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    Thanks again for all your questions today. It was fun. Please look me up on twitter @MikeCetera. And remember, you can get your free credit score and report from us: https://my.bankrate.com/

    One of the problems with store credit cards — even if you do make timely payments — is they tend to have low available credit. That can really mess up your credit-utilization rate (how much credit you have vs. how much you’re using). And “amount owed” makes up 30% of your credit score. So, if you owe $500 on an a…

    The credit card issuer doesn’t matter in the least when it comes to your credit score.

    Types of credit used makes up about 10% of your credit score. So the fact you don’t have a mix outside of credit cards might hurt you a bit. But you really shouldn’t get another loan — auto, mortgage, etc. — just to juice your credit score. 720 is pretty good, btw!

    Your pursuit of new credit — including inquiries and the number of new accounts you have — makes up 10% of your credit score. So adding a number of accounts — or trying to — relatively quickly will have an impact. Pay on time, and make sure you’re using less than 30% of your available credit on each account and in…

    Lots of good questions here.

    One in 10 adults in 2015 was “credit invisible,” meaning they haven’t established credit. That doesn’t seem like the case with you. You want to get to a point where your credit history is too old to track. That could take awhile. Generally speaking, bad marks remain on your file for 7 years. But accounts you’ve paid…

    You’re not hurting your score, that’s for sure. If, as you say, you’re paying off before the bill comes — before the “closing date” on the statement — then your creditor is likely reporting to the credit bureaus that you owe nothing. This helps in the “amounts owed” category of your credit score that I mentioned…

    We’ve found that young adults especially are avoiding credit cards. And who can blame them? But when it comes time to buy a house or a car, if you’ve avoided credit cards, you’ve sacrificed building a strong credit history. In the end, you may not get the loan — or you may pay a higher interest rate.

    Lalie: Since the length of your credit history only makes up about 15% of your credit score, it’s not going to be the primary reason why your score isn’t where you want it to be. It sounds like you’re being tremendously responsible about your finances, for which you should be commended. Payment history makes up 35% of…

    Dudemeister: Congrats on your great credit history. Remember, that’s what’s important here. As far as boosting your credit more, there’s a couple of things to consider. You may be getting “penalized” because of the length of your credit history. That makes up 15% of your credit score. If you opened your first credit…

    Hoopty: Closing a credit card will never help your credit score, but it could hurt it. If you suddenly lose $4,500 in available credit, that could affect what’s called your credit-utilization ratio, or the amount of credit you’re using (regardless of whether you pay it off each month) versus the amount of credit you…

    Thanks for the question, Liz. While the credit scoring companies — and credit scores themselves — can seem far from transparent, there’s good news here: They’ve given us a pretty good road map to follow. There’s a bunch of things that go into your credit score, but the two big things are payment history and how much…

    Thanks for the opportunity, Andy. Glad to be here. Your question is a good one and it speaks to what really matters in our financial lives. I don’t think people should really be obsessed with their credit scores. By the time they need the score — when they need a loan — it’s too late to change. Instead, focus on doing…

    Very interesting!