Parental Controls: Are Your Credit Habits Going to Get You Grounded?

Parents: Do you know what factors might bring down your credit score?

Mom and Dad probably served as your first outlet for financial education. But studies show that parents aren’t always the best teachers when it comes to credit.

According to a survey by ING Direct USA, only five out of the 1,042 parental respondents were able to identify the top 10 factors that negatively impact a credit score.

Are you as shocked by these numbers as we are?

Chances are if you don’t know the factors that affect your score, you’ve got a slim shot at improving it. And more, how many children are not learning to manage their credit scores properly?

Parents: Do you know what factors might bring down your credit score?

We don’t have to tell you that it’s important, especially as an adult, to become informed and learn how to keep track of and retain control over your credit score. But what many don’t think about is that the financial discipline of parents will be passed onto children. So parents, when you ensure your score is in your own hands you indirectly teach your children to manage their own credit as they reach adulthood.

The steps aren’t as intimidating as they might seem. In just minutes you can order your credit score and learn the status of your accounts. Gaining knowledge is the first step in becoming informed of changes you can make to boost that almighty credit score.

Some of the top activities that can adversely affect your credit score include:

• Carrying a balance on your credit card month after month

• Lower credit limits make you appear maxed out

• Closing old credit card accounts with good long history

• Opening new credit accounts

• Paying bills late

So what can you do to improve your score?

Activities such as paying bills on time, paying off your credit cards every month and paying attention to interest rates could help strengthen your score. Take the time to become informed, it’s worth it!

We suggest you order your credit scores to track items that are both helping and hurting your score. CreditReport.com provides instant e-mail alerts when your score changes and notifies you to the top reasons why. Actively managing your score could increase your ability to obtain loans with the best available terms, saving you thousands of dollars in the long run. And as a bonus, your children will learn the value of tracking their credit scores annually from your positive example.