Your business credit report is generally based on the timeline of your payments, and unlike a personal credit report, a business credit report may have a number of active accounts, which can offer a positive effect, as long as your other accounts are in good standing. Your business credit score will also have some information that's self-reported, which is generally not allowed in personal credit reports. Mounting Utility Bills Paint a Bad Credit History While late payments on utility, cable TV and telephone bills are not often reported to credit agencies, a number of US states actually report these types of delinquencies to collections agencies. However, for those who pay their utility bills on time, this practice may actually do a lof of help in enhancing their credit rating. Once you see any errors, dispute those figures, and have them corrected or removed within thirty days. While your creditors may look like heartless individuals, the truth is that they are not your enemies. Creditors are in business because they earn a profit from their lending services, and if you don t pay your debts, the creditor will also feel the pinch, and his bottom line gets hurt as well. Too Many Inquiries: How These Can Pull Your Credit Score Down Whenever someone requests for a credit report, the person does what is known as an inquiry . According to credit experts, making a credit report inquiry only eats up around 10% of the criteria for a credit score adjustment, and some experts say that credit score may go down each time a credit report is requested. How To Improve Your Credit Score According to credit experts, there are a lot of methods for improving your credit score. Among the strategies include making sure that you pay your bills on time. If ever you missed some payments in the past, do all you can to pay your current bills on time. Also remember to keep your outstanding debt to as low as you can, and it would be better to pay the debt off, rather than simply move or transfer it around. The credit score is valued, and analyzed by banks, credit unions and other financial institutions, as well as by employers, mortgage companies, and even by your landlord. Once you obtain your credit score, make sure you regularly track your credit by signing-up for a free online credit report. A free online credit report helps you quickly find out whether there s an error or inconsistency in your credit history, so that you can immediately have those errors erased or corrected, and you ll have a much easier time dealing with potential lenders.