I recently was rechecking my credit to see where I am at these days.  When I bought my house my score was around 760 but since then I had one nasty occurence where I forgot about a bill and it went something like 90 days late and I got a black mark on my credit.  I remember years ago I had looked up what on earth goes into the credit score…and the truth is, no one knows for sure what the EXACT formulas are.  Its some sort of industry black magic where they are afraid to give away the secret.  In any case I did come up with some things that I had been told by various people that, as it turns out, are about as truthful as OJs denial.

Myth #1 - Checking your own credit will lower your score
You can check your own score as many times as you want without hurting your score, but make sure you do it via a legit site and not at “Joes one stop credit shop.”  One example of a good place to go is right to the source, such as equifax. 

Myth #2 - I have to have perfect credit to get the best rate
The truth is, you just have to have a GOOD score to get the best rates. Generally a score of 700 or higher will get you the best rates available.

Myth #3 - You only have one credit score
 Actually, you have three credit scores, one from each of the three major credit bureaus.  They vary between them, so its not a bad idea to check all three.

Myth #4 - Closing old accounts will help improve your credit report score
Canceling old credit accounts can and generally WILL lower your credit score because it makes your credit history appear shorter.  If you have old accounts, keep them open.  Unless you have a ridiculous amount open, having too much credit available is much much better than botching your credit history.

Myth #5 - Your age/income/sex/race/ are factored into your score
They aren’t.

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