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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Understanding the Credit Scale

By Pat Johnson

Lenders place a great deal of importance on your credit score. Because this number is an aggregate of your past credit accounts, they use it to guess at how responsible you will be with your future credit accounts. While this approach is not flawless, it is almost universally applied.

Your credit history is tabulated by three main reporting agencies. They collect and organize information regarding late payments and outstanding balances and put them into the form of a report. Then when you apply for credit, the lender can review your past behavior and make an informed decision as to whether or not to approve your request.

You are able to obtain a free copy of your credit report once a year. You will have to pay for a copy of your credit score, which is different. You can contact the reporting agencies directly to get your credit report

You may sometimes encounter your credit score being referred to as your FICO. This is because the Fair Isaac Corporation was among the first to create a credit scoring system. Lenders use this system differently in their adjudication of risk, but it is certainly near universally applied to some extent.

Every effort is made to ensure your credit report is kept as accurate as possible, but sometimes errors do happen. The onus is upon you to routinely get a copy of your credit report check it for factual inconsistencies. If you do find that mistakes have been made, I can assure you that the sooner they are identified the easier they are to fix.

Because a lot of importance is placed on your credit rating, it is important that you make every effort to look after it. Be certain to make your payments on time, because missed payments above all else will have the most detrimental effect on your score.

After that too much outstanding credit will hurt your score as well. Do not over extend yourself with credit cards and do not bring the ones you do have to their limits. Frequent inquiries to your credit bureau can bring down your credit score so be careful not to unnecessarily apply for new loans or cards. Remember that it is much easier to lower your rating than it is to improve it so make your borrowing decisions wisely.

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