Interested in Your Own Personally Branded Magazine? Click Here!

Want to customize this content for your business?

Learn More

Categories

  • Home
  • Decor
  • Real Estate
  • Life & Culture
  • Food & Recipes
  • Holiday & Entertaining

  • Printables
  • Videos


General

  • About the Magazine
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Careers


Editorial

  • Editorial Calendar
  • Issue Archive
  • Contact Us
  • Pitch an Idea

American Lifestyle Magazine Logo
  • Home
  • Decor
  • Real Estate
  • Life & Culture
  • Food & Recipes
  • Holiday & Entertaining
  • Search
  • Follow
  • 0 Heart
  • |
  • Food & Recipes Categories
    • All Recipes (768)
    • Appetizers (140)
    • Breakfast (64)
    • Cooking Tips (41)
    • Desserts (219)
    • Dinner (232)
    • Drinks (59)
    • Gluten Free (9)
    • Healthy (71)
    • Lunch (11)
    • Quick & Easy (62)
    • Vegan (37)
    • Vegetarian (55)
Dinner | May 22, 2023

Scalloped Potatoes with Tomatoes and Anchovy Parsley Sauce

  • Holiday & Entertaining Categories
    • Celebrate (2)
    • Christmas (83)
    • Easter (15)
    • Entertaining (44)
    • Fall (11)
    • Father’s Day (6)
    • Halloween (29)
    • Hanukkah (17)
    • July 4th (36)
    • Mother’s Day (8)
    • New Year’s (23)
    • Spring (10)
    • St. Patrick's Day (11)
    • Summer (21)
    • Thanksgiving (36)
    • Valentine’s Day (5)
    • Winter (12)
Travel | Apr 6, 2023

Egg-citing Dishes from Around the World

  • Decor Categories
    • Crafts & DIY Projects (279)
    • Curb Appeal (6)
    • Decorate (82)
    • Interior Design (94)
Interior Design | May 26, 2023

A Modern Spanish Hacienda

Decorate | Apr 1, 2023

A Guide to Shopping Secondhand

Interior Design | Apr 1, 2023

A Modern Funk Redesign

  • Real Estate Categories
    • Buying & Selling (205)
    • Home Trends (23)
    • Staging (21)
    • Your First House (35)
Buying & Selling | May 15, 2023

America’s Best Cities

Staging | Feb 13, 2023

Put Your Best House Forward

Decor | Nov 14, 2022

Design Trends to Follow in 2023

  • Life & Culture Categories
    • Editorial (319)
    • Family & Pets (212)
    • Finances (36)
    • Health (159)
    • Travel (260)
Interior Design | May 26, 2023

A Modern Spanish Hacienda

Travel | May 26, 2023

A Surprising Way to Travel

Travel | May 22, 2023

Animal Friends

  • Home Categories
    • Cleaning (44)
    • Organizing (48)
    • Home Improvement (125)
    • Outdoors & Gardening (91)
Outdoors & Gardening | Mar 2, 2023

Prepping Your Home for Spring

Cleaning | Feb 28, 2023

Detail Your Car like a Pro

Home Improvement | Jan 18, 2023

4-Week Home-Improvement Challenge

Follow us on social media today!

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

Busting Common Credit Myths

Your First House | 6 Likes
SHARE
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn More

Anyone who has purchased a home or is currently looking to buy can tell you that credit score is one of the most important factors in securing a loan. It can affect a lot of other areas of your life, too, but it’s particularly important in the real estate world.

Depending on how much research you’ve done or who you’ve spoken to, you might have bought in to a number of popular “credit myths”—fears about credit score that simply aren’t true.

We’re here to breakdown these frequently-believed myths, and explain what they really mean.

 

Pile of dollar bills

All debt is bad, and will lower your credit score

Debt is a scary word. Most of us believe that having any debt looks bad and will negatively affect credit. However, there is a big difference between debt that can actually benefit your score and debt that can hurt it. If you rack up thousands in credit card debt, this will surely hurt your rating. If you take out a mortgage on a home, this shouldn’t hurt, so long as you continue to make your payments.

 

Stressed woman looking out from behind open laptop

Checking my score will damage my rating

This myth is simply not true, although it’s touted by nearly every credit reporting site out there. When you use a service to check your own score, this has no impact on your rating. But when you apply for a line of credit, and a creditor is required to check your score, this may bring down your rating.

 

Person handing credit card to another person

If you don’t use a card you should close it

Find that you aren’t using a card as often as you used to? It’s not always wise to close the account just because the card is sitting unused in your wallet. A portion of your credit score is determined by the length a line of credit is open, so if you can, try and use the card at least once every so often to avoid the creditor closing your account entirely.

 

Girl at laptop with calculator holding papers

You can improve your score immediately by paying off debt

You should always try and make your monthly payments. But if you miss a payment, making that payment (even the very next day) won’t remove the problem from your score. Missed payments can drop your score fairly significantly, so it’s critical to pay off credit timely, and in full, if you can.

 

9194 Views

This article is tagged in:

CreditCredit ScoreFinanceFinancialFirst HomeFirst HouseFirst Time Home BuyerHome AdviceHomebuyingMoneyReal EstateReal Estate Tips

Related Posts

Real Estate | May 15, 2023

America’s Best Cities

Life & Culture | Apr 1, 2023

A Modern Funk Redesign

Life & Culture | Feb 13, 2023

7 Simple Ways to Control Your Spending

Life & Culture | Dec 23, 2022

A Look Back at Inflation in 2022

Life & Culture | Dec 13, 2022

How to Prepare for Retirement

Popular Posts

can-planters-card
Decor | Mar 25, 2020

Make Your Own Can Planters

Home | Jul 8, 2021

Tips for Redesigning Your Patio Space

Life & Culture | Feb 17, 2020

Trash vs. Recycle: Do You Know When to Trash it?

spring-cleaning-countdown
Home | Mar 23, 2021

Spring-Cleaning Countdown

home office with white furniture
Life & Culture | Mar 30, 2020

Everyone Is Working From Home—Here’s How to Do It Effectively


You may also like:

can-planters-card
Crafts & DIY Projects | Mar 25, 2020

Make Your Own Can Planters

Outdoors & Gardening | Jul 8, 2021

Tips for Redesigning Your Patio Space

Health | Feb 17, 2020

Trash vs. Recycle: Do You Know When to Trash it?

spring-cleaning-countdown
Cleaning | Mar 23, 2021

Spring-Cleaning Countdown

home office with white furniture
Health | Mar 30, 2020

Everyone Is Working From Home—Here’s How to Do It Effectively

Buying & Selling | Dec 14, 2017

House Selling Checklist

Make Your Own Seed Paper
Crafts & DIY Projects | Mar 17, 2016

Make Your Own Seed Paper

Share on Social Media

Our mission is to deliver entertainment that inspires and motivates our readers, encouraging them to follow their passions as they explore new horizons.

© 2023 American Lifestyle Magazine

General
  • About the Magazine
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Careers
Editorial
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Issue Archive
  • Contact Us
  • Pitch an Idea
Categories
  • Home
  • Decor
  • Real Estate
  • Life & Culture
  • Food & Recipes
  • Holiday & Entertaining
Follow Us
Facebook Pinterest Instagram Youtube

Customize this content for your business!

Learn More

,