10 Ways You Think You’re Helping Your Credit But Are Actually Hurting It

Not using credit at all

If you don’t use credit, you don’t need to worry about having bad credit, right? Wrong! While it may seem financially responsible to put off using credit until you actually need it, not having credit history is a red flag for lenders.

To build your credit history, you need to use credit. However, this doesn’t mean you have to go in debt to establish your creditworthiness. If you open a single credit card and pay off your balance in full every month, you can slowly but surely build your score.