How Credit Score Is Determined Part 5 - New Credit

How new credit affects your credit score

The truth is that about 10% of your FICO score is made up of what is called “new credit.” This new credit has a broad range of meanings and impacts on your score.

Have you ever wondered how new credit affects your credit score?

Individuals today tend to have more credit and shop for new credit more often than any time in recent memory. Credit scores mirror this reality.

Opening a few new credit accounts in a brief time frame can be dangerous – particularly for individuals who don’t have a long financial record.

Your FICO score consider a few components, including how you look for credit.

What happens when you open a new account?

Opening a new credit card can help your credit if it is your first card.

In different circumstances, opening another credit card could hurt your FICO rating.

Another credit card brings down your average credit age.

Fifteen percent (15%) of your FICO score depends on your credit age. This is a measure of how long you have been utilizing credit.

As a rule, the more experience you have with credit, the better your credit score will be.

Two different ages factor into your credit score in the new credit portion. There’s the age of your most established record, and the combined average age of your accounts.

Opening another card will bring down the average age, particularly if it’s been awhile since you last opened a credit account.

An inquiry is put on your credit report when you open another card. These constant dings on your report can build up in the long run and have a negative impact on your report.

Contingent upon the other data in your credit report, an extra inquiry could cost you a couple of credit points immediately.

It may not seem like much, but it could be the difference between a good and bad credit score!

How Your Credit Score Affects Your Interest Rate

Opening another card could increase your utilization ratio on the off chance that you make a significant charge on it that day.

That is because 30% of your FICO score is dependent on the amount of your available credit being utilized.

So when the credit utilization ratio increases, your credit score drops.

Watch outif you’re opening up a store charge card and putting your purchase on the new record.

Store charge cards are known for their low credit limits, and a major buy could spike your credit utilization ratio.

Opening a New Credit Card Isn’t All Bad

Sometimes, opening another charge card can improve your credit score.

If you don’t make any new purchases on your charge cards, your average credit usage will drop, and your FICO score could increase.

Opening another charge card and utilizing it well can help support your FICO score over the long haul..

Make certain that you charge just what you can stand to pay on your new card and make your regularly scheduled payments on time.

Adding an extra credit line with a good history can help your score by bringing down your overall credit use ratio.

When we talk about new credit? What are we really talking about? What is considered new credit?

In general, new credit can be categorized in a couple of different ways.

However, the overall understanding of what a new account is when it comes to your credit score is pretty straightforward.

Installment loans, such as auto loan, student loans, furniture purchases, etc. are all included as installment loans.

But, they have a lesser effect on your credit score then revolving credit does.

Opening a new credit card as opposed to a student loan is going to have a much bigger effect on your credit score.

Lenders look at new accounts to see what kind of credit account you are opening and try to hazard a guess as to why you need new credit in the first place.

Also included in the catchall category of a new credit:

Credit cards from retail stores such as an Amazon credit card
Gas station credit card
General credit cards
Any loans that you take out from the bank
Mortgage loans
Student loans
Any other new account that you may open

What is the overall takeaway from learning about new credit?

Opening a new credit account can potentially increase your credit score.

But, don’t open more accounts than you need. This can have an adverse impact on your credit score.

Especially in the case of credit cards, many people think that opening many new accounts will improve their credit since it decreases their credit utilization ratio.

However, studies have shown that if you have more credit available, you often spend it.

This is because you perceive it as being your own money that you earned, especially with incentives from the credit card company to spend more often.

There are a couple of different ways in which opening a new account can often decrease your credit score.

Because it means that you will have to open an inquiry into your credit score, this will automatically reduce her score by a few points.

Also, it decreases your average account age by a long shot because you have a brand new account. This gives off the perception that you don’t have more of an established credit history.

It is not worthwhile to continue opening new accounts when they decrease your average account age and worsen your credit score.

Essentially, you should avoid unnecessary new accounts at all costs.

You should focus on keeping your credit utilization ratio low by lowering your spending rather than opening new accounts.

Do not sign up for retail cards or other new accounts with low credit limits.

The constant hard inquiries add up to cause damage to your score.

The best tips to keeping your credit score intact when getting new accounts include: