Credit scores play a huge role in your financial and personal life. Credit scores impact your ability to get a mortgage or rent an apartment, they determine whether or not you will get approved for a student loan or credit card, and your credit scores even influence the rates you pay on car insurance.
For those looking for a job, credit scores are equally important since many employers are checking job applicants’ credit ratings before determining whom to hire. The best way to stay on top of your credit health is to check your credit reports at least once a year and review your credit scores as well. The most common type of credit score is the FICO score. It ranges from 300 to 850 point. The higher your credit score, the better off you are financially.
Whenever you notice a mistake in your credit report, you should always dispute it – with the credit bureaus or the creditor that reported inaccurate information. Getting an error removed from your credit file usually takes about 30 days to be completed.
Anyone living in today’s society knows that it can be a drag to be turned down for credit. It’s no fun when your application for a car loan, a student loan, a mortgage, or even just a credit card is denied.
Learn how to boost your credit standing by knowing the ins and outs of how your score is determined by Fair Isaac Corp., the company that calculates your FICO credit score.
To raise your credit scores, it’s always best to pay down debt, as opposed to shifting it around. However, for most people trying to boost their credit rating, it’s not always possible to instantly pay off all their credit card debt. So what can you do in that case? You can shift debt around in order to strategically lower your credit card utilization rate.
In addition to your FICO credit scores, you should also get your Experian PLUS score. In recent years, consumers got all three FICO scores – based on their TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian reports. But as of 2009, you can now only get two FICO scores (based on what’s in your Equifax and TransUnion files). You can no longer get an Experian-based FICO score. So what should you do to get a score based on all three credit files? My recommendation is to get your third credit score directly from Experian via its www.creditexpert.com consumer website. This score is known as your Experian PLUS Score.
If your FICO credit score falls between 760 and 850 points, you rate among the top tier of all consumers and have the cornerstone for what I call Perfect Credit. Getting a great FICO score, however, is just part of the achievement. Fair Isaac reports that, among consumers with credit scores of 760 or higher, only 1% risk defaulting on a debt. So having Perfect Credit also means being able to access a whole host of products and services—mortgages, automobiles, credit cards, business lines of credit, and personal loans—at the most favorable terms available in the marketplace. Once you snag that impressive credit score, and all the benefits it entails, does having Perfect Credit today mean you’ll have Perfect Credit tomorrow? Unfortunately the answer is “no.”
You’re already entitled to one free copy of your credit report each year, via annualcreditreport.com. But thanks to the Financial Reform bill Congress just passed, you may be able to get a free credit score in the future too. Who is entitled to the free credit score? You’ll qualify anytime a company takes “adverse” action against you based, at least in part, on information it got from your credit file.
If you’re out of work, nobody has to tell you how tough it can be to find a job. Now there is another obstacle to
Question: “I have good credit and own four credit cards with a combined credit limit of $24, 000. Three cards are at zero balance, and
Perfect Credit
If you have negative marks in your credit history, you already know what a pain it is living with bad credit: you get turned down for credit cards and loans, you pay sky-high interest rates when you do get approved, or you have to go (hat in hand) asking family or friends to co-sign for you or loan you money. The list of indignities you suffer with poor credit goes on and on.
A subscriber to AskTheMoneyCoach.com wants to know if being added as an authorized user to someone else’s credit card account can help them boost their credit score?
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