by LeRoy
Do you remember going to school when all you had to figure your math problems with was a pencil and a slide rule? Maybe you are younger than that. Perhaps you remember having a calculator that was as big as your textbook and only being allowed to use it for homework and never on tests? If you are younger still, you may remember being thrilled to discover that when you took harder math classes in school – like Calculus, for example – your teacher actually expected you to have and use a calculator every day.
Well, now we have calculators that graph and make charts and require a huge manual to understand, but that is not the only kind of calculator anymore. Nowadays, we have a calculator for everything. You can find love life calculators, calculators that predict how likely someone is to be successful in a certain career, and even calculators that determine the precise amount of water to give your houseplants.
Even with all these different types of calculators, the one that is likely to have the biggest impact on your life is the credit score calculator. What exactly is a credit score calculator? Well, a credit score calculator is a graph or computer program that can determine your creditworthiness by combining a bunch of different data about you and your finances into a formula and spitting out a number that represents you as a credit consumer.
Read the rest of this article »
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
by LeRoy
What is the credit score scale and how do you know whether you have a good or bad credit rating? Well, the credit score scale may seem dark and mysterious, but it really isn’t all that complicated. Here is what you need to know about your credit score and the credit score scale.
The credit score scale ranges from three hundred (300) to eight hundred and fifty (850). That means that if you are alive and there are records of you, there is no way you can have a credit score less than 300. If you have only a little bit of debt, you have had it for a long time (many years), and you have never missed a payment or been late with a payment, and you have an income, you might just have the perfect score of 850. Of course, very few people have either the lowest or the highest possible score; just about everyone falls somewhere between the two extremes.
If you want to fall at the very top level of the credit score scale, you should shoot for a rating of at least 720. At one time in the not too distant past, you may have been considered at the top of the game is your score was above 680, but no more. Just about every lender gives the best terms and interest rates only to those whose credit score falls above 720 on the scale.
Read the rest of this article »
by LeRoy
In the United States, there are three major credit score agencies, or credit reporting agencies; they are TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. The three credit score agencies are responsible for gathering and providing information on individual consumers. Banks and other financial institutions, as well as landlords, utility companies, and even insurance agents, have come to rely heavily on the information that credit score agencies provide as a means to determine the creditworthiness of individuals. If you intend to ever purchase with credit, the credit score agencies are likely to have a direct influence on your lender’s decision about whether or not to extend you credit and how much it will cost you to borrow money, i.e., what your interest rate will be.
Since the credit score agencies have a direct bearing on your financial life, it is important to make sure that you are careful to avoid behavior that will negatively affect your credit history, and it is equally important that you check your credit report periodically to ensure that the information is timely and accurate.
What types of transactions and credit information decreases your score? Having too much debt. The credit score agencies look at your income and how much debt you have; this is called your debt-to-income ratio, and if it is too much, your credit score will be lowered. Generally speaking, the credit score agencies and lenders like your total debt-to income to be no more than about thirty-six to thirty-eight percent. Even if you have been able to keep up with your payments and have made your payments on time, it is still considered important that sixty-two to sixty-four percent of your income is not involved in paying off loans.
Read the rest of this article »
by LeRoy
What is your credit score based on and what is the average American credit score nowadays? How do you fare in comparison with your fellow Americans? Is your rating higher or lower than the average American credit score? Just about everyone knows that there is such a thing as a credit score and that it is based on your past credit performance, but not many people really know the ins and outs of credit scoring.
First of all, the highest credit score that exists is 850; conversely, the lowest is 300. Of course, the majority of people fall between those two extremes, and in fact, the average American credit score is now about 690, but with the downturn in the economy and unemployment on the rise, it is likely that individual credit scores will begin to fall, and that means the average credit score will begin to fall right along with them.
Even though the average American credit score seems pretty high, at 690, that is really not “good enough” to get the best credit terms from most lenders. Most banks and other lenders use the credit history and credit score to determine whether or not they will lend you money, whether or not they will require collateral from you, how much interest they will charge you, and how long they will give you to pay back your loan. Obviously, the better your rating, the better deal you will get at the bank.
Read the rest of this article »
Tags: 
