Little Known Things That Hurt Your Credit Score

When it comes to important elements of your financial portfolio and history, few things are more critical than your credit score. Lenders look at this score to determine whether you're eligible for a new line of credit, such as a mortgage or a loan, as well as what kind of interest fees to charge you. Thus, keeping your score high is essential. Alas, several little-known things can actually tarnish your score.

Library Fines and Parking Tickets

That $2.50 fine from your library, and that $40 ticket from parking your car at the wrong curb, may seem insignificant. Unfortunately, most municipalities now turn over unpaid fines -- no matter how minor they are -- to collections agencies if the tickets go unpaid. Craig Watts, a company spokesperson for the Fair Isaac Corporation, told CNNMoney.com that ignoring even the tiniest library fee can cause your credit score to plummet by 100 points.

Paying Off Closed Accounts

This may fly in the face of most advice you've heard, but sometimes it's okay to not pay off your credit card balance right away. This is true when you've closed a credit card account that has a small balance. Under new credit card laws enacted in 2010, your interest rate won't be hiked on your balance. Additionally, paying off the balance completely closes that line of credit, thus reducing your credit utilization ratios and hurting your score.

Shopping Around

When you're in the market for a new credit card, it may be tempting to fill out several applications and shop around to see where you get accepted and who offers the best deals. Every time you apply for a credit card, you generate a credit inquiry that causes your credit score to dip. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't shop around; otherwise you could miss out on a deal. Instead, limit all of your credit applications to a 45-day window. The credit agencies will then view this as a single shopping period instead of multiple inquiries, thus limiting the damage to your score.

Maxing Your Cards

Approximately 30 percent of your credit score is calculated from something known as your debt utilization ratio, which is the amount of credit you've used compared to the amount of credit you have access to. The greater the gap between the two, the better your score. For optimal credit scores, try not to use more than 30 percent of your available credit.