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Steps to Maintain Good Credit
Important steps to keep good credit include:

• Pay your bills on time. When you are delayed or delinquent in a payment, late fees are charged, more interest accrues and your credit health is negatively affected. (Seems obvious of course.)
• Contact your credit card issuer or loan administrator immediately if you are unable to pay your bills on time, or if you have found an error in a bill. Ensure to make any complaints, and get corrections, in writing.
• Maintain a small number of credit cards and close any unused accounts. Creditors look at your potential for going on a spending spree and falling too deeply into debt. The more credit cards you have, the larger your debt potential. At the same time of course balance your budget and current financial situation (you may need some unused credit cards as a back-up for unforeseen financial needs). It is a balance!
• Try and keep your debts reasonable. There are financial experts that say as a rule, non-mortgage debt payments should not exceed 10-15 percent of your take-home pay each month. If your debts are higher than that, try to reduce them before applying for another loan.
• Avoid unnecessary credit inquiries. Any time you authorize a creditor or other business to check your credit report, an inquiry is added to your report. If you have a large number of inquiries in a short amount of time, creditors may infer that you are either applying for too much credit because of financial difficulties or taking on more debt than you can repay.
• Order a copy of your credit report at least once a year from each of the three credit bureaus to stay on top of changes to your credit profile and to check for identity theft. Make sure to take advantage of the free credit reports the law now allows.