About the FICO Credit Score
Because we live in a computer-driven society, it's probably not that surprising that your ability to repay your mortgage comes down to one number.
The years of paying your various bills: your mortgage, vehicle payments, and credit card bills can be analyzed, sliced, diced, spindled and mutilated into a single indicator of whether you're likely to meet your future obligations.
Each of the three credit reporting agencies has its own formula for building your credit score. Fair Isaac and Cooriginally developed this score. .
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, each agency uses the following to determine a credit score:
- Credit History - How long have you had credit?
- Payment History - Do you have a history of late payments?
- Credit Card Balances - How many accounts do you have, and how much do you owe on them?
- Credit Inquiries - How many times have lenders pulled your credit for the purpose of giving you a loan?
These factors are assigned weights based on the formula being used. Each formula produces a single number which varies slightly from one agency to another. Credit scores can be as low as 300 and as high as 800. Higher is always better. Most home buyers likely find their scores falling between 620 and 800.
FICO makes a huge difference in interest rates
Did you know? FICO scores affect more than your ability to get a loan. They also affect your interest rate. Lenders give lower interest rates to individuals with higher scores.
Can I raise my FICO score?
What can you do about your FICO score? Very little in the short term. Some companies promise quick fixes, but they can't do anything different than what you can do — for free. You should remove any incorrect data on your credit report, which is the only "quick fix" for credit problems.
Getting your FICO score
Before you can improve your FICO score, you must get your score and make certain that the reports from each credit reporting agency are correct. Fair Isaac, the corporation that invented the original FICO credit score, sells credit scores on myFICO.com. It's inexpensive, fast, and easy to get your credit score along with credit reports from all three credit reporting agencies. Also available are information and tools that help you improve your FICO score.
You can get a free credit report every year from the three major agencies at AnnualCreditReport.com. These reports do not include a free credit score, but it's very inexpensive to get one at the same time.
Armed with this information, you'll be a more informed consumer and you'll be better positioned to get the right mortgage for you.
Curious about credit scores? Call us: 504-866-5626.