By: Rickert | March 01, 2017

How lenders use FICO Scores

90% of top U.S. lenders use FICO® Scores when making lending decisions

When you apply for credit—whether it's for a credit card, car loan, mortgage or other type of credit—lenders will want to know your credit risk. That is, they'll want to know how likely you are to pay back your credit obligations as agreed. To help them understand your credit risk, lenders use FICO Scores.

FICO Scores help lenders quickly, consistently and objectively evaluate potential borrowers' credit risk. So when you apply for credit or a loan, there’s a very good chance your lender will use your FICO Scores to help them decide whether to approve you, and what terms and rates you qualify for.

Different lenders use different versions of FICO®Scores

You have more tha...

Category: FICO Scores 

Tags: FICO Scores, Lenders 

By: Rickert | March 01, 2017

Payment History Tips

Contributing 35% to a FICO Score calculation, this category has the greatest effect on improving your scores, but past problems like missed or late payments are not easily fixed.

  • Pay your bills on time.
    Delinquent payments, even if only a few days late, and collections can have a major negative impact on your FICO Scores.
  • If you have missed payments, get current and stay current.
    The longer you pay your bills on time after being late, the more your FICO Scores should increase. Older credit problems count for less, so poor credit performance won't haunt you forever. The impact of past credit problems on your FICO Scores fades as time passes and as recent good payment patterns show up on your credit report. And good FICO ...

By: Rickert | February 28, 2017

Ever wonder how a lender decides whether to grant you  credit? For years,  creditors have been using  credit scoring systems to determine if you’d be a good risk for  credit cards, auto loans, and mortgages. These days, other types of businesses — including auto and homeowners insurance companies and phone companies — are using  credit scores to decide whether to issue you a policy or provide you with a service and on what terms. A higher  credit score is taken to mean you are less of a risk, which, in turn, means you are more likely to get  credit or insurance — or pay less for it

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, wants you to know how credit scoring works.

What is...

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