Proportion of balances to credit limits is too high on bank revolving or other revolving accounts.
Focus on paying down balances that are close to the credit limits as quickly as possible. What about transferring a balance from a maxed-out card to one with a smaller balance? While that might help, it’s not likely, since you still have just as much debt as before (another factor). If you can’t make headway on paying down your credit cards, you may want to talk with a credit counseling agency.
Amount owed on accounts is too high.
This one is particularly frustrating because you probably have no idea how much debt is too much, nor do you know which balances to try to pay down first. Typically, though, you’ll get the most bang for your buck, credit-wise, by focusing on paying down your credit cards with balances that are closest to the limits first.
Too many inquiries in the last 12 months.
This reason is more likely to appear when you have a limited credit history or strong credit, simply because there are fewer other significant negative factors affecting your scores. But it doesn’t hurt to lay low for a while. Avoid opening new retail cards. While all inquiries resulting from shopping for a mortgage, student loan or auto loan aren’t as likely to hurt your score as the same number of inquiries for credit cards, limit your applications to a short period of time, such as 14 days.
Level of delinquency on accounts.
If the information is inaccurate, you can dispute it. If it’s correct, you’ll have to deal with it for a while, up to seven years. Focus on making your current payments on time. rRemember that all you have to do is make the minimum payment on time to avoid a delinquency on your report.
Time since delinquency is too recent or unknown.
The good news is that as time passes, these delinquencies will carry less weight, especially when you are paying current bills on time. But the date is important here. If an inaccurate date (or no date) is reported for a charge-off or collection account, for example, make sure you dispute that with the credit reporting agency.
