Summer vacation is wrapping up, September looms ahead, and parents are beginning to turn their focus to the start of school. As parents stock up on school supplies and new gear for their students, it is essential to be aware of common credit mishaps that may tempt them as they prepare their kids for the first day.

Whether they’ve outgrown last year’s clothes or are trying to keep up with the trends, students tend to need new clothes at the start of the school year. This inevitably means multiple trips to the mall to browse at national retail chains and plenty of online shopping. Most stores will offer a discount on purchases if you apply for a new store credit card. While this isn’t typically a big deal, parents should know how the application for new retail credit cards may affect their credit scores.

Whenever you apply for a credit card, the lender is going to pull one of three credit reports, where any new credit inquiry will appear. Such inquiries can lower your credit scores, but typically in a very minor way. Still, if your credit scores already need help, every point and fluctuation is important, so even a few new inquiries can mean the difference between approval and rejection when it comes to lenders.

After you apply and get approved for a retail store credit card, the account, or “trade line,” will be reported to the Nationwide Credit Reporting Agencies (NCRAs) and reach your credit reports. Accounts that are newly opened will lower the average age of the accounts on your reports and can lower your credit scores.

Because retail store credit cards tend to have low credit limits, often lower than $1,000, even modest purchases can result in a significantly leveraged credit card account. This has the potential to lower your scores as the high utilization impacts your balance-to-limit ratio—an important credit score metric. Keeping that ratio as low as possible will keep your scores from dipping too low.

While back-to-school shoppers should be knowledgeable about how their saving tactics may impact their credit scores, that doesn’t mean they should avoid malls or avoid using a newly opened retail store credit card. To be safe, it is best to pay off fresh school shopping debt before applying for any loans and ensure that your credit scores are as healthy and strong as possible.

Learn more tips on how to build your credit here: How to Build Your Credit