Scoring your Credit - How's your FICO?

In today's increasingly automated society, it should come as no surprise that when you apply for a mortgage, your ability to pay can be reduced to a single number. All the years you've been paying your mortgage, car payments, and credit card bills can be analyzed, sliced, diced, and mutilated into a single indicator of whether you're likely to meet your future obligations.

All three of the major credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) use a slightly different system to arrive at a score. The best known is called the FICO score, based on a model developed by Fair Isaac and Company (hence the name) and used by Experian. Equifax's model is called BEACON, while TransUnion uses EMPIRICA. While each of the models considers a range of data available in your credit report, the primary factors are:

Each of these, and other items, are assigned a value and a weight. The results are added up and distilled into a single number. FICO scores range from 300 to 850, with higher being better. Typical home buyers likely find their scores falling between 580 and 850.

FICO scores are used for more than just determining whether or not you qualify for a mortgage. Higher scores indicate you are a better credit risk, and thus may qualify for a better mortgage interest rate.

What can you do about your FICO score? Fortunately, quite a bit.  THG Realty has partnered with Commonwealth Credit Restoration (www.commonwealthcreditrepair.com) to help our customers "Be All You Can Be" when it comes to your credit score.  It is unfortunate that many people think that there is nothing they can do to help their credit score.  This could not be further from the truth.  The tricky part is that since the companies listed above will not publish specifications or standards on how they score, it is left to the few really dedicated companies such as Commonwealth to help us understand what can help perfect your score before applying for a loan. 

Since the score is based on a lifetime of credit history, it is difficult (if not impossible) to completely repair or quickly move from a 400 score to an 850 score quick fixes.  However, there are a number of "Secrets of the Trade" that most credit repair specialists aren't even aware of that can quickly upgrade your score to get you the best possible rate on your mortgage. 

The most important thing is to know your FICO score and to ensure that your credit history is correct. A great website that many of our Realtors also use to continually check and monitor both credit history as well as credit score is True Credit (www.truecredit.com).  For a reasonable fee, you can quickly get your FICO score from all three reporting agencies, along with your credit report. Also available is some helpful information and tools that help you analyze what actions might have the greatest impact on your FICO score. Each of the credit services offers similar services on their web sites: www.equifax.com, www.experian.com, and www.transunion.com.

Additionally, the following information will help guide you to, hopefully, and instantly better score and give you a little insight into just how experienced our Credit Repair partners are.  These few golden nuggets are free for everyone... however, these are just the tip of the iceberg.  Contact us today to see how we can fully transform your credit score, empowering you to get the best loan available!

Credit Inaccuracies- Dispute Incorrect Information Immediately! STOP Applying For Credit - Each "Inquiry" subtracts 5 points from your score!! OPT OUT- By opting out of all credit solicitations for 5 years from the 3 credit bureau's own Opt Out Pre Screen website (www.optoutprescreen.com), your credit score can be raised anywhere from 10 to 40 points!

Don't let your credit score stand in the way of home ownership ever again.  We know the secrets, and our partners can help put you in a position to get a home loan and we can find the home of your dreams!