What Exactly Is a Credit Score?
By Martin Gandhi | Submitted On November 30, 2012
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When you apply for a loan in order to buy the house or car of your dreams lenders will look at your credit score and they will use it to decide if they should give you the loan or not.
There are lots of Americans who don 't know what a credit score is or how it is calculated. If you belong to this group of people, then don 't worry
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Where Does It Come From?
Now you are probably wondering "Where does my credit score come from?" This is a very common question and the answer is simple: Your credit score comes from your credit report.
This credit report is created by the three major credit bureaus in the states and it contains the history of your payments, the amount of loans that you have, how much you owe, and a few other things.
The bureaus use the information contained in your credit report to calculate your score. The three major credit bureaus use the FICO scoring system, which ranges from 300 to 850.
What Exactly is Your Credit Score Made Of?
Your credit score is made of five different parts:
Payment History (35%)
Payment history refers to the ability to pay your bills on time. It represents 35% of your credit score. Your history is considered the best indicator of your future financial behavior. Late payments, missed payments, loan defaults, unpaid taxes, and the worst of all, bankruptcy, will all hurt your score.
It 's also important the amount of negative events and when these events happened. Newer events affects your score more than older ones. More severe events (like bankruptcy) are worse than less severe events. And many events hurt your score more than only a few of them.
Amounts Owed (30%)
Amounts owed represent 30% of your credit score. It refers to the amount of debt you have in comparison to your credit limits. This is also called the "debt to credit ratio" and it works
A credit score is a number used in people’s bank accounts. This number tells potential loaners if a person can be trusted to pay off their loans. You can get this number by starting when you’re young and taking small loans that are easy to pay off. This will build your credit score. Credit scores take a long time to build but can be reduced dramatically if you mess up and miss paying your loans. A credit score tracks your loans and how diligent you are at keeping up with them and how many loans you take out. You want to keep your credit score number up because if you ever want to take out a loan your credit score will make or break the deal. If you have a good record and good score you have a much better chance of getting a loan that you want or need. If you have a bad credit score you basically don’t have any chance of getting a loan until it improves.
Exact formula of calculating credit score is yet to reach the public domain. Whether it is FICO scores or Vantage scores or any other, such knowledge is still with the major credit reporting agencies and the formulator of the calculators. However, gradually the pattern of calculating credit scores is coming to the forefront. A credit score simulator is the best way of learning what the credit score status is for average consumer till date.
Your credit score helps them to determine the likelihood of you actually paying back any money
Have you every applied for credit card and denied because you either have no credit history or a bad one? Well without a credit card, it’s hard to build any kind of credit history. Without credit history, it’s hard to qualify for a credit card, a car and even a mortgage. You have three major reporting agencies; Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, and you have a FICO score for each one of them. Starting at the bottom and using credit responsibly can slowly help you work your way up to an excellent credit score. The following steps can help you build your way to a great credit score.
A bad credit score—anything less than about 650—can make it extremely difficult to obtain a mortgage. A potential borrower's payment history is important to banks because it displays to them how likely it is they will get their money back. Banks are businesses too, so they have to ensure that their investments are savvy.
For someone to understand their credit and their credit score that comes with it, you have to know what the FICO credit score is. Fico is a special company that gathers information on a person about how they spend their money, who they owe money to and use that information to interpret and come up with a score which is something like that of a rating system. With this information they can even tell if they should extend more credit to your account for those who are credit card holders.
Many people feel that because they never had a credit card or a loan, that they do not need to view their credit history. That viewpoint of your credit history is what allows people to use your identity to acquire credit in your name. You need to check for correct information even if you have no credit that you know about, maybe someone else does. Get your annual credit report free and see how others view your credit
What exactly goes into a credit score? Unfortunately, many consumers cannot answer this question. Credit scores are not easily accessible and therefore this lack or knowledge negatively affects individuals because they do not know how to better their score. A credit score is composed of five different components: thirty percent is the amount a person owes, thirty-five percent is payment history, fifteen percent is the length of credit history, ten percent is new credit, and the remaining ten percent is called a credit mix. One study of individual’s knowledge of credit showed, “that while most respondents knew what a credit score was ‘in theory,’ their practical knowledge of credit scores was lacking. Knowledge of the factors that positively and
Many consumers fail to obtain their credit scores before applying for any type of financing. Credit scores are a big part of determining whether or not a consumer qualifies for financing. Credit scores also play a role in the interest rates consumers will pay as part of their financing. The best way to determine accurate credit scores is to order credit reports from one of the three major reporting agencies: TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. In short, the higher the credit score, the better chance of loan approval for a car purchase.
If you run a check on your credit score, for example via Experian, you will see two different types of searches: searches which affect your score, and searches with no impact.
Knowing your current credit score can be a massive help when applying for a loan. Having the needed information for a loan ready and available lets you and your loaner know how responsible
The credit industry has conditioned consumers to equate the contents of credit reports with their credit worthiness. It is important to know that the two are not actually the same. A credit report may show that you have faithfully made every payment on time yet are still not worthy of more credit because you can’t possibly pay off the credit you
Even if you are good at handling your finances, but by not having a credit score, lending institutions will not have a basis to refer to. Having a credit score is the same as having a financial history where lending institutions can determine your credit worthiness. With credit scores, the lender can find out your financial background, current and previous loans taken, down payments you have made interest rates you choose and the payment scheme that you opted.
A large variety of factors can affect your credit rating. Perhaps you didn't understand how your student loans worked when you got out of college, and your credit rating took a hit. Or perhaps you lost your job and fell behind on your payments a few years ago, and those few months of unemployment are still hurting your credit score. Here are three tips that will help you secure financing for a vehicle when you have a bad credit score.
FICO can help determine if you qualify for a credit or loan. The acronym, stands for Fair Isaac Company. FICO has created a mathematical model for the reporting company, Experian. FICO helps lenders determine the risk of lending money out to certain consumers. In the past, other credit bureaus have had models inspired by the FIco design. FICO contains many questions and calculates your score based on your credit and income-to -debt ratio. Each answer on FICO turns into points. Certain questions include: your current address, late payment history, income-to-debt ratio etc. The most common factors on your FICO score are the outstanding balances on credit cards. FICO asks questions such as: how many accounts you have open, which credit cards carry