Scoring your Credit - How's your FICO?

Since we live in an automated society, it's not surprising that your ability to repay your mortgage loan comes down to just one number. This score is compiled by credit reporting agencies. They use the payment history from all of your loans: credit cards, mortgages, car loans and others.

Each of the three credit agencies has its own formula for building your credit score. The original FICO was developed by Fair Isaac and Company. While Experian still calls its score "FICO", TransUnion calls its score "Beacon" and Equifax uses "Empirica." While each of the models considers a range of data available in your credit report, the differences aren't huge; each agency uses the following to build your score:

• Credit History - How many years have you had credit?
• Payment History - Do you have any payments later than 30 days?
• Your Credit Card Balances - How many accounts do you hold, and how much do you owe on them?
• Credit Inquiries - How many times have lenders pulled your credit report for the purpose of lending you money?

These factors are weighted a little bit differently depending on the formula being used. Each formula produces a single number which varies slightly by agency. FICO scores can be as low as 300 and as high as 800. Higher is always better. Most home buyers will likely find their credit scores falling between 620 and 800.

Credit scores make a big difference in your interest rate

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

Can I improve my credit score?

How can you raise your credit score? Some companies promise quick fixes, but they can't do anything different than what you can do — for free. You must appeal for the credit agency to remove any incorrect data on your credit report, which is the only way to quickly improve your credit score.

Know your FICO score

To raise your credit score, you've got to get the credit reports that are used to build it, and of course, you need the score itself. Fair Isaac has created a web site (www.myFICO.com) that lets you do just that. For a reasonable fee, you can quickly get your FICO from all three agencies, along with your credit report. They also provide information and tools that help you improve your credit score.

You can get a federally-mandated free credit report every year from the three major agencies at 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.

Now that you have all the facts, you'll be a more informed consumer and you'll be better positioned to obtain the most favorable mortgage.

Want to know more about your credit score? Give us a call: 504-866-5626.