries from new credit applications can also add up. That does not mean you should never apply for new credit. It just means that applying for several cards or loans at the same time can make lenders more cautious and can put downward pressure on your score.
5. Letting negative items go unresolved
Late payments are not the only issue that can drag a score down. Collections, bankruptcies, and other serious negative marks on a credit report can also hurt your credit profile.
That is why it is worth dealing with problems early. If a balance is valid, resolving it is usually better than ignoring it. If the information is inaccurate, disputing the error is the right move. Letting negative items sit unresolved can make future borrowing much harder.
6. Having too little credit history or not enough variety
A thin credit file can make it harder to build a strong score. FICO looks at both length of credit history and credit mix, and myFICO says credit mix includes things like credit cards, installment loans, finance company accounts, and mortgages.
That does not mean you need every type of debt. But having little or no credit history can make you harder to score and harder for lenders to evaluate. TransUnion says more than 45 million consumers are credit unserved or underserved, including about 8.1 million unserved consumers and about 37 million underserved consumers.
This is one reason building credit can feel so frustrating at first. Without enough history, lenders have less information to work with.
7. Not checking your credit reports
Not checking your credit reports will not directly lower your score on its own, but it can let damaging problems go unnoticed. The CFPB recommends checking your credit reports at least once a year, and the FTC notes that errors, outdated information, or identity theft can all show up there.
Eligible renters using the Esusu app can download a free, updated credit report every month as part of their in-app credit tools. Also, AnnualCreditReport.com is the official place to get your credit reports, and free online reports are currently available weekly from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
Regularly reviewing your reports gives you a better chance to catch mistakes early, dispute errors, and protect yourself from fraud before the damage gets worse.
Final thoughts
No one is immune to credit score drops. But understanding the biggest risks can help you avoid unnecessary damage and build better habits over time.
The strongest habits are simple: pay on time, keep utilization low, be careful with new accounts, protect older accounts when it makes sense, and check your credit reports regularly.
If you want more credit education for renters, Esusu’s Credit Hub is designed to help residents understand, monitor, and improve their credit over time.