| Your credit score ranking and report is important | | | | companies that have requested your credit file to |
| because businesses rely on that information in your | | | | review it for the purpose of granting you credit.o An |
| credit report to help them decide whether to approve | | | | optional message from you, in which you describe |
| your loan, at what interest rate and what terms. | | | | your part of the story and present your reasoning for |
| There are three major credit report agencies in the US | | | | any negative listing on your report.o Your credit score |
| today. Equifax Credit Information Services, Inc., | | | | ranking. The score is not really a part of your credit |
| Experian, and Trans Union that collect the information, | | | | report, but you have to request it specifically. |
| calculate scores and prepare reports. The Federal | | | | Your credit report does NOT include data on your |
| Trade Commission mandated by law that everybody | | | | checking or savings accounts, brokerage accounts, |
| is allowed access to these reports annually. | | | | retirement accounts, or similar financial records. |
| The place to get your FREE credit report is the Annual | | | | A person's credit score may range on a scale from |
| Credit Report Request Service. | | | | approximately 300 to 850. The higher one's score, the |
| All these companies provide a wealth of information | | | | better. An average score is around 720, scores higher |
| and resources on their websites to help you keep your | | | | than 725 are considered good while those which are |
| report accurate. The websites explain how to read | | | | below 600 are considered poor. Scores that range |
| and analyze the reports and how to contact them, if | | | | from 750 to 850 are excellent |
| they contain information that you want to dispute. | | | | Your credit score ranking is calculated based on: |
| Your credit report contains the following information:o | | | | 35% - Credit Payment history. Whether you pay your |
| Personal information, including your name, Social | | | | bills on time or late, whether you have a bankruptcy or |
| Security number, date of birth, addresses where | | | | bill in collection. |
| currently live and where you lived in the past, and most | | | | 30% - Total debt-to-credit ratio. Your debt to credit |
| recent employment history.o Public record information, | | | | ratio is taken into account. If it's too high, the score is |
| such as tax liens, judgments, child support obligations, | | | | lower. |
| bankruptcies, and other official information.o Collection | | | | 15% - Length of your credit history. If your accounts |
| activity for accounts that have been forwarded to | | | | are all very new, it's a minus. |
| collection agencies for handling.o All your credit | | | | 10% - New requests for credit. If you have filed many |
| accounts data, including open and closed accounts. | | | | new applications for credit, your score will go down. |
| Whom you owe, how much you owe, type of | | | | 10% - Types of Accounts you have. If you borrow |
| account, whether the account is joint or just in your | | | | from finance companies or pay day advance |
| name, your credit limit, your monthly payments, and | | | | companies, the score goes down. |
| whether or not you pay on time.o A list of the | | | | |