Check Credit Score
Credit Rating Scores
Posted: June 9, 2009
Just why is it important for you to check your credit score? Well there are a number of reasons to check credit score.
First of all you need to know what your credit scores are before you apply for a car loan or go out and look at all those new homes and fall in love with one of them.
There are three main credit bureaus. These are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
Every creditor may not report to all three credit bureaus. They may only report to one. So, if you get a copy of your credit report from just one of the bureaus you may not see all that is being reported about you to the credit bureaus.
This is why you need to get a copy of your report from all three credit bureaus. This is what is called a tri merge credit report. You do not have to order a credit report from each bureau. You can get a tri merge credit report from many different sources.
Credit Score Information
If you are planning on buying a new home it is good to let the mortgage company, where you plan to apply for financing, retrieve your credit report.
This way you won't have many different sources checking your credit scores. Even though inquires do not impact your credit score much, too many credit inquiries can be a negative for your credit score.
If you are not planning on buying anything right away then you can retrieve your credit report online. You can get a tri-merge report from any of the three credit bureaus online. There will be a charge for your credit report.
The credit bureaus have different scoring models for different kinds of purchases. If your credit rating is checked in order for you to obtain a credit card your scores will show different than if you were having your credit checked to obtain a home loan. The scoring model for buying a home is much more strict than for getting a credit card. After all the amount of these type loans is a much bigger risk for the creditor.
You typically will find a consumer score, a car loan score and a mortgage loan score. If you retrieve your credit score from one of the online sources it will more than likely be a consumer score. So, don't be surprised if your scores are much lower if your credit report is retrieved by a mortgage loan company.
Other reasons to check credit score is their may be items posted to your credit report file that do not belong to you. This is very common if you are a Jr. or Sr. or have a very common name.
There may be items on your credit file that you have paid but still reflect as unpaid. These can be affecting your credit rating negatively. I have seen this happen many times.
You may find that you don't have enough credit to have a good credit rating and need to open some new tradelines in order to establish a good credit history. Learn about credit score ranges and what percentage of people fall into the different ranges, whats a good credit score and where your score fall within those ranges.
Credit Score Monitoring
A lot of people find it good practice to sign up with a credit score monitoring service so they can be notified via email when there is a shift in their credit scores. This way they can know what impact their own credit activity is having on their credit scores and in addition they can have a heads up on any attempted identity theft.
Improve Credit Scores
If you find your credit scores are not what they need to be and you want to learn how to improve your credit score then check out this site: How To Fix Credit.
Improve Your Credit Score to 720
Posted: June 28, 2010
Lenders, especially mortgage lenders, have continued to tighten their credit score requirements. To get approved for a mortgage loan, car loan, personal loan or most any other type of credit has become harder and harder to get if you have not taken care of your creditworthiness.
Having good credit scores is no longer just nice to have; it is essential to your future if you want to survive and prosper financially.
It is no longer a matter of just needing a good credit rating if you want to borrow money. Credit scores are used by more and more companies to determine if a person is someone they want to do business with.
Insurance companies do credit checks to determine premiums charged. Employers perform background and credit checks before hiring. The same for cell phone companies before selling services without a deposit.
Until the mortgage mess a few years ago a 720 FICO score was considered a really good score and would get the applicant some of the best loan terms. Today that limit has risen to 740.
In addition, in the past a borrower could get a 100% mortgage loan with just a score as low as 580. Today that limit has been raised to 620 and the 100% is almost impossible to find.
Today, people with good credit ratings are still getting credit card offers and loan approvals. Because of their good credit scores they have some leverage and can pick and choose from the offers available on the market.
Those with lower scores are finding their access to credit disappearing. It is not just getting harder to find, but in a lot of cases literally is not available.
Not only are people not able to purchase homes, they are finding it hard to even rent an apartment because there are fewer apartments available and landlords can be more selective and are choosing those with better credit ratings.
Now that you understand the current importance of establishing and maintaining a much better credit rating let’s talk about how you can improve your credit scores.
First, you can’t improve your scores if your finances are still in the tank. If you are unable to pay your bills or are constantly late making your payments then you can’t raise your credit scores. This improvement will have to wait until you can get a handle on your finances where you can start paying your bills on time and pay down your debt.
Next, you can’t raise your credit scores if you don’t use credit. If you have cut up all your credit cards and stopped buying anything on credit and left your credit report with nothing but collection items on it, then you are not doing anything to re-establish new, good credit in your file from which your scores are calculated.
You don’t have to pay interest in order to use credit and show that you are creditworthy. Charge something monthly and promptly pay the bill in full when it arrives. This activity is going into your credit file which is then used to calculate your credit scores.
Don’t expect overnight results; after all your scores didn’t tank overnight. However, if you are serious about your financial future you must start now to improve your scores.
A good start is to get a copy of your credit report and scores. This will give you a basis to compare and check credit score in the future. Verify the correctness of all the items being reported about you. You may be surprised at the number of errors in people’s files that affect their livelihood.
Once you have corrected any errors then start establishing some new good credit while concurrently paying off any outstanding collections or active debt. Don’t just payoff old debt without also establishing new credit which you manage correctly.
You can’t fix what you just “think” is the problem. You have to know exactly what is on your credit report and what your scores are before you can begin to improve those scores.
Get your Credit Score from CreditScore.com! then if you need additional help with actions you should take to clean up your credit report and improve your credit scores visit: Improve Credit Score.
It is good to sign up with a Credit Monitoring Service so that you can keep an eye on the shifts in your scores. If you are doing nothing then you need to see the negative impact that is continuing to have on your scores. If you are working on improving your scores then you need to see what impact the different actions you are taking are having toward improving your scores.
Here is a recommended Credit Monitoring service where you will Get email alerts when your Credit Score changes at CreditReport.com. Get started today! I can't emphasize enought the importance of taking action today for the benefit of your own financial future.
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