Five More Surprising Things That Hurt Your Credit Scores

When I wrote recently about five surprising things that hurt your credit scores – things like renting a car with a debit card or financing the purchase of furniture – many people were shocked to learn that innocent, everyday actions can wind up blemishing their credit reports.

In reality, though, my initial list of five items represented just the tip of the iceberg.

Unfortunately, due to the quirks of the credit-scoring system, there are a host of other seemingly harmless actions you might take that can lower your FICO credit scores or any credit score, such as the VantageScore.

Here are five more surprising things that can damage your credit rating: 

1. Disputing a credit card bill

It's your right to dispute information in your credit reports if the information isn't correct. And under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, data that's outdated, inaccurate or that can't be verified must be removed from your credit reports.

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