Personal Finance and Investing

I do not suppose you know what your credit score means do you? Do you really? I think you might want to take another moment to think good and hard on that, because in September of 2004, the Consumer Federation of America reported that of one thousand Americans they surveyed, only one third understood that their score measured how likely they were to repay a loan. In this day and age more businesses are looking at credit scores of prospective employees as a means of assessing risk to the company. A good credit score is a must if you want to qualify for a mortgage, and a bad credit score can hold you back from even something as basic as getting a home phone line hooked up. If you wish to be among the ranks of the wise consumers, then you have to know your credit score and what it means since it has such a profound impact on your life.

Ones credit score is not too dissimilar in idea from an adult report card. Instead of tracking your behavior it tracks your financial performance in incurring and in paying off debt, as well as how on time your repayment is. Of course, you want a high score, because a high score shows lenders that you are a responsible individual and can be trusted to repay a loan on time. Having a high score also gets you better or lower interest rates on mortgages and credit cards. But in this day and age your credit score can be, and is, used to evaluate many other things such as an application for an apartment, deposits for utilities, or even getting a new job.

These days, businesses tend to use a persons credit score as a sort of background check. Your credit score does not say for sure that you are either a bad or good customer; however, it can give some insight to creditors and businesses as to what your behavior is like from a credit standpoint. Different creditors’ will have different criteria, placing different weights on different values and pieces of information.

There are three main agencies for credit reporting, and they are the people that you want to talk to when it comes to getting your credit score and your credit reports. These three agencies are Equifax, Experian and Trans Union.

Equifax: (800) 685-1111 P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241

Experian: (888) 397-3742 P.O. Box 2002, Allen, TX 75013

Trans Union: (800) 916-8800 P.O. Box 1000, Chester, PA 19022

These companies may require that you pay a nominal fee, but in return they will give you your credit score and a copy of your credit report so that you can gain a better understanding of where you stand in terms of credit score and report.

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