Understanding Your Credit Score

The first thing you need to know about your credit score is that you don’t have one credit score: you have many, and they change all the time.

Credit scores are designed to be a snapshot of your credit picture- typically, the picture that’s contained in your credit report. New information is constantly being added to your report, and old information is being deleted. Those changes affect your score.

Because of this, maintaining your credit can sometimes seem be hard work. If you have a bad score now, you’re not stuck with it forever. You can do a lot to improve your situation and make yourself more credit-worthy in lender’s eyes. When you have a good score, you need to constantly monitor your credit to make sure it stays that way. There are five parts to the FICO Credit Scoring System:

Your payment history (about 35% of a FICO score)

Have you paid your credit accounts on time? Late payments, bankruptcies and other negative items can hurt your credit score. But a rock solid record of on-time payments helps your score.

How much you owe (about 30% of a FICO score)

FICO scores look at the amounts you owe on all your accounts, the number of accounts with balances, and how much of your available credit you are using. The more you owe compared to your credit limit, the lower your score will be.

Length of credit history (about15% of a FICO score)

A longer credit history will increase your score. However, you can get a high score with a short credit history if the rest of your credit report shows responsible credit management.

New credit (about 10% of a FICO score)

If you have recently applied for or opened new credit accounts, your credit score will weigh this fact against the rest of your credit history. FICO scores distinguish between a search for a single loan and a search for many new credit lines, in part by the length of time over which inquiries occur. If you need a loan, do your rate shopping within a focused period of time, such as 30 days, to avoid lowering your FICO score.

Other factors (about 10% of a FICO score)

Several minor factors can also influence your score. For example, having a mix of credit types on your credit report – credit cards, installment loans such as a mortgage or loan, and personal lines of credit – is normal for people with longer credit histories and can add slightly to their scores.

FICO scores range from 300-850, and most people score in the 600’s and 700’s (higher FICO scores are better). Lenders buy your FICO score from three national credit reporting agencies (also called credit bureaus): Equifax, Experian and Trans Union. In the eyes of most lenders, FICO credit scores above 700 are very good and a sign of good financial health. FICO scores below 600 indicate high risk to lenders and could lead lenders to charge you much higher rates or turn down your credit application. The FICO score has different names at the three major credit bureaus.

Repairing your Credit

Anyone who has errors or negative information on their credit report can repair their own credit! However, you will need to be persistent and determined to make true progress! This process takes patience as working with the credit bureaus can be frustrating. The steps to repair your own credit are as follows:

1. Get your credit report
2. Review and list all negative items found on your report
3. Gather your documentation
4. Write dispute letters
5. Mail letters to credit bureaus
6. Document everything you do
7. Wait for response from Credit Bureaus
8. Review the results of your efforts
9. Repeat the process as needed

Step One: To begin this process you will need to get a copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit-reporting agencies.

Experian
www.experian.com

Equifax
www.equifax.com

TransUnion
www.transunion.com

Step Two: Once you get your report(s) you will need to analyze the information. Look for all negative listings. Negative listings include the following: Bankruptcy, Foreclosure, Repossession, Charge Off, Court Judgments, Collections, Past due payments, Late Payments. When looking for these listings keep in mind anything else that might not look good. Imagine you are a lender reviewing this report to consider for a loan. What else do you see that might be construed as negative?

Step Three: The step is to gather all the documentation you have regarding each item you plan to dispute. For example on a late payment, get your cancelled checks from the bank and see when the check cleared. Was it late? If not you have proof you are now going to include with your dispute. If it was late don’t worry you can still dispute

Step Four: Step four of this process is to write your dispute letters. You will need to write a letter to each credit bureau separately and include all the items you are disputing with that bureau.

Note – For each letter include the following information:

• Date
• Your Full Name
• Your Social Security Number
• Date Of Birth
• Your Current Address and Phone Number
• Your Signature
• Full Name of Items you are Disputing
• Account Numbers for the Items you are Disputing
• Reasons for the Dispute of Each Item
• Copies of Any Documentation Supporting Your Disputes

Step Five: Once you write your dispute letters you will need to mail them to the corresponding credit bureaus. Use the addresses from step # 1 to contact the three major credit-reporting bureaus.

Make sure you mail each one certified mail so you have proof you sent these disputes.

Note – Make sure you make copies of everything you send to them.

Step Six: Keep records of everything you do. Every phone call you make get names, phone numbers, extensions, date, and time.

REMEMBER keep copies of everything. You will be very happy to have this information when you start getting the run around!

Step Seven: Step seven of this process is to wait for a response from the credit bureaus. They have 30 days by law to respond to you. If you don’t here from them within this time send a second notice to find out what is going on.

Remember you have proof you mailed the dispute letter because you sent it certified.

Step Eight: Once you do get a response, compare it to your requests. If a change was made to your credit report the bureau will include an updated copy of your credit report. Is the change to your satisfaction? Did you get what you asked for? Or was nothing changed? If you got everything you asked for, great you’re done! If not, move on to step nine.

Step Nine: If you didn’t get everything you asked for challenge the verification, the credit reporting agency will likely state that your request was investigated and verified.

The credit reporting agency will have never contacted the original creditor, but will have relied on a third party database to verify, which they may or may not admit to you.

Contact the credit reporting agency by registered mail and tell them the original creditor has no records therefore your account should be deleted. Though you may be trustworthy the credit reporting agency will need to see the letter from the original creditor.

If the credit-reporting agency refuses, inform them you will sue for willful non-compliance under section FCRA § 616. Send the information via certified mail along with intent to sue letter. If not, they will give you a new confirmation number (write it down and the date). This acts as a new investigation, and the credit reporting agency has 30 days to get back to you.

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Carl Agard is an author of four books on wealth building and financial literacy. He is also the host of the popular internet radio show www.realmoneyrealissuesradio.com. You can order his books at www.carlagard.com and www.amazon.com