Coming To Grips With A Credit Score And How To Take Care Of It
In this day and age, it’s always a good idea to pay attention to your credit score at all times. Along with a credit history, the score can affect your life in ways that might be surprising to some. For a fact, almost nothing that’s going to be bought on credit can be gotten without a decent credit score. If it’s low, you may still be able to get it, but it’ll be far costlier in terms of interest rate.
What many don’t know is that what we refer to as a “score” is a numerical rendering given to a person’s overall credit history, which usually is examined in a 7 to 10 year span of time. The most common score is that of the Fair Isaac Credit Organization (FICO), which goes all the way up to 850. Additionally, all 3 major credit bureaus (Experian, EquiFaxa and TransUnion) have their own internal scores.
There are also a number of other issues revolving around a low score (and such a score WILL cost more in terms of interest paid over the life of a loan or some sort of installment plan). For one, it’s becoming more and more evident that employers are increasingly accessing a person’s credit history before making a job offer to a prospective new hire. There are a few reasons for why this is so.
Perhaps the biggest reason is that employers are coming to believe that a person’s creditworthiness as measured by a score can be a reflection of a person’s overall work ethic and trustworthiness. Many human resources experts dispute this, and the law is clear that an employer must obtain permission from the possible employee in order to pull a credit report and score.
Also, it’s becoming more difficult to obtain a mortgage these days with a low score. In fact, those with such scores might not be able to get a loan at all without a significant down payment. And even auto insurers are getting in on the act and are pulling credit reports before extending indemnity coverage, though more than a few states are starting to outlaw that practice.
As far as the things to do to raise a score, FICO has recently released a partial breakdown of how they formulate the score itself. Naturally, declaring bankruptcy or defaulting on a home mortgage can cause the most damage (by as much as a 200-point drop), and being more than 30 days late on an installment or credit card payment can cause at least a 10-point drop.
Lastly, having credit cards that are near their limit or are maxed out can cause anywhere from a 10 to 50-point drop in the consumer’s credit score. The answer to how to raise a score, then, should be obvious; pay bills on time (and pay a bit more than the minimum) and keep amounts owed to reasonable levels. In the end, watching over a score is an individual responsibility, so take it seriously.
To get additional advice about how to improve credit score and to learn how you can benefit from credit repair, visit these links. The top solutions are to be found here.
December 20, 2009 | Posted by Lynn Daniels
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