Four Ways to Keep Your Credit Healthy in a Crunch
With less liquidity in the market, some credit issuers are tightening their standards for loans and restricting access to credit. This can make it tough to get a car loan or mortgage if your credit rating is less than ideal. If your credit is so clean it sparkles, we have tips to keep it that way; if your rating could use a rescue, these tips will work for you, too.

1. Know your FICO score. You can get a credit history from each of the three major credit bureaus by going to annualcreditreport.com. To get your credit rating, however, you may have to pay for them at myfico.com. Requesting your own credit report, if done through authorized agencies, will not impact your rating. A high score (750 or above) will enable you to negotiate for the best interest rates on credit cards, for example. It will also make borrowing easier if you're in the market for an auto loan or a mortgage. In 2007, 83% of people who applied for a car loan got one. This year, only 60% of applications are approved.
   
   
2. Know your limits. Some credit card issuers are lowering the amount of credit available to users. You want to keep your borrowing to 30% of your limit or less-even if you pay off your balance every month. FICO likes to see a healthy gap between the amount you owe and the maximum limit of debt allowed on your cards.
   
   
3. Don't close old cards; choose new cards carefully. Longevity matters, and a lengthy history of responsible behavior can only help. Common wisdom used to be to close out accounts that are no longer active, but that can shorten your credit history. One word of warning: many credit card issuers are closing down accounts that have been inactive for more than a year. You may want to make a purchase on that card to keep it active. On the other hand, don't open a bunch of new cards in hopes of increasing your available limit-too many cards too quickly looks risky to lenders.
   
   
4. Don't radically change your spending habits. Issuers are watching for behaviors that may indicate a borrower is having financial difficulties. Revolving credit debt instead of paying it off, for example, or sending smaller payments can trigger an issuer to lower credit limits, which in turn can negatively impact your FICO score.