A credit score is a number that lenders, landlords, insurance providers, and utility companies use to decide if you’re an individual that they can trust to make payments or pay back loans. Your score affects whether or not you get credit, how much credit they’re willing to lend, and at what rate you’ll be charged to borrow the money as you pay it back.

So what’s with all the mystery surrounding your credit score? What is this algorithm that they use to come up with what seems an arbitrary number? How do you know which actions will affect your score the most? You’ve come to the right place. I will explain the five main areas that impact your score and how much they affect it.

First, the largest behavior that affects your score is whether or not you make payments on time. This has a 35% impact on your total credit score. Making payments on time affects over ⅓ of your credit score. That is a big deal, and making all your payments on time, including utilities, bills, debts, loans, etc., will have a huge impact on raising your overall score. It gets reported to the credit bureaus and has a negative hit on your score every time you make a late payment. Making payments on time means you avoid all those late fees that add up, leaving you with more money in your wallet!

Read the full blog by visiting the MMRC site.