Are you reviewing your credit report in efforts to get a good FICO score? If so you need to look for the negative entries listed. You need to stop them from happening and know how they are weighted into your FICO score. The most common is late payments and these often have the largest effect on your credit score. This is because your payment history makes up 35% of your score.

Late payments are scrutinized three different ways. The first is the recentness of your last late payment. Your FICO score puts more emphasis on items that are recent compared to several years old and that is also in the case of late payments. It is a better indication of your credit standing in the present and not of your mistakes in the past. So, what happens, if you are person who has never had a late payment and you accidentally miss a payment? You will possibly have a larger drop in your FICO score when compared to a person who is consistently missing payments. Having an excellent score, any negative factor will have a larger impart compare to a person who already has a poor score.

The second factor of late payments is the frequency. Basically, how often do you pay late? Hopefully none, but it should be as little as possible. One or two lenders might not think much of, but seeing several could hurt your potential to get a loan and a good FICO score.

The severity of late payments is the last factor. It is asking to what extent were you paying late. Was it just 30 days or was it 60. The longer it has been the more it hurts your FICO score. The long it has been the more risk of another negative factor such as liens or collections. These will tear down a good FICO score quickly.

To get a good FICO score, you need to pay your bills on time. This is the only way to improve and maintain a good FICO score. From the eyes of a lender, they want a person who pays on time. They are less likely to default on the loan and as a reward of a good FICO score, they will get a lower interest rate.