2. Changes to Your Income

You may be surprised to know that your income isn’t included on your credit report and therefore earning less has no negative effect on your credit scores—as long as you continue to pay your bills on time. Of course, losing your job or business could severely affect your ability to do that. Even receiving unemployment or another type of public assistance will not hurt your credit scores.

Creditors generally get your income information from an application you submit. So, making less money could be a stumbling block to getting new credit because in addition to your credit score, your income, expenses, and job stability are taken into consideration by a lender.

3. Closing an account

If you have paid off your credit card, you may think that the next logical step would be to close the account, but this will actually negatively affect your score. By closing this account, you will be taking away the good credit you have accumulated and you will raise your credit utilization ratio. It would be better to leave this account open and just use it for small purchases.