Credit Reports And Score
Plus credit report score tips
Credit reports and score determine your credit worthiness.
Understanding credit reports and score. Your credit report provides creditors with information needed to consider your application.
Credit bureaus compile your identity and personal information, employment status, buying and repayment habits and assign a credit score rating for you.
Strong credit history and good credit rating has its perks -- the biggest is an easy access to affordable financing.
What's in credit reports and score?
Lenders rely on credit reports and scores to determine your credit worthiness.
As mortgage brokers we access credit bureaus to obtain your detailed trade and credit information for the purpose of getting you a mortgage.
Your credit reports and score have crucial details helping lenders decide whether or not you qualify for financing. Lenders analyze credit reports and scores as part of your application approval.
What do credit reports and scores cover
- The information starts with your credit score which combined with your credit history establish your credit worthiness.
- Social insurance number correlates with your credit score identity, and alerts if it is misused.
- Address confirms where you live, that the address belongs to your identity and has not been reported in suspicious fraud situations. From time to time an address is associated with more than one name or social insurance number - this can be an alert that the applicant is trying to obtain credit fraudulently.
- Next is your name. Records show your current name, nick names, single or changes to married name - all of this information is gathered to ensure that you are the correct person applying to obtain credit. Also, that the right name belongs to your social insurance number.
- Then is your employment history. This section covers all of your jobs history.
- Important to note is the inquiries section. This provides you with a list of everyone who in the past six years pulled your credit reports and score.
- Lenders look for known reported suspicious inquiries. Too many inquiries without credit granted to you lower your credit score. These imply you could be a chronic credit seeker.
- Then there is section covering public records. This could be records of any bankruptcies in the past six years, debts in collections both paid and unpaid, as well as secured credit such as automobile loans and more recently, some mortgages.
- The last section covers your trade details. This is a list of your credit accounts, dates these accounts were opened/closed, amount owing, repayment history and type of credit. Detailing if these accounts are revolving credit such as credit cards, line of credit or installment loans.
Credit reports and scores notes and cautions complete your document. This could be information such as stolen credit cards or other credit warnings.
So, if you are applying for credit, be sure to provide all information accurately. Lenders verify all information with the credit bureau -- discrepancies could be interpreted as false information which can work against you.
Credit report score tips
Your credit report is unique to you. It reflects your specific circumstances and is evaluated on it's own merit.
There are things that harm your credit score -- let's look at some preventative credit report score tips:
If you have no credit score at all, the first step is to get
a secured credit card.
- If you have credit cards any late payments will set you back
- a couple of 2 months in arrears on your credit card can set you back up to 2 years from
getting good mortgage deals;
- Get my credit score is a statement I often hear when I talk to people. But, be careful who is pulling your credit as you lose points with
each inquiry. By law, a signed consent form is needed to pull your credit. When
you sign those retail store promo application forms, there is a consent clause
hidden in the small print. Banks share your information
with all their affiliates -- credit cards, investment houses, and others
soliciting your business. Each will pull your credit again and again to collect information about you;
- We'll only pull your credit once. If for some reason the first lender turns you down for a mortgage, we'll re-direct your application to other lenders with the original credit report attached;
- Don't keep your credit card balance too close to your credit limit. This will lower your credit score;
- If things have gotten out of control, don't delay - get help to get you back on track;
- Using private mortgage lenders is a good short term fix mortgage strategy until your credit rebuilds;
- If your debt is in collection and you're disputing charges, pay the debt first and then dispute. Every month your debt is in collection your credit is going down the tubes. It takes a long time to rebuild credit and in the meantime you're not getting affordable financing;
- Check your credit reports and score often, at least once a year. This way you ensure that you always qualify for the financing you deserve;
- Monitoring your credit annually is also important to ensure identity theft protection.
These credit report score tips will help you build strong credit history.
Marie Copeland FSU, Mortgage Broker
We love helping clients build solid credit reports and scores history. If you need mortgage help I will be happy to give you a free assessment of your situation. Together we'll decide on your best mortgage strategy.
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