| Lenders used to look at your entire credit report to | | | | you can:o Challenge old negatives - if you have old |
| determine whether you were a good loan risk. But in | | | | negative marks on your credit account, you can |
| the mid-1990's, a company called Fair Isaac came up | | | | challenge them. The lender must prove that you owe |
| with the FICO score. This took your credit information | | | | them. If they can't, the mark gets taken off your credit |
| and boiled it down to a single number. | | | | report. Often when the mark is older than 2 years or is |
| That number falls somewhere between 350 and 850. | | | | for a small amount, the lender won't bother.o Ask for |
| There are some factors you can't control. For | | | | removal of minor negatives - if you're a really good |
| instance, people with longer credit histories are given | | | | customer who had only one or two mishaps with your |
| extra points. But if you haven't had a 30 year credit | | | | credit with a particular merchant, you can ask them for |
| history because you are only 22, you can't have so | | | | a "goodwill" retraction of the bad mark.o Take out a |
| called "perfect" credit. | | | | line of credit against your savings - if you have a |
| Other things, you can control, but only over the long | | | | savings account, your bank will probably give you a |
| haul. For instance, you can start making payments on | | | | loan against your account. Then, you make automatic |
| all of your bills on time every time. | | | | payments to the account and your credit score starts |
| But there are some things you can do right now to | | | | to go up with each payment. |
| raise your credit score in just a few days. For instance, | | | | |