Since the credit bureaus review court files, any judgment against you can impair your credit. Therefore, if a judgment is obtained against you in court which you later pay off, make certain that the creditor files a "Satisfaction of Judgment" with the court to show that you no longer owe the debt. (A Satisfaction of Judgment is a court filing which tells the court that you have paid off the amount of the judgment.) The judgment will still appear on your credit report, but a paid judgment is less damaging than an unpaid judgment.

Any time you make a payment more than 30 days late, the creditor has the option of reporting the late payment to the credit bureaus. They do not always exercise this option, however, and they are not required to do so. Therefore, if you are unable to make a payment on a bill for more than a month, it will be worth your while to get in touch with the creditor and try to work out payment arrangements. If you are honest and assure the creditor of a date certain when they can expect payment, they are less likely to report the late payment.

Every time a company considers extending credit to you, you may assume that they have pulled your credit report to evaluate your eligibility. A few credit pulls are normal and nothing to be concerned about. If your credit is pulled many times in a short period, however, this, too, can negatively impact your credit score. The best way to contain this is to avoid permitting companies to pull your credit score unless you are serious about requesting credit from that company. The easiest way to accomplish this is to prevent dissemination of your social security number, do not apply for a multitude of credit cards, and if you are shopping for a mortgage lender, do not permit any company to pull your credit report until you have settled on one or two companies for consideration. If you test drive a car and are asked for personal information, be sure to instruct the salesperson that they do not have your permission to pull your credit report. Otherwise, they assuredly will do so.