A credit score is a numerical application to behavior. Essentially the credit scoring company has decided to give a certain value to consumer behaviors. Whether you've paid your mortgage effectively each month has an impact in your credit score. The age of your credit score is how long have had your account. A number of factors go into credit scores, but the bottom line is that they put a numerical value on consumer behaviors. Your payment history makes up about 35% of your credit score. That's a huge number. Another number is your debt ratio. The amount of debt that you owe as opposed to what your credit limits are makes up about 30% of your credit score. Those two factors alone about are 65% of your credit score, so they're very important. Your credit score determines the rate that you will pay for the use of the credit and whether or not you can get credit.
