Here are the five pieces on your credit report the bureaus use to calculate your credit score. In addition you will find the approximate value each piece carries in the credit scoring model.

1. Payment History (45%)

This is where the bureaus will weight negative credit items from your report. It will help to improve your score if you can clean your credit from negative items.

However on occasions you may be stuck with a negative listing on your report. There are rumors that after 4 years the impact of a negative listing is drastically reduced. It would be wise to build a positive payment history to help limit the impact of a negative listing.

2. Available Credit to Debt (30%)

This is how much credit do you have available versus the amount of debt. It will lower your score if you have no available credit.

The credit bureaus like to see credit that is available and not being used. This will tell the bureaus that you use your credit responsibly and are not using all of your credit.

3. Length of Credit (5%)

How long have you been using credit? If you are a newbie to the world of credit you can still have a good score.

You should not worry about this aspect when it comes to improving your score. Your accounts will age naturally and this will not make or break your score.

4. Credit Experience (5%)

What sort of accounts on your credit do you have. Do you only have an auto loan?

The bureaus like to see diverse accounts. However this is such a small piece of your score that it is not worth opening up new accounts to show this.

You will have various account you use your credit on in time. You will have different loans for automobiles, boats, houses and etcetera.

5. Pursuit of New Credit (15%)

How often are you applying for new credit? Are you constantly seeking new lines of credit?

It will help your score if it does not appear that you are frequently applying for new credit. The bureaus do expect to see a number of credit inquires however excessive inquires will lower your score.

However there are individuals that literally open new lines of credit every month. These people will have their score lowered because there credit is constantly being checked.

Each credit bureau has a unique scoring model. Thus these corresponding weight values are simply estimates. If you concentrate your efforts on removing negative items from your credit report and build a positive payment history you can achieve a 700 credit score.