I’ve written over the past months about the different factors that make up your credit score, and have referenced the site Credit Karma which provides a free scoring service that will help you monitor and improve your credit score. Today, let’s look at on time payments. 
This one is a no-brainer. It’s a highly weighted part of your score but it’s also the one that you should never fail to keep at 100%. Even letting one account go past 30 days will have a detrimental impact to your score. It’s very simple. Pay the bill when it’s due. Never let your minimum payments become so large that you risk not being able to pay that bill. For the three cards I regularly use, I have a payment sent automatically each month, enough to cover the minimum so if the bill gets lost or misplaced, my biggest risk is to pay interest, but not to have missed the payment completely. One more article in this series, and then a wrap up and summary. Stay tuned.
September 20th, 2012 at 5:20 pm
Awesome job keeping up those on-time payments. I like your strategy of scheduling a payment for at least the minimum. Thanks again for mentioning CK!
September 21st, 2012 at 9:02 am
Thanks, Bethy! This series has one factor remaining, the “Derogatory Items”, then a wrap-up post. Great to meet you at #FinCon12!
September 21st, 2012 at 10:28 am
[...] Paying your Credit Cards on Time? @JoeTaxpayer "This one is a no-brainer. It's a highly weighted part of your score but it's also the one that you should never fail to keep at 100%. Even letting one account go past 30 days will have a detrimental impact to your score. It's very simple. Pay the bill when it's due. Never let your minimum payments become so large that you risk not being able to pay that bill." [...]
September 23rd, 2012 at 10:26 pm
[...] Joe Taxpayer: Joe writes about all sorts of personal finance topics, but his main focus is on tax-related issues. Recent Post: Paying Your Credit Cards on Time? [...]