As a consumer you've learned the importance of establishing a good credit rating with your lenders. Whether you are shopping for a new home or auto, or searching for the best deals on insurance, your credit worthiness will be judged by your credit rating or credit score.

A bad credit history or bad credit habits will place "black marks" on your credit profile. These include things such as late payments, having an account assigned to a collection agency, and of course bankruptcy.

Establishing good credit habits and therefore a good credit rating will improve your credit worthiness. This will be reflected in potential lenders offering you substantially lower interest rates and better deals on credit offers.

Here are 4 tips to help you create a shining credit profile:

1) Pay Your Bills On Time

Lenders only have your past payment history on which to decide the type of credit risk you present to them. How you pay off your debts now indicates to them how you will pay off future debts.

2) Don't Carry Too Many or Too Few Credit Cards

How much is too much? How little is too little? Many credit experts and financial planners suggest two to four credit cards is just the right mix.

3) Pay At Least the Minimum Due

Always pay at least the minimum due payment, but never less. And remember, just paying the minimum payment means it will take you years and years to pay off that credit card.

Example: Paying off a $2,000 credit payment at 18% APR with a minimum monthly payment of 2% ($40 dollars or less) will take you 30 years to pay off the amount plus interest.

4) Review Your Credit Report Regularly

Monitor your credit report from all three major credit bureaus - Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax - on a regular basis. Check your credit profile at least annually. Review it carefully and make sure that any past mistakes or disputes have been corrected.

Also, if you notice an account listed that you know that you have not personally opened, contact that creditor and the credit bureaus immediately. This could be a sign that you've had your identity stolen. Request to have a fraud alert placed on your profile and account to protect yourself and your credit. Identity theft is the fastest growing consumer crime in America, with an estimated 1 million people victimized each year.

Establish good credit habits early in life and reap the benefits that your good credit rating will provide you for the rest of your financial future.

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This weblog is sponsored by Ovation Law.

A credit inquiry is an item on a credit report that shows a business with a "permissible purpose" (as defined under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act) has previously requested a copy of the report.

When you check your credit report, you may notice that a number of credit inquiries have been made, sometimes from businesses that you don’t know. But the only inquiries that count toward your FICO score are the ones that result from your applications for new credit.

There is only one type of credit inquiry that counts toward your FICO score. When you apply for a mortgage, auto loan or other credit, you authorize the lender to request a copy of your credit report. These types of inquiries, prompted by your own actions, appear on your credit report and are included in your FICO score.

Your own credit report requests, credit checks made by businesses to offer you goods or services, or inquiries made by businesses with whom you already have a credit account do not count toward your FICO score. Credit checks by prospective employers also do not count. These types of inquiries may appear on your credit report, but they are not included in your FICO score.

Checking your credit reports regularly to be sure they are accurate and error-free is a good idea. In fact, maintaining accurate credit reports is a part of good credit management, which can help to improve your FICO scores over time.

How inquiries are factored into FICO scores.

There are five types of information used to calculate a FICO score at any given point in time. Each type of information counts as a percentage of a total FICO score:

Payment history = 35%

Amounts owed = 30%

Length of credit history = 15%

New credit = 10%

Types of credit in use = 10%

These percentages are based on the importance of the five categories for the general population. For particular groups, such as people with relatively short credit histories, the importance of the categories may differ.

Inquiries are a subset of the "new credit" category shown above, which accounts for 10% of the total FICO score. Their importance depends on the overall information in your credit report. For some people, a given factor may be more important than for someone else with a different credit history. In addition, as the information in your credit report changes, so does the importance of any factor in determining your score. What's important is the mix of information, which varies from person to person, and for any one person over time.

Inquiries may or may not affect your FICO score.

A FICO score takes into account only voluntary inquiries that result from your application for credit. The information about inquiries that can be factored into your FICO score includes:

• Number of recently opened accounts, and proportion of accounts that are recently opened, by type of account.

• Number of recent credit inquiries.

• Time since recent account opening(s), by type of account.

• Time since credit inquiry(ies).

A FICO score does not take into account any involuntary inquiries made by businesses with whom you did not apply for credit, inquiries from employers, or your own requests to see your credit report.

For many people, one additional credit inquiry (voluntary and initiated by an application for credit) may not affect their FICO score at all. For others, one additional inquiry would take less than 5 points off their FICO score.

Inquiries can have a greater impact, however, if you have few accounts or a short credit history. Large numbers of inquiries also mean greater risk: People with six inquiries or more on their credit reports are eight times more likely to declare bankruptcy than people with no inquiries on their reports.

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This weblog is sponsored by Ovation Law.