What’s Your Credit Score?

Many people think they know their credit scores prior to applying for a loan because they pulled it from an internet site.  Well, what we as lender’s pull can be different than what you find out online.  I recommend getting a copy of your credit report from your lender because what we pull is the most important. 

The correct credit score is from FICO.  “It you want your actual FICO score, it will cost you. A single FICO score plus a credit report is $15.95 at MyFico.com. At AnnualCreditReport.com, you can get a free credit report every 12 months from each of the credit-reporting companies. If you go through that site, Equifax will give you a FICO score for $7.95; TransUnion and Experian will provide the Vantage Score for $7.95. TransUnionCS.com sells a TransUnion credit report plus FICO score for $14.95.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126065440089389183.html?mod=rss_Money 

Cleaning Up Your Credit

Below is a helpful article about cleaning up your credit.  I also have software that can help determine what you need to do to increase your credit score.  There are a lot of new changes coming that will help the borrower.  They will be changing the way they distribute your payments when you have low interest rates such as 0% on part of the balance and a higher rate on another part.  Currently your payment is applied to the lower interest rate which is a crime in my opinion.  They are supposed to be changing it so that half of the payment goes to the lower rate and half to the higher rate.  They will also be changing how they calculate interest.  An example of this is if you have an $800 balance, you pay $750, they currently charge you interest on the full $800 and that is supposed to change to where you are only charged on $50.

 

 http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/2009/02/clean_credit.html