Your credit score or beacon is not the only information lenders take into account when approving a loan, but it is a big factor.  Here are tips to make sure you keep your credit score high and respectable:

1)  Pay your bills!!!
You simply can NOT afford to procrastinate with your bills, pay them on time and never miss a payment. Do you simply forget? Make a calendar event on your smartphone to pop up and remind you every month! Don’t have a simple way to do it? Take 10 minutes to set up your online banking structure to include simple payments for your bills. The number # 1 worst credit hit you can take is forgetting, or choosing to not pay your phone bill. Remember, these players got deep pockets so it costs them nothing to send you to collections for 75$. If you can not afford to pay your credit card, you have to at least pay the interest and balance owing, which can be as small as a payment of $10, but check your bill to verify.

2) 75% credit limit rule.
Have a credit Card? Do you have 6 credit cards? Or perhaps a few line of credits. Thats all fine and dandy, but do not let your limit exceed the 75% ratio! For example. you have a 10,000 credit card. And you have an amount owing of 9000. This will take a hit on your credit bureau because it exceed the 75% ratio that you should have be at, which would be $7500. So intend of “filling” up one credit card and leaving your other limits empty. Ratio your debt out on your cards so it doesn’t take a hit.

3) Excessive Credit
We all want credit. But do you really REALLY need that $80,000 unsecured line of credit when you only have a balance of $2000 on it? If you have excessive amounts of credit, it will be very difficult to get a loan for a car, or perhaps a mortgage on the house you want to buy. Come up with a strategy before your next big purchase and decide what you can sacrifice and what you can not.

Along with these 3 tips the government of Canada has some great recommendations as well(http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/oca-bc.nsf/eng/ca02178.html):

Always pay your bills on time. Although the payment of your utility bills, such as phone, cable and electricity, is not recorded in your credit report, some cell phone companies may report late payments to the credit-reporting agencies, which could affect your score.

Try to pay your bills in full by the due date. If you aren’t able to do this, pay at least the required minimum amount shown on your monthly credit card statement.

Try to pay your debts as quickly as possible.

Don’t go over the credit limit on your credit card. Try to keep your balance well below the limit. The higher your balance, the more impact it has on your credit score.

Reduce the number of credit applications you make. If too many potential lenders ask about your credit in a short period of time, this may have a negative effect on your score. However, your score does not change when you ask for information about your own credit report.

Make sure you have a credit history. You may have a low score because you do not have a record of owing money and paying it back. You can build a credit history by using a credit card.