It's a little embarrassing to admit - but I have average credit. My score just hovers around 635, and so far, I haven't been able to do much about it. Now most people would say "wow, you've got a 635 score?! That's great!" - except, in a creditor's eyes, 635 is a hair above sub-prime.

I'm not really planning on making any credit purchases anytime soon, but I still want to improve my credit, so I've been reading up on it. Some of the statistics and facts are pretty shocking.

Take for instance, did you know 85% of Americans have an error on their credit report? In fact, 25% have an error significant enough to be denied credit. That's one in every 4. I dare you to bring together your 3 closest friends and figure out which one gets denied.

If you don't want to be the one denied doofus, the 5 key factors out of 22 that affect your credit score the most are 1. the type of credit (mortgage loans, installment loans, revolving loans, or finance cards), 2. frequency of credit inquiries, 3. account age, 4. outstanding balances, and 5. payment history.

About those credit types - mortgage loans are anything attached to real assets (like real estate); installment loans are for personal property like cars; revolving loans are credit cards; and finance cards are those store and gas cards.

In case you're really stuck, don't expect 100% success from a credit improvement group either. The typical success rate for a credit improvement agency is 25 to 40%. Even a top notch credit improvement company only has a 70 to 75% success rate - so don't fork over the dough expecting absolutely infallible results.

Most of the time a credit improvement company may only increase your score temporarily because a line was suppressed rather than deleted. When an item on your report has been suppressed, all that means is the creditor couldn't get it's paperwork straight to respond within the 30 days. Once they have proof, the item pops back up again - so make sure you get that letter of deletion.