How Credit Can Be Damaged?

1. Applying for too many credit cards.
2. Not paying your installments, loans or credit card bills on time; outstanding debts

Thanks all for your nice information. More nice information about how credit can be damaged are mostly welcome. As I have only one credit card and no payment due so, my credit is in good condition.

I think 1 credit card would be more than enough. No point applying so many that you cannot keep track of whether you have it or not.
Best is to keep your credit card at home.

Most likely, your credit will remain good as long as you don't have lots of credit cards and debts.  While some people insist that credit cards are the only way to obtain a good credit history, they're not.  If you obtain a mortgage or student loan, that's considered a good type of debt and deemed more favorable.  Best of luck

Your credit score is made up of the following components:

Payment history- 35%

Amounts Owed (Debt to Income Ratio): 30%

Credit History/Length of Credit: 15%

Variety of Credit: 10%

New Credit: 10%

After looking at the make-up of someone's credit score, it is clear that not making your monthly payments on time and having a very poor debt to income ratio will surely cause your credit score to suffer.

In addition to anything that has a negative effect on a person's actual credit score, certain marks that appear on someone's credit can also give the potential lender the impression that the borrower is a risk. These marks would include (but not limited to) foreclosures, reposessions, bankruptcy filings and judgments.

Exactly. So the worst thing you can ultimately do for your credit score is to fall behind on payments and do so for a long period of time. And, if you don't make that much money but owe a lot, you can be sure that your credit will suffer as a result.

A couple of things I would like to add that affect a person's credit negatively:

-anytime an account is not paid in full

-bankruptcy filings

-judgments (unsatisfied judgments are of course the worst)