| You credit score is one of the important factors that | | | | You have the right to request for your credit report |
| would affect your financial life. For example financial | | | | once a year from any of the three credit bureau. Due |
| institutions take into consideration your credit | | | | to the immense importance of these reports, it is |
| worthiness before giving you access to a loan and the | | | | expected that you thoroughly scrutinize these reports |
| way to determine this is by your numbers. The financial | | | | to ensure you don't have a wrong, negative report that |
| institutions are not the only ones looking into your | | | | would negatively affect your credit rating. |
| reports; insurance agents and employers also look at | | | | Other factors that can affect your score are; |
| your scores to make a decision on you. | | | | Delinquency- These apply to any accounts that will |
| Your credit score sums all the account data on your | | | | show up on your credit report due to loans taken such |
| credit history and expresses it as a score. The lowest | | | | as mortgages, personal loans, car payments and |
| possible score you can have is 300 and the highest is | | | | personal loans. They are not reported to the credit |
| 850, the higher your score the better. | | | | bureaus by creditors as delinquencies until they are |
| An estimate of over 30 million people in the United | | | | more than "30-days late". |
| States have credit scores less than 620, which makes | | | | Payment history- Making early payments on a loan |
| getting home, car and credit card loans at decent | | | | ensures you have strong credit scores. The longer |
| terms a lot harder. | | | | your credit report shows a good payment history |
| You can't afford to be too comfortable with your | | | | without any late payments or other blemishes, the |
| credit, even if you score above the 620 mark it can | | | | stronger you are able to build up your credit scores. It |
| never hurt to raise it. Lenders use your scores to | | | | is estimated that this history alone makes up 35% of |
| determine what interest rate you qualify for when | | | | your credit score, so the longer you keep a clean |
| approving a home, car or other credit purchases. | | | | history the higher your scores. |