Search for ways to raise a credit score and you will find the same handful of tips repeated everywhere, some of them for a decade or more. A few were never true. Others were true under older scoring models and quietly stopped being true. All of them share a flaw: they treat the score as something to be gamed rather than something that follows from how you actually use credit. Here are five popular pieces of advice, what each gets wrong, and what to do instead.
Tip 1: “Close the cards you don’t use to clean up your file”
The theory: fewer open accounts looks tidier and more responsible to a lender.
The truth: closing a card in good standing does nothing to shorten your credit history. Closed accounts stay on your report for up to ten years and keep counting toward the age of your file the whole time. What closing does do is delete that card’s limit from your available credit, so the same balances on your other cards suddenly represent a larger share of a smaller total. Amounts owed make up 30% of a FICO score, and utilization is the fastest-moving part of that factor, so a tidy-up can cost you points overnight.
Do instead: keep no-annual-fee cards open with one small recurring charge on each, paid in full. If a card carries a fee you no longer want, ask the issuer for a no-fee product change before you close it. When closing really is the right call, do it in the right order.
Tip 2: “Carry a small balance so the card shows activity”
The theory: a card that always reads zero is not helping you, so leave a little owed each month.
The truth: scoring models reward on-time payments and low utilization, and neither requires you to pay interest. The balance that reaches your credit report is generally the one on your statement, so using the card and then paying the statement in full shows activity without a finance charge. Paying interest to build credit is the most expensive myth on this list: the average APR on card accounts that carried a balance was 22.15% in the second quarter of 2026, and many new offers run above 25%.
Do instead: use the card for normal spending, keep the reported balance under 30% of the limit (lower is better), and pay the statement balance every month. If you want a smaller number reported, pay part of the balance before the statement closes.
Tip 3: “Paying a collection is throwing money away”
The theory: a paid collection still shows on your report, so the money buys you nothing.
The truth: it depends on which score a lender pulls, and the newer models have changed the answer. FICO 9, FICO 10 and VantageScore 3.0 and 4.0 ignore collections once they are paid. FICO 8, still the most widely used version for cards, auto loans and personal loans in 2026, does count paid collections, though it disregards any with an original balance under $100. Medical debt gets separate treatment: the three bureaus removed medical collections under $500 from reports in 2023, and paid medical collections are removed as well. So a paid collection is invisible under some models and neutral-to-mild under others, while an unpaid one keeps a lawsuit on the table.
Do instead: confirm the debt is yours and the amount is right before paying anything, get any settlement in writing, and pay with the understanding that the item may still be visible to some lenders until it ages off.
Tip 4: “Never use credit and your score stays safe”
The theory: no debt, no risk, no way to hurt your score.
The truth: a score is a prediction built from evidence, and a file with no recent activity gives the model nothing to work with. People who go years without an open account can find they have no score at all when they finally need a mortgage or a car loan, which most lenders cannot work with. The opposite mistake is just as common: borrowing you do not need, such as financing a car you could pay cash for, or opening accounts purely to diversify your credit mix. Mix is only 10% of a FICO score, and the interest on an unnecessary loan costs far more than the points are worth.
Do instead: keep one or two cards active and paid in full. If you are starting from nothing, a secured card or a credit-builder loan does the job without real borrowing costs; the step-by-step is in what to do if you don’t have credit. When you do need a real loan, shop for it inside a two-week window so the inquiries count as one.
Tip 5: “Just wait it out — old debts drop off in seven years”
The theory: ignore the debt, the clock runs, the problem disappears.
The truth: two different clocks are running, and confusing them is expensive. Federal law limits how long most negatives can be reported: collections and charge-offs can be reported for seven years, with the clock starting 180 days after the original delinquency, and bankruptcies for ten. That is the reporting clock. The statute of limitations is a separate clock set by state law, most often three to six years, and it limits how long a creditor can sue you; it has nothing to do with what appears on your report. Worse, in some states a payment or a written acknowledgment of the debt restarts it. Waiting quietly can work; waiting and then making a small payment to get a collector off the phone can reset your legal exposure.
Do instead: before you respond to any old debt, find out your state’s statute of limitations for that type of debt and whether it has run. Do not pay or promise anything until you know. If the amount is large or a lawsuit has been filed, a consumer attorney is worth the consultation fee.
The tip that is actually worth taking
Pull your reports. They are free every week from all three bureaus at AnnualCreditReport.com, and a wrong balance, a late payment that is not yours or a collection you already settled will hold a score down no matter what else you do. Dispute errors in writing with the bureau and the creditor. Then let the boring things work: on-time payments are 35% of the score, low balances are most of the next 30%, and time does the rest. The full method is in raise your credit score.