Credit Scores

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.

Is Having Perfect Credit Just About Having a High FICO Score?

Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach December 1, 2010

If you have never seen your credit reports, or been told your credit scores, you may have only a rough idea of your standing. If so, that’s a big mistake. I don’t want you to have hazy or vague knowledge about such a very important topic. I want you to be crystal-clear about your credit rating and know what specific actions you can take to maximize and even profit from it.

Can You Bump Hard Inquiries Off Your Credit Report By Monitoring With Soft Inquiries?

Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach December 1, 2010

Soft inquiries – even lots of them – will not bump off or remove hard inquiries on your credit reports. This is because all inquiries

A hand holding a pen is marking "Excellent" on a credit score form, celebrating that coveted first FICO score. Nearby are a calculator, glasses, and a document with financial information.

How Do I Establish My First FICO Score?

Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach October 4, 2010

Your FICO credit scores – like all credit scores – are based on the underlying data and information that is contained in your credit files with the “Big 3” credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. According to Fair Isaac, the company that created the three-digit FICO scores (which range from 300 to 850 points), in order to have a FICO score generated for you, your credit history must contain at least three things:

What’s the Fastest Way to Fix Errors in My Credit Report When I Apply for a Mortgage?

Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach September 29, 2010

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.

A round button with a metallic silver border and a green center featuring a white upward arrow that inspires you to maximize your credit score.

6 Ways to Help You Maximize Your Credit Score

Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach September 22, 2010

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.

Graduation caps with yellow tassels are thrown in the air against a clear blue sky, reflecting the culmination of years of effort and wise credit utilization.

How to Lower Your Credit Utilization

Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach September 22, 2010

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.

Do I Need My Plus Score or Just My FICO Score?

Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach September 21, 2010

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.

Book cover titled "Perfect Credit: 7 Steps to a Great Credit Rating" by Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, featuring a smiling photo of the author in a purple dress, embodying the confidence that comes with achieving perfect credit.

What Exactly Is Perfect Credit?

Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach September 20, 2010

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.”

A man in a suit signs a document at a desk, surrounded by other people in formal attire, marking a pivotal moment in financial reform.

Financial Reform Bill Will Give Free Credit Scores to Some

Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach August 24, 2010

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.

A person in formal attire stands against a white wall in a sparsely furnished room with a carpeted floor and fluorescent lighting, perhaps contemplating solutions for bad credit.

Bad Credit Can Cost You a Job or a Promotion

Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach August 23, 2010

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

A pen rests atop a blue credit card, placed on a document displaying various interest charges, APRs, and credit utilization for different account activities.

The Impact of Credit Utilization Rate on Your Credit Score

Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach August 20, 2010

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: 7 Steps to a Great Credit Rating

Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach August 19, 2010

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.

Credit Scores

Is Having Perfect Credit Just About Having a High FICO Score?

Can You Bump Hard Inquiries Off Your Credit Report By Monitoring With Soft Inquiries?

How Do I Establish My First FICO Score?

What’s the Fastest Way to Fix Errors in My Credit Report When I Apply for a Mortgage?

6 Ways to Help You Maximize Your Credit Score

How to Lower Your Credit Utilization

Do I Need My Plus Score or Just My FICO Score?

What Exactly Is Perfect Credit?

Financial Reform Bill Will Give Free Credit Scores to Some

Bad Credit Can Cost You a Job or a Promotion

The Impact of Credit Utilization Rate on Your Credit Score

Perfect Credit: 7 Steps to a Great Credit Rating

How To Boost Your Credit Score By Piggybacking

How to Quickly Boost Your 625 Credit Score

How Can I Re-Establish Credit With Bad Credit? No One Will Give Me a Credit Card.

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