Credit Score And Its Importance
Your credit score is of vital importance. Your FICO score will determine whether you will receive home loans, car loans, personal lines of credit and more. Without this credit available you will be unable to proceed with important life choices.
Being the proud owner of a solid FICO score is critical these days. Now that we are post-lending crisis the availability of loans is not what it used to be. The days of zero-money-down mortgages and loans to high-risk lenders are over. The only way to become a possible loan candidate is to maintain your FICO score.
The best ways to maintain a good FICO score are:
1.Pay Your Bills On Time
Paying your bills on time is the best thing that you can do for your credit. This factor is the single most important factor in calculating your score. If you have challenges paying your bills on time then consider setting up automatic bill payments through your bank.
2.Do Not Close Accounts
The second strongest factor in your credit score is having long credit histories with the same lending institutions. Bouncing around to promotional cards and lending rates is brutal for your FICO score. The longer the history, the better the credit rating.
3.Do Not Open New Accounts
While there are many great promotional rates out there, avoid them like the plague. Even inquiring about a new card can affect your credit ratings. Just stick with the credit cards you have and avoid setting up too many new sources of credit.
4.Keep your Balances Low
Through credit utilization, credit companies look to see how much of your credit you have used. The higher percentage of balance used will mean a lower credit score.
Your credit score affects your life in many ways, from the car your drive to Christmas present shopping. Do not be left behind by credit companies, because you may need them one day.
The easiest and best way to keep a good credit score is to regularly monitor it. This can be done easily, through automatic updates from credit score monitoring companies. A monthly report can be sent to you via email, regarding your current credit score. By monitoring your credit like this you can catch missed payments, identity theft or misuses.
If your budget is too tight to pay for the service, consider using my FICO promotional code.
Through using my FICO promotional code you can keep track of your credit, but at a reduced cost that suits your bank balance.
Robin Wilding checks her MyFico scores using a MyFico Promo Code
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Categories: Credit Score Articles Tags: Credit, importance, Score
The Credit Score Scale Revealed
Most people have heard of this thing called a credit score, but not everybody knows what their score is. Even fewer know if their score is considered good or bad. There may seem to be some mystery shrouding credit scores, but once you learn a little bit about them, you will see they aren’t nearly as complicated as most people think. Here are some things you should know about your credit score and how it works.
All credit scores range from a low of 300 to a high of 850. Just by being alive, you get a score of 300. This means if you have absolutely no credit history, have never paid a bill, and don’t have an income you will be at 300. If you have done everything right your score may be a perfect 850. However, the credit agencies do not share how they determine credit scores, so there is no way to know the exact steps you need to achieve a perfect score.
In reality, most people fall comfortably between these two extremes. At this point a lot of people get concerned, they may know their credit score and think they are too far away from a perfect score. You should know that the average credit score is about 690. That won’t get you the best terms for a loan, but you should be able to get one if you need one. But what about a perfect score? Lenders understand how difficult this is to achieve, so they often start giving the best terms to those who have a score of 720 or better. Therefore, you don’t really need the near-impossible score of 850 to be in good shape. A score that falls between 680 and 720 will typically give you decent terms on a loan or credit card. You may not get the best deal, but it should still be pretty good.
The next bracket down is for those whose credit scores are from 630 to 679.
At this level you may find it difficult to find a loan with favorable terms. There’s even a chance that you won’t be able to get a loan at all. Every lender has slightly different standards as to who they lend money to and on what conditions that money is lent. It may take longer to find a loan, but take the time to shop around until you find the best possible deal, comparatively speaking.
Now, while the lowest score is 300, there isn’t as much difference between the 300 and 629 range. If you are able to get a loan at all, it will be at the highest rate. This can add even more of a financial burden. If your score falls somewhere within this bracket, then get copies of your credit reports to check for inaccuracies; making sure to dispute any and all errors. Even a few points to the positive can make all the difference.
Finally, be aware that every lender has different policies, so don’t give up. Keep trying to get a loan at a rate you can afford. This is especially true if you are on the border between two brackets.
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Premiums and your credit score
In the same way that insurers use ZIP codes to predict claims, so referring to your credit score can also work very unfairly. The way it works is easy to explain. The actuaries who collect statistical information about all the traffic accidents recorded by the police and emergency services are good at finding patterns. Sometimes, there are accident hot spots where the road design is bad or the maintenance poor. It can also be a people issue where there are high levels of theft or vandalism. These clusters, once identified, are a real blot on your financial landscape. You will be charged a higher premium based on your address. It’s the same when it comes to credit score. There are also patterns showing people with low scores are more likely to claim. In part, poor people use older vehicles and have less cash to spend on maintenance and repairs. This can contribute to accidents.
But, there’s a different statistical link when you put the two factors together. Hispanics, African-Americans and other immigrant groups are more likely to live in “doubtful” ZIP code areas and have poor credit scores. Yet, of course, this is just one of those statistical anomalies. Race has never been a factor in setting insurance rates in our land of equal opportunity.
In one sense, using credit card data may be a useful factor when put into a proper context. So, people going through a divorce, who have recently lost their jobs or who are going through the foreclosure process may be easily distracted and make poor drivers. Except, of course, credit records do not come with detailed notes on your current circumstances. Without there being protections in place, reliance on the score can be unfair. What makes the problem worse is the assumption the score is always accurate. In fact, a survey made about six years ago found there were mistakes in the credit records of up to 80% of adult Americans. In the majority of these cases, the errors were not significant but, because the scores are used when you are looking for a place to rent or for a new job, it’s wise to make sure the records are accurate. In this, remember there are three major credit rating agencies and each draws its data from slightly different sources. This can mean there are mistakes in only one set of records.
To help you ensure accuracy, Congress passed the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA). This gives you the right to get one free copy every year from each of the credit bureaus! So, no cost and only benefit if you find mistakes and have them corrected. As the time for getting your first or renewing your auto insurance policy comes around, check the data. If you get improved credit scores, all the auto insurance quotes coming back to your searches will be lower. Indeed, if you discover mistakes in the credit scores, you should contact your insurer. The honest companies will give you a refund on the premiums charged. What can be better than that!
If you have found this article interesting you can visit its David Mayer’s site http://www.allstatescarinsurance.com/articles/check-your-credit-score.html for more writings. David Mayer has spent years in perfecting his journalist skills and is pleased to share his vision with you.
Categories: Credit Score Articles Tags: Credit, Premiums, Score
Credit Score Fluctuations Are Normal
At the beginning of every new year, many Americans take steps to improve their finances, conducting an annual fiscal housecleaning to ensure they can maintain their lifestyle and make necessary payments through the coming months.
For some, this means ordering a free credit report from one of the major credit reporting agencies and checking for errors and inconsistencies. However, many folks are unaware of certain credit score basics and are often perplexed by how much their credit scores can vary from day to day in what seems like random fashion..
Consumers should be aware that this process is normal and, in most cases, not cause for concern. Just like savings account and credit card balances, a consumer’s exact credit score can change every day, based on a number of applicable transactions.
For example, every time an individual uses an ATM or swipes a debit card, the bank account associated with that card will fluctuate. Likewise, every time a consumer asks for a loan or makes a credit card payment, a credit score can go up or down accordingly.
Scores can also vary based on when a consumer requests his or her score and which credit reporting agency it’s requested from.
“Credit is dynamic information,” Greg Holmes, national director of sales and marketing at Credit Plus, a Salisbury, Maryland-based company that serves the mortgage business, told Marketwatch. “It’s constantly changing. It’s up and down and constantly moving. It depends on how much information is coming and going in and out of that credit report. It’s whatever time of day and month you pull the report.”
Because of this constant movement, a credit score can change from the time it’s reported to the time a loan application is filed, especially if it’s filed near the end of the month.
Credit history is one of the biggest factors in a credit score.
Lenders keep track of how often an account balance is paid off, how frequently it’s used, and whether the owner has been making necessary payments.
Missed payments — especially those classified as delinquent — can affect a credit report. In recent months, many consumers have been written out of the credit system because of unemployment, foreclosure, and other symptoms of the weak economy. Due to this, many consumers will likely benefit by making their payments in a timely manner in 2011.
For the easily forgetful, many lenders offer online banking, which allows for automatic payments to be made from an account to the institution. Consumers who choose not to use this payment method might benefit from setting reminders for themselves — for instance, in their e-mail program or on their cell phone — to avoid late payments.
Along with building a better credit history, making timely payments can also increase the quality of the credit card offers consumers receive. This will allow those who make a financial turnaround in 2011 to take advantage of the best rewards in the coming years. If recent trends hold, such rewards will likely be in the form of increased cash back, purchasing incentives, and low annual percentage rates (APRs).
Consumers who are looking to improve their finances in the new year will also likely benefit from establishing manageable and concrete goals. By assigning specific numerical benchmarks and making plans to meet them, individuals can better track their improvements over the course of the year.
As always, consumers will see their credit scores rise or fall according to their spending and payment habits. People looking to improve their financial lot in life would be well advised to remember that, short of winning the lottery or experiencing some other monetary windfall, such financial improvements take time and dedication
FreeScore.com is a destination site for an increasingly credit-conscious public. The site offers immediate access to credit scores, reports and monitoring as well as educational information and tips on how to safeguard one’s credit and identity.
Categories: Credit Score Articles Tags: Credit, Fluctuations, normal, Score
Uplift your Credit Score
These are just a few things that can give a negative score to your credit standing:
– Unpaid mortgage
– Tax liens
– Foreclosure
– Bankruptcy
– Past due accounts
It is a common fact that in this time of economic depression, millions of people are losing their good credit standing. It has become a global trend and even if lots of people are being affected by the global economic crisis, no one wants to be in a situation wherein his/her cannot handle debt and finances. Bad credit sends a negative repercussion to future investors and creditors and even amidst an inevitable financial crisis, everyone does not want a negative remarks on their credit report.
A consumer credit report can be obtained by any of these three major credit report agencies: Equifax, Transunion and Experian. The credit report is free of charge to consumer for only once every year.
Subsequent request for credit report is charged for a certain fee.
The first and foremost thing that most people should understand: in order to avoid negative rating on your credit score, you need to pay your bills on time. As much as possible, make it a habit to pay ahead of the due date in order not to incur finance charges or late payments. As a rule of a thumb, it is very difficult to trust people and companies posing to help you with your credit payments. It is still the best thing if you pay on time and on over the counter or arrange for an auto-debit of your loan payments.
It is also of great help if you curb your expenses and go down with only with the basics. A lot of people are drowned in debt due to their excessive shopping and whimsical things they wish to have.
On the other hand, if damage is already present in your credit score, you certainly need to repair it either through your own effort or through the help of credit repair agencies governed by the federal rules and regulations regarding credit repair. One should exercise extreme caution in these types of agencies posing to take care of your debts by debt collections payments from you.
Are you looking for more information regarding mortgage? Visit www.nationalcreditfederation.com today!
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Low Credit Score Loans
Have you been faced with a situation where your bad credit rating has been constantly affecting you? You might have applied for a mortgage loan or even a car loan and found that your credit was too bad to be approved. Even landlords are starting to do credit checks on potential tenants, which means a bad credit rating can affect all aspects of your life. Luckily there are still some ways of getting low credit score loans.
The first type of loan that is easiest to get if you have poor credit is a payday loan. Sometimes known as cash loans, these loans don’t depend on the borrower’s credit rating. Lenders only care about the borrower’s income and their ability to pay back the loan. To apply for a payday loan you should have a steady income with proof of employment for at least six months. You should also have a valid bank account with your paycheck being deposited bi-weekly into the account.
The downside of payday loans is that they are over a very short period.
This means if you need access to cash, but can’t afford to pay it back within 2-4 weeks, this loan not for you. Another down side is the interest rates they charge can often be quite high. This is because it is over such as short period and lenders are looking to make a return on their investment.
Another type of loan that is available for people with poor credit scores is a personal secured loan. A secured loan is a loan that is back with collateral. If the borrower fails to pay the loan, the banks will go ahead and seize the collateral. These loans give banks less risk when dealing with poor credit customers, making them more likely to give low credit score loans. Secured loans also have a better interest rate than payday loans and are taken over a longer period of time.
If you have a Low Credit Score, then you should look lenders who specialize in Bad Credit Loans to get your loan approved.
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Average Credit Score Tips
The reliance of making transactions through credit has been widespread from the late 80’s. This way of completing transaction grew wider and wider to what it is today. This expanding reliance made the major bureaus employ a scoring system. However, this system was developed three decades even before it came into major use. In the late 1950’s, Earl Isaac, a mathematician, and an engineer, Bill Fair, formulated a system that rates a person financial performance.
Today’s system is being used more than ever since its formulation. This system is based on your performance when it comes to managing both your debts, both long-term and short term, and as well as your bills, and applications for credit cards. Much to the misunderstanding of most people, the scores that are being given by this system are not reviewed by creditors in terms of absolute figures. Instead, they review your score based on relative terms.
Meaning they decide whether they should give you a higher or a lower rate of interest based on your distance from the average credit score. The average score varies according to its scope of calculation (be it from country to country, city to city, or from state to state). This is to say that if the scope of calculation were just in the state of South Dakota, the average credit scores would be different, than it would be if the average would be calculated based on Iowa.
This is where knowing your own score and the average score comes in handy. By knowing your own score and by comparing it to the average, you will be able to budget your income. By doing this, you will also be able to determine whether potential creditors would say that you have a good credit score or not.
It would also help you determine how high or low your interest rate would be should you apply for a loan. A major misconception of most is that the average credit score is always computed by total score over the number of factors. Most of the time, the average score is the median of all the scores on a given state. Meaning, the average rating is the score where there would be equal number of people with higher ratings and lower ratings.
As of now, the latest reported national average credit score by FICO is 728. This means that if you have a rating of 728, there are some 50 million people with better scores than you are, and there are also 50 million people with lower scores than you have. As of 2008, the state with the highest average credit score is Minnesota with 721 and the lowest is from Nevada, with a score of 668.
Your credit score can easily be improved once you take the necessary steps. By requesting your free credit report you will be able to identify and correct errors, false information and inaccurate listings. This will clean up your report to ensure you have a good credit score.
Theres more where this came from. Check out additional ways to improve a credit score and learn how to get a good credit score.
Looking for even more useful hints and tips similar to this article? Check out our blog or hints and tips page for additional information that will improve your quality of life. http://www.QualityLifeResources.com
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My Credit Score
If you are looking t get a mortgage, a car loan or any kind of financing, even a credit card you will not be successful if you do not have a good credit rating and credit score. If you are applying to a bank or loan company for a loan or mortgage these institutions are hesitant to make a loan unless the credit report is pristine. Your chances or obtaining financing are better if your credit report and credit score are clean. In some instances an employer may want to see a clean and clear credit report and score when you apply for a job and the same applies to renting a home or an apartment.
There are three credit reporting companies and anyone that you would apply to for financing will pull a report from either one of these agencies or all three of them. Every time a company inquires about your credit score this is recorded and too many inquiries will hurt your report.
However, this does not apply if you are inquiring about our own credit report. It is a good idea to get copies of your own credit report in order to avoid identity theft.
Getting your own credit report from all three agencies is important because if your credit rating and your credit score are low you can begin to clean it up and bring it up. You can get your report and score from a company that will get the reports free and help you monitor and regulate your credit. You can have financial freedom but you have to use proper management.
Some of the things that will cause you to have a low credit rating is: not paying your bills when they are due or paying less that the minimum amount required, having too many credit cards and keeping the balance on those credits cards high, not using your entire name when applying for credit cards, not checking your credit reports regularly, and not letting creditors know when you have moved.
All of these things will reflect negatively on your credit report.
If you have a low credit score and you are lucky enough to get financing then you can expect to pay a high rate of interest then you would pay if your credit score was higher and your credit report was clean.
Keep a close eye on your free credit score and credit score report. Visit creditscorequick
Richard is a full time internet marketer, with more than 6 years of experience in giving advice to thousands of customers on choosing the best products online
Categories: Credit Score Articles Tags: Credit, Score
Your Credit Score
Usually, when you’re applying for a loan or if you want to get a financial assistance, one of the factors that lending companies or banks would be looking at is your credit score. It may seem to be a jargon or a highly complex term, but this one is a very simple term if you really want to get a new loan. It’s not very difficult to grasp the idea behind the credit score most especially if you are eager to acquire another loan in addition to the loans that you have or if you badly need financial support from the government.
The rationale behind the credit score is that it is used to gauge whether you are eligible for further financial assistance based on the status of your credit. To put it in the simplest words, it could be used to determine if you have bad credits, and if it happens that they found out that your credit is bad, then there is a big possibility that your application for a new loan or for a financial support will never be approved until your credit status becomes red.
The use of the credit score quantifies the idea behind a bad credit. Usually in most countries that make use of credit scores, they follow the criteria when it comes to measuring this score in which 35% comes from the credit history that tells the loans and the payments done by the debtor. It is important that the debtor pays his/her bills on time so that he/she can have a higher score. Aside form this, it is also important that the loans made by the debtor is still far from his credit limit for this one also have a bearing on the score that could be given by the credit report agencies. Using a certain standard of scoring, if you got a score beyond 800, then that means that you can get a loan right away, but if your score is below 600 then there is no way that you can get a new loan or a financial assistance even if you have other requirements with you.
If you want to have a high credit score, you just have to make sure that you were able to manage perfectly your loans in the past years so that it won’t register any problem with your credit report to audit this score.
Are you looking for more information regarding score? Visit www.nationalcreditfederation.com today!
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How to Get a Credit Card If Your Credit Score is Under 500
For most people, it is impossible to get a credit card nowadays if you have bad credit. Credit card companies have their ways on checking on their applicant’s financial status and records. If the credit card finds out that the applicant has a credit score under 500, then the company will be reluctant in granting the applicant a credit card.
However, there are still credit card companies that are willing to approve credit cards for bad credit. The deal in this case is that the interest rates are higher than the normal rates of credit cards. It is better to at least improve your credit scores in order to receive approvals for credit cards with better interest rates.
In order for you to get a “bad credit” credit Card, you will need the help of smaller charge cards, which will help you rebuild your reputation and your payment history. These small charge cards will improve your credibility ratings so that the big credit card companies will entrust you with solid credit offers even though your credit score is under 500. Here are some steps that you can take to succeed in getting a credit card even with a credit score under 500.
Instructions
1. Apply for a department store credit card. Department store charge card is a card that you can only use at a particular department store. Spending will be limited but at least, it is a good recovery for your reputation once you are approved despite and demonstrate a good payment history. Approval with this type of credit card is easier than immediately to get because the requirements are much less than those big company credit cards. Most department stores offer department store credit cards.
2. Apply for a gas station card. Many gas stations offer this kind of credit card. Same as with the department store credit card, you can only use this credit card for purchasing gas. This gas credit card can help you rebuild your credit so that you can apply for other types of credit.
3. Once you have at least one of these small credit cards, you should then make sure that you pay the credit card bills on time. This will rebuild reputation and trust ratings. You can use these types of credit cards for a year or until your credit payment status has improved.
4. Check your credit report every six months to see if your credit scores improved. Being able to pay the small credit card bills will help improve your financial status. This will make you eligible to apply for the big credit cards.
5. Apply for an unsecured credit card. People with bad credit can usually apply for unsecured credit cards with credit limit from 0 to 00. The best sources are from online websites. However, these have higher rates on application and interest. Companies like First Premier, Orchard Bank and Credit One Bank usually cater to people with bad credit who are looking to get a credit card in order to improve their credit history. Companies like First Premier, Orchard Bank and Credit One Bank usually cater to people with bad credit who are looking to get a credit card in order to improve their credit history.
Categories: Credit Score Articles Tags: Credit, CreditCard, How, Score, Under