Scoring your Credit - How's your FICO?

Since we live in an computer-driven society, it's not surprising that your ability to repay your mortgage comes down to a single number. The years of paying your various bills: your mortgage, vehicle payments, and credit card bills can be analyzed, spindled and mutilated into a single indicator of whether you're likely to meet your future obligations.

Each of the three credit agencies has its own formula for building your credit score. The original FICO model was developed by Fair Isaac and Company. Experian uses this model and calls its score FICO. Equifax's model, based on FICO, is called BEACON, while TransUnion, which also uses a slightly modified FICO, calls its score EMPIRICA. While these methods vary from one agency to another, all of the agencies use the following to determine your credit score:

• Credit History - How long have you had credit?
• Late Payments - Do you pay your bills on time?
• Balances on your Credit Cards - How many accounts do you hold, and how much do you owe?
• Inquiries on Your Credit - How many times have you had your credit checked for a loan?

These factors are assigned weights based on the formula being used. The results are added up and distilled into a single number. Credit scores can be as low as 300 and as high as 800. Higher is better. Typical home buyers likely find their credit scores falling between 620 and 800.

FICO makes a big difference in your interest rate

Credit scores are used for more than just determining whether or not you qualify for a mortgage. Higher scores indicate you are a better credit risk, and thus may qualify for a better mortgage rate.

Can I improve my FICO score?

What can you do to improve your FICO score? Unfortunately, not much. Despite what you hear from "credit repair" companies, the FICO score is calculated from your lifetime credit history, so it's not possible to raise it significantly in the short term. (Of course you must have incorrect items removed from your credit report.)

Know your FICO

Before you can improve your score, you have to obtain your score and make sure that the credit reports from each agency are correct. Fair Isaac, the corporation that invented the first FICO credit score, sells credit scores on myFICO.com. It's inexpensive, fast, and easy to get your credit score as well as credit reports from all three reporting agencies. Also available are information and tools that help you understand how to improve your FICO score.

You can get a free credit report every year from all three agencies when you visit AnnualCreditReport.com. While this report does not include a free credit score, the cost to "upgrade" your report to include a credit score is very reasonable.

Armed with this info, you will be a more informed consumer and you'll be better positioned to obtain the most favorable mortgage.

Want to know more about credit scores? Give us a call at 7084035181.