What are your FICO^® Scores?

1) How do the scores work?

When you apply for a credit card or loan, the lender will want to know what is the risk they are taking.   The “FICO^®” scoring system is what most will use to find the level of your credit risk.  All of us have 3 FICO^® scores, one for each  credit bureau.  These are: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax.  Each score is based on that credit bureau information on file.  Informational changes will tend to change your credit scores, but any changes, TAKE TIME, to affect a score…

 

Taking steps to improve your FICO^® scores may help you qualify for larger loans and / or better rates from lenders!

(Remember, changes to you situation may take some time to affect your scores!)

 

2) Higher FICO^® scores should yield lower payments…

With higher FICO^® scores you should get better rates when you buy on a new credit / loan application.  An example of interest rates on a $150,000 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage might be as follows:

In this example, with a FICO^® score of 760 or better, one might pay $202 less per month than a person with FICO^® scores below 620.  This is a savings of $2,424 a year!   Showing that it pays to improve your FICO scores! 

3) Know and Improve Your FICO Scores

The first step to improving your FICO^® scores is getting access to your current FICO^® scores and credit reports. “myFICO” offers instant online access to all three of your current FICO scores and credit reports.

Once you've gotten access to your FICO^® scores, you'll want to know how to improve them. myFICO is the ideal starting place if you’re new to learning about managing your personal credit risk and improving your FICO^® scores over time. myFICO offers an explanation of the positive and negative factors affecting your scores and access to the FICO^® Score Simulator, which helps you decide the best ways to improve your FICO^®  scores over time.  

For more information go to: http://www.bankrate.com ... where you can go to run either an a full FICO^® test or an “estimator… The estimator has just 10 questions and can be found at : http://www.bankrate.com/nltrack/fico/calc.asp?lpid=BKRATE29