Credit Reporting Websites - Choosing a Reliable Provider
If you are currently looking for a website to provide you with credit reporting or monitoring services, our advice would be that you do so with great care and caution. Whilst the majority of websites out there offering credit score services are highly reliable - there are always the odd few which do nothing to add to the reputation of the industry on the whole.
How Identity Theft Can Affect Your Credit Score
We've all heard of the impending threat of identity theft, especially in today's modern electronic world. Whenever we hear the term, we automatically think of people sitting in a dark room, in a far away country - counting the pennies from people who they have successfully scammed.
Credit Scorecards - What Are They and Who Uses Them?
Don't mistake a credit score for a credit scorecard - they are not the same thing. In this article, we will take a look at the difference between these two things - both of which are reports - but both of which serve a different purpose.
Understanding FICO Credit Scores
The FICO credit score system is by far the most widely used credit scoring algorithm in the United States these days. Whenever you hear someone talking about their credit score, the chances are that they will be referring to the figure which is known as the FICO score.
FICO is actually a publicly listed company, and is therefore a corporation which is trading for a profit. Despite this however, the company is highly regulated due to the sensitive nature of the credit score information that they are tasked with providing and calculating.
In this article, we will look at FICO scores in particular, to see exactly how it is that you can work to improve your FICO score, as well as how you are able to access your score for free to see exactly where you stand against other consumers.
Calculating a FICO Credit Score
The algorithm behind the calculation of a FICO credit score is extremely complex, and on the most part, it is far too difficult for the average person to understand. Instead of going in to the mathematical operations behind it - here are a few of the major things which can affect your FICO credit score:
- Defaulting on loans versus paying them off on time.
- Having a lot of outstanding balances versus having just a few.
- High quality loans versus low quality (high interest rate) loans.
- High regular income versus low (or government supported) income.
Each of these different factors has a different weighting on your FICO credit score. Of course, due to each consumers individual set of circumstances, it is likely that you will have a different score to your friends, neighbours, and family.
Accessing Your FICO Credit Score
One of the best ways to get your hands on a copy of your credit score (aside from visiting a FICO office itself and requesting a copy) is to use one of the many free services on the internet.
These days, hundreds of websites are competitively marketing themselves to gain your business (ultimately), and therefore provide you with the service of collecting your personal financial information and history - for free.
Additionally, you won't have to even leave the house. All the paperwork can be sent in via email or fax - meaning that a copy of your FICO score is actually surprisingly easy to obtain.