Most creditors want to see at least 12 months free of delinquent payments, while mortgage lenders typically prefer at least 24 months of clean payment history. (badcredit.org)
After a few years of clean payment history, their impact on your overall score will likely be minimal. (badcredit.org)
For those with clean payment histories, the culprit bringing down their scores is often a formula that sounds like it was created by an evil mathematician: the «debt usage» or «utilization» ratio. (clark.com)