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There’s plenty of “common knowledge” about credit scores that isn’t actually so common. And believing the wrong myths can quietly be hurting you.
The average credit score in the U.S. sits at 714, according to Motley Fool Money research. If you’re well below that, there might be a few things that are worth clearing up.
Here are six credit card myths to be aware of — and the truth behind them.
1. “Checking your own credit score can lower it”
Checking your credit score never lowers it. That’s because looking up your own score counts as a “soft inquiry,” and soft inquiries have zero impact on your credit.
It’s only “hard inquiries” — the kind lenders run when you apply for a loan or credit card — that can knock a few points off your score, and even then, the dip is usually small and temporary.
Check your score as often as you want. It’s one of the easiest ways to catch problems early. I check mine every week or so, just to see what’s going on.
2. “You should carry a balance to build credit”
Again, carrying a balance doesn’t build credit any faster — it can actually hurt it, and costs you real money in interest in the meantime.
Your credit score is based on whether you pay on time and how much of your available credit you’re using, not on carrying debt month to month. Paying your statement in full every month builds your history just as well while saving you money.
If you’re already in debt, I recommend one of the best balance transfer credit cards to help you pay down your balance interest-free for up to 21 months.
3. “A higher income helps your credit score”
Your paycheck doesn’t factor into your credit score at all. Credit scoring models only look at how you manage credit: payment history, amounts owed, credit age, credit mix, and new inquiries.
Income matters when a lender decides whether to approve you for a card, but it never shows up in the score itself. That’s why someone earning $40,000 a year can have better credit than someone earning $400,000.
4. “Your credit score is single number”
You actually have several credit scores, not one. FICO and VantageScore use different formulas, and each of the three credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — can show a slightly different number depending on what’s been reported to them.
That’s normal, and it’s why the score you see from a free app might not match what a lender pulls. Don’t panic over small gaps between scores; look at the trend instead.
5. “Closing an old credit card helps your score”
The opposite is true here — closing an old card can actually hurt you.
Shutting down an account you’re not using shrinks your total available credit. That pushes up your credit utilization ratio — a big factor in your score. It also shortens your average credit age over time, since that closed account eventually stops counting toward your history.
Unless the card charges an annual fee you can’t justify, it’s usually smarter to leave it open and just stop using it.
If you want a card you can keep open forever, I recommend checking out our list of the top no-annual-fee cards. Many of them offer great rewards rates, other perks, and even welcome bonuses. This is the ideal type of card to choose if you’re looking for a card you can hold onto for years at no cost to you.
6. “One late payment ruins your score forever”
A single late payment fades over time, and won’t tank your score for good. It might hurt a lot at first, but the effect shrinks as time goes on, assuming you make on-time payments afterward.
Late payments stay on your report for up to seven years, but lenders weigh recent behavior most heavily. Get back on track and stay there, and that one slip stops mattering a lot faster than you’d think.
Once you’ve cleared that up, you’ll want to make sure you’ve picked the right card for you. If you’re in the market, our roundup of the best credit cards of 2026 breaks down options for every type of spender.
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