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The first step in checking your credit history is to pull your credit reports. You can get your credit reports from each of the three major credit reporting companies once a year at AnnualCreditReport.com. Go through each of your reports line by line to make sure they are free of errors as up to 75% of people find mistakes on their credit reports. You can get your credit reports for free with a credit or debit card.

Unfortunately, getting your credit scores is a different story. Credit scores don’t come standard with your credit reports. They are calculated by outside agencies such as Fair Isaac Company (FICO). If you don’t have a checking account with a debit card then odds are you haven’t yet established any credit history and will find out your credit score is 0 anyway. It’s not worth paying for your credit score if you have absolutely no credit history. Read more »

Your credit score is a number that’s used to determine your creditworthiness and is based on information from your credit reports. Technically there are thousands of different credit scores used but the most popular consumer credit score is known as FICO and is calculated by the Fair Isaac Company. Not only that but you actually have 3 different FICO credit scores each of which is calculated based on information from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus which are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.

Although you can view your credit reports free once a year that doesn’t actually include your credit scores. Your credit scores are based on your credit reports but they are not one in the same. You may be offered a special deal or discount on your credit score when you use the AnnualCreditReport.com website, however, you won’t be able to view your credit score for free. Read more »

The first thing you need to know about credit scores is that they’re not all the same. There are literally thousands of different companies who offer credit scores. The only thing these scores have in common is the information they are based on, namely your credit reports from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. That’s where the similarities end. Each company that offers credit scores has their own method for coming up with a score.

The most popular credit score on the market is FICO (Fair Isaac Company) and is the de facto standard in the credit industry. About 90% of all companies that use credit scores to help them make decisions rely on the FICO credit score. You can get your FICO credit score at MyFICO.com but it’s going to cost you. Typically they charge about $20 to see your credit score. Read more »

The first reason why your score would drop when opening a new line of credit is the fact that hard inquiries have been made against your credit report. This is especially true if you applied with a few lenders before finally being accepted. Whether you are accepted or rejected for credit a hard inquiry is recorded any time you give a company written permission to pull your credit report. Read more »

When you cosign for a loan it’s really exactly the same thing as applying for a loan yourself. While you may only be the cosigner and not actually see any of the money from the loan (or get to the use the vehicle in the case of an auto loan) you are still 100% obligated for payments made to the account. If the buyer decides not to make any payments then your credit report will be hurt every bit as much as theirs is. Read more »

One of the best ways to improve your credit score is to identify and dispute any negative entries on your credit report which may be inaccurate. People make mistakes and credit reporting bureaus are no different. They can easily add things to your credit report that’s meant for someone else’s. If you find inaccuracies you can dispute them by sending a letter directly to the credit bureau who is reporting the inaccuracy. If every bureau has the same inaccuracy you will have to dispute it with each of them. Read more »

Your credit score could be anywhere from 200 to 850 with 200 being the lowest and 850 being the best possible credit score (which of course very few people actually ever have). Any score between 650 and 800 could be considered a good credit score to have. Anything below 650 and you will probably have a hard time getting credit or at least getting the best possible financing rates. Read more »

As a borrower, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, gives you many rights that play an important role in keeping you informed about your credit. Some of these rights include:

• Right to get a free credit report every year from the three major credit bureaus.
• The Credit Bureaus are under the obligation to make that those reports are as accurate as possible.
• The right to walk into any of the credit bureaus offices and demand for a copy of your credit report.

These are just some of the few rights that we are all aware of, however, there are numerous other rights in regard to our credit history that we have got no idea on.
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Your credit bureaus are, no doubt, doing their job as responsibly as possible most of the time. However, the fact stays that human error is almost unavoidable. Mistakes will happen once in a while. To make sure your credit record isn’t affected by such petty mistakes, it can help to re-check your credit report for mistakes regularly. We give you our 5 top tips for catching errors on credit reports quickly:

1.    Checking Credit Reports Regularly

Well, that’s the first thing you should be doing, of course. Without examining your credit report, you have no easier and faster way to catch errors on there. The best part is that you can get a copy of your credit copy for free as soon as you request one. So, put in your name on the list of annual credit report delivers. And, make sure you put aside some time every month to rake it with a sleek tooth and comb. You will catch a couple of errors once in a while, if you’re like most people. The more your transactions per month, the more likely you are to catch errors.

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If you’re one of the many people that just want to avoid getting into trouble with insurers, landlords, lenders, and other people at all costs, it can pay to know what the difference between credit fiction and credit fact is.

Over a decade has gone by since vaults cracked open and we began to learn the art of credit scores and how they work. The myths that run around aren’t only annoying. They do more damage than that. Sometimes, their prevalence prevents people from comprehending some of the most significant financial numbers in their lives. We give you 5 of the most dangerous misconceptions that just have to be exterminated:

Myth 1:If you know how to handle finances in a responsible manner, the credit scores are going to take care of themselves.

Fact: Credit scores aren’t measures of your financial health. It does not measure your assets, financial savvy, or income. Certain behaviors could be good for the wallet but not quite right for the scores.

Remember that credit score formulas basically have one main purpose – helping lenders in gauging the possibilities of you defaulting depending on the way in which you manage your credit. If you don’t use credit altogether or don’t handle it how the formulas like it, your scores might suffer. This means shutting down several accounts, using a single card, and maxing cards out, even if you’ve paid them off completely.

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