Credit Repair and Credit Scoring

By Frederick Crawford

You have heard of credit scores and how they are used to try to determine the likelihood that you will be able to pay your payments. A credit score combines a number of factors including both negative and positive information obtained from a credit report, open credit accounts and the amount of credit available as opposed to the amount of credit used. Improving your credit score is an important aspect of repairing your credit score.

Inside the United States the most commonly used credit score is from the Fair Isaac Corporation. It is known by the acronym FICO. There are some other companies that do credit scoring also. If you are trying to repair your credit you should strive to increase your FICO score. A FICO score will range between 300 and 850 with the higher number being the better risk for a lender.

Elements such as late payments, financial difficulties in the past, current amounts of credit limits compared to credit used are the objective measures used to validate a credit score. Facts such as race, gender, ethnicity and marital status are not regarded. The FICO score is regarded to be an fair representation of an individuals creditworthiness. You can boost your FICO score if you take measures to repair your credit and be certain that your credit report does not consists of any false or misleading information.

Correcting your credit and raising your credit score will definitely improve your chances of getting credit. A low credit score may cause a lender to require you to provide more collateral or even provide a more thorough asset and income verification. Loads of lenders employ the FICO score to deny or issue credit and to determine how high the interest rate might be.

If you'd like to repair your credit score it is crucial to verify the current score from all of the three major credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. The scores from each of the three companies will vary according to the different statistical methods they use, the data used and how everything is weighted. Most lenders will take an average of the three or just pick one depending upon their own in-house regulations.

Be sure that you are not overextending and using too much of your available credit so that your expenses are in line and make sure that your payments are made on a regular schedule. A key issue in credit scoring is a comparison between available credit and credit used. If you wish to raise your credit score think about getting approved for a higher limit on your credit although don't use much of it.

The entire length of your credit history, any kind of outstanding revolving credit lines or credits cards and any credit applications count towards your credit score. Each and every inquiry into your credit will count against you so be wary of applying for credit or allowing others to run your credit. Furthermore if you decide to stop using a credit card don't cancel the account but just set the card away or destroy it. If you cancel the account it will work against you on your credit score. Being you are repairing your credit consider these things.

It's going to only take about 6 months to a year to impressively repair your credit. Make sure that your debts are paid on time, that you do not apply for additional credit if you can evade it and use the credit you do have intelligently and sparingly. - 31379

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