According to The Wall Street Journal, Fair Isaac, which created the popular FICO credit score, is making some small adjustments to the way it calculates American people’s credit scores.

The penalties for occasional slip-ups in making monthly payments will be reduced; while those who repeatedly make late payments will see their scores fall more.

People who are using more than 80% of their limits on credit cards will see their scores fall more. (It’s important to get a huge credit limit and lower the usage of your credit.)

Those who manage a variety of loans — such as having a mortgage, an auto loan, and credit cards at the same time — will see boost of their credit scores only if they can perfectly manage their credit—never a late payment.

Applying for credit too many times won’t hurt your score any longer, which used to lower your score. (This is definitely good news for those deal catchers.)

In a word, the changes seem to make clearer distinctions between good credit risks and bad ones.

The changes of the new credit scoring system intend to provide better prediction on whether you are a good borrower or not. If you are already have a good credit score, please keep doing what you are doing now. If you are always missing the payments, you’d better knock your head and figure out every method you can to make timely payments.