I have seen many people asking questions about Credit Score and how it is calculated. Here are some tips for you that will help improve your CREDIT SCORE.

(1) First, your debt-to-limit ratio should be under 30 %. For example, If you have a $5,000 limit and you've charged $4,000 this month, your debt-to-limit ratio is 80%, which is enough to signal to lenders that you are a high risk borrower. This will Decrease your CREDIT SCORE. As a result, lenders may increase your annual percentage rate (APR) or deny you a loan - even if you pay off your credit card balance every month and have never exceeded your limit. That means if your limit is $5,000, then you should aim to charge less than $500-$800 a month.

The lower your debt-to-limit ratio, the better your credit score will be. And to that end, there are two basic ways to improve your debt utilization: raise your credit limit or lower your debt.

(2)Raise your limit, lower your debt---Your credit card limit is listed on your monthly bill, but it can change from one billing cycle to the next. That's because credit card issuers can raise or lower your limit as they see fit.

(3) When paying down debt, it's important to consider that your debt utilization is calculated per card and cumulatively. That means that leaving one card nearly maxed out will negate all the hard work you've done paying down the balances on other cards.

(4) Signing up for new cards to boost your total available credit and make your debt utilization appear lower can work against you, experts say. In fact, opening new accounts can even lower your credit score.Recent credit inquiries constitute 10% of your credit score. For example, if you try  to open a new credit card account, that will account for 10% of your TOTAL SCORE and will reduce your Credit score by few points.

(5)Closing unused cards is also a bad idea----> This will lead to reduction in your credit limit which will increase your debt-to-limit ratio again and Credit score will go down. Keep it in mind.

(6) Use old credit cards periodically --- just to prevent your issuer from closing them because of inactivity.

Pay all your Bills on time and keep all these things in your mind and you'll have a nice Credit History and buy a House at Low APR

PURANA KAGAZ

 point 5 is not correct in my experience. I have closed 3 of my cards earlier.
Before closing account, my score was hovering aroung 650. After canceling them, it dropped and after 2-3 months, it started going up, and crossed 650 easily in couple of months. 

Also, closing unused cards helps identity theft / card misuses etc...

If you are not buyinmg car or house in next 6 months, feel free to close your unused cards (but not all cards of course)
Just my experience...

V2001, You're partially right there...
Here's how it works....When you close your unused cards, initially the score goes down by few points depending on your debt-to-credit ratio. If you've a pretty good debt-to-credit ratio, ie. less than 30% in most cases, your Credit Score will start going up again...Close your unused cards only if you've paid off your other credit cards and you are financially strong.

@ Purana Kagaz thanks for the inf. feels good to see such useful inf.s at Sajha.Keep up !!