There are five separate categories of information that make up your FICO score, which is the credit scoring system most commonly used in lending decisions. Your payment history, use of your available credit, how long you've been using credit, new credit, and the mix of account types all play a vital role in how lenders look at you.

However, there is some information many consumers assume is part of their credit scores that actually has no bearing on the process.

In fact, in many cases it is illegal for lenders to take some of this information into account at all. For example, a lender cannot deny a 30-year mortgage to a 90 year old because they might not have 30 years of life left to repay the loan.

Here is some of the information that does not play any role in your credit score, despite what you may have heard.

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