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5 New Rules for a Healthy Credit Score
by Aleksandra Todorova
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The rules that credit-card companies have to live by changed dramatically with the enactment of new regulations last month. Now, some of the rules for consumers striving to maintain good credit are changing, too.
For the most part, card holders would still do well to pay on time, keep their balances low and refrain from applying for too many credit cards at once. But some of the old tenets may not always hold up, as credit-card companies continue to adapt to the new environment and look for ways to run their for-profit businesses.
Case in point: Many issuers introduced annual or inactivity fees in the weeks leading to or immediately after the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act went into effect. "Now folks have to decide -- do they want this card badly enough to pay the fee, or do they close it," says Barry Paperno, the consumer operations manager at FICO (FICO). It's a question of more than just losing a credit line. Closing a credit card can have a big impact on one's credit score. That is, unless you do some groundwork in advance.
With the help of some easy -- if often counterintuitive -- steps, you can improve and retain a healthy credit score even in today's fast-changing credit environment. Here are five:
