Most people have a general idea about what a credit score means and how it should never be bad. But what most people might not know is that there are many things that hurt your credit score the most and they are unaware about doing them. So, here is a list of such factors can help you protect your credit score to a large extent.

One Non- or Late Repayment
You might think that missing just one payment of your loan or credit card will not have any effect on your credit score. But you might be highly mistaken if you assume that. This is one of the surprising things that hurt your credit score the most. Making even one late payment that goes beyond 30 days can have a severe impact on your credit score. As soon as you miss the payment, a notification is sent to various credit-reporting firms by your credit card issuer. This information about the delay immediately and negatively affects your credit score.

Delayed Payment of Bills
You might think that your electricity and phone bills will not have anything to do with your credit score. But you might be wrong again. It is not just your credit card or loans that need to be paid on time. The utility bills also need to be paid on time if you don’t want to hurt your credit score.

Getting More Credit Cards
Each time you apply for new credit, including a credit card and a mortgage loans, a hard credit inquiry is conducted on your account. Each hard credit inquiry leaves a bad impact on your credit score, even if the credit is not approved by the issuer.

Cancelling Credit Cards
It is a common mistake people make. Once the credit is paid off completely, many people want to cancel it. But this can hurt your credit score in two ways. First, it brings down your total amount that you have taken as credit, which increases your credit utilization ratio. Second, the age of the credit history of a user is shortened.

Co-owning a Credit Card
Many people with good credit score often become co-borrowers to help their family members and friends who might not have a perfect credit score. Although you might do it as a goodwill gesture, you are taking responsibility of a debt that someone else has to pay. Just in case they are unable to pay, your credit score will take a hit.

Having High Credit Card Utilization
When you start reaching your maximum credit card utilization, it affects your credit score. To maintain a good credit score, you must keep the utilization somewhere around 30 percent. The lower your utilization, the better it is for your credit score.