• Your credit score suffers the closer you get to your credit card limit.dollars and credit card image by NatUlrich from Fotolia.com
  
  The data that appears within your credit report affects your credit scores. Lenders review and evaluate your credit scores whenever you apply for new credit. Some employers and insurance companies also pull your credit. According to the Electronic Privacy Information Center, credit scores and reports help companies prevent losses by notifying them which consumers possess high-risk spending habits and poor debt management skills. Numerous factors influence your credit scores and determine your ability to qualify for new credit.
  
  

Types of Debt

• The types of debt you owe have a 10 percent impact on your overall credit score. Lenders want to see that you are capable of managing different types of debt successfully. Carrying a good balance of both installment debts, such as car loans and mortgages, and revolving debts, such as lines of credit and credit cards, will help you increase your credit score. Collection accounts are a negative type of debt and will hurt your credit scores.
  
  

Payment Histories

• Lenders pay close attention to your payment histories, which have a 35 percent effect on your credit scores. Paying bills on time leaves you with a positive payment history. Make payments late, however, and your creditors will note that fact within your credit file. The longer you wait to pay a debt, and the more often you are late, the more it injures your credit rating. For example, a payment history that reflects a single 30-day late payment hurts your credit score less than a payment history demonstrating multiple 60 and 90-day late payments.
  
  

Amount Owed

• The amount you owe influences your credit score by 30 percent . The deeper in debt you are, the higher risk you present to future lenders. Debt utilization is also an important factor in calculating your credit score that falls into this category. You debt utilization is the ratio between the amount you owe your revolving creditors and your credit limits on those accounts. The lower this ratio is, the better off your credit score will be. For example, if the credit limit on your credit card is $1,000, carrying a balance of $950 will hurt your debt utilization ratio, as you only have $50 of free credit.
  
  

Credit Inquiries

• Although the credit bureaus record all credit inquiries, not all credit inquiries affect your credit scores. Only "hard" credit inquiries made by lenders hurt your score. Credit reporting agency Equifax says it notes these "hard pulls" when you complete a credit application, application for insurance or application for a mortgage. It also notes as a "hard pull" any transfer of an account to a collection agency. The negative effect of hard inquires is minimal and you'll lose not more than five to seven points on your credit report score. Collect numerous credit inquiries within a short time period, however, and your credit report score will suffer. Credit inquiries you make yourself or those made by companies who wish to access your credit information for marketing purposes are "soft" inquiries and have no impact on your credit scores.
  
  

Who Is Scoring?

• Credit scores are mainly done by reporting agencies TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. They use different methods of calculating your credit scores. So it's possible to have different scores reported by each agency.