You Credit Score: How's Your FICO?
Since our society is so automated, it should come as no surprise that your creditworthiness boils down to one number.
All the years you've been paying your various bills: your mortgage, vehicle payments, and credit card bills can be analyzed, spindled and mutilated into a single indicator of whether you're likely to meet your future obligations.
Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax, the three major credit agencies, each have their own proprietary formula for building your credit score. Fair Isaac and Cooriginally developed this score. .
Experian uses this model and calls its score FICO. Equifax's model, based on FICO, is called BEACON, while TransUnion, which also uses a slightly modified FICO, calls its score EMPIRICA. While these methods vary, the differences aren't huge; each agency uses the following factors in calculating a credit score:
- Your Credit History - Have you had credit for many years, or for a short time?
- History of Payments - Do you pay your bills on time?
- Balances on your Credit Cards - How many credit card accounts do you have, and how much do you owe on them?
- Requests for Credit - How many times have lenders pulled your credit for the purpose of lending you money?
Each of these is assigned a value and a weight. Each formula produces a single number which may vary a a little by agency. Credit scores range from 300 to 800. Higher is better. Most home buyers will probably find their credit scores above 620.
Credit scores make a huge difference in interest rates
FICO scores affect more than your ability to get a loan. They also affect your interest rate. Lenders give lower interest rates to individuals with higher scores.
Improving your score
How can you raise your FICO score? Because the credit score is based on your lifelong credit history, it's difficult to change it quickly. (Of course you must have incorrect items removed from your credit report.)
How do I find out my credit score?
To improve your FICO score, you must have the credit reports that the agencies use to build it. Of course, you need the score as well. Fair Isaac, the corporation that invented the first FICO score, offers credit scores on its website: myFICO.com. It's inexpensive to quickly get your FICO from all three reporting agencies, along with your credit report. Also available are information and tools that help you analyze what actions might have the greatest impact on your FICO score.
You can get a free credit report once a year from the three major agencies by visiting AnnualCreditReport.com. While this report does not include a free credit score, the cost to "upgrade" your report to include a credit score is very reasonable.
Armed with this information, you will be a more informed consumer and you'll be better positioned to obtain the right mortgage for you.
Want to know more about your credit score? Call us: 305-967-7200.