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Credit FAQ

THE CONSUMER CREDIT EXPERT, ANSWERS COMMON QUESTIONS

The 5 Components of Your FICO

Multiple Credit Pulls

How To Increase Your FICO

Vantage Score vs FICO

Medical Collections

How To Establish Credit Quickly

How Many FICO Scores Are There?

FIVE FACTORS THAT MAKE UP CREDIT SCORES

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Pie chart of factors that effect credit scores

Payment History – 35%
Amounts Owed – 30%
Length of Credit History – 15%
Inquiries – 10%
Type of Credit Use – 10%

ABOUT YOUR CREDIT SCORE

THE PLAYERS

  • Beacon at Equifax

  • FICO Risk Score at Transunion (Empirica)

  • Experian/Fair Isaac at Experian

MAIN REASON FOR FICO SCORES IS TO PREDICT YOUR CHANCES OF DEFAULT ON A SPECIFIC LOAN

  • Scores range from 300-850

  • Scores below 620 are considered high credit risk

  • Scores over 660 are below average risk

HOW ARE THE SCORED WEIGHTED

  • 35% is established from your payment history, collections, and public records

  • 30% is established from outstanding balances being carried on your accounts

  • 15% is based on the length of your credit history. It is better to have credit for longer time frames so that a history is built upon

  • your record

  • 10% is established around the type of credit you have

  • 10% is established around your request for credit (credit inquiries), meaning that every time you apply for credit, your scores are impacted by certain FICO rules. You can, however, apply for as many mortgages and car loans as you want, as long as they are in a 14-day window. FICO allows this because they are big-ticket items

  • Auto and mortgage-related inquiries that occur within 30 days prior to scoring have no effect on the score

  • Outside of the 30 day period all auto and mortgage inquiries that occur within any 45 day period are treated as one inquiry

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