How's Your Credit Score?

Your credit score is a review of your years of credit history.  The scores range from 300 to 850, the average credit score is about 600.   Unfortunatley, more people these days are experiencing job loss, short sales and foreclosures which adversely affect their credit scores. Some of the other factors that affect your credit score include:

• Credit Inquiries — Do you have too many open accounts?
• Types of Credit — Do you have a healthy mix of loans and credit cards?
• Payment History — Do you pay your bills on time each month?
• Credit to Debt Ratio — How much do you owe versus your available credit?

In reviewing your credit history, you'll find that you actually have three reports. Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, each uses a slightly different model to develop your score. You have a credit score with all three of the bureaus. At Wolters Rentals, we use Trans Union to pull credit.

Most people want a stronger score, but how do you get there? Building your credit score takes time. At Wolters Rentals-A Property Management Company, LLC, we know it's difficult to make a large-scale change in your number with just small, simple changes, but your score can improve in a year or two by keeping tabs your credit report and by using your credit wisely. The best way to do this is to know your credit score. You'll improve your credit score by using these helpful hints:

• Correct any errors on your credit report: If you find incorrect items on your credit report, contact the bureau requesting that the item be removed. If you have a common name or the same name as a family member, you'll want to pay extra attention to make sure the activity reported is correct.
• Even out your debt: At first, this doesn't sound like a good idea. But, you want to avoid of having one card that is maxed out and have your remaining cards at a zero balance. It's better to have each of your cards at an even balance than to have all of your debt sitting on a single card. 
• Use Your Credit Cards: Keep your cards in rotation. Whether you're just getting started with credit, or if you've got older cards, be sure to use your cards so that your accounts maintain an active status. But, pay them off in no more than two or three payments.
• PAY YOUR BILLS ON TIME!   How often you're late with payments greatly affects your credit score. It's one of the reasons people who have recently been unemployed see the biggest hit in their credit score. Yes, it takes longer to build up your credit with payment history, but it's the surest way to prove that you're responsible enough to make payments to a bank.

If you have no credit

• Apply for gas station cards or retail credit. For those who have no credit or less-than-stellar credit, department store credit cards and gas credit cards are ways to repair credit, increase your credit limits and have a solid payment history, which will raise your credit score. Just beware of maintaining a large balance for more than a couple of billing cycles because these types of cards normally have a larger interest rate.

You can learn more about credit scores at www.myFICO.com, Fair Isaac's informational site and once per year, for free, you can review all three of your credit reports at www.annualcreditreport.com.  this gives you your report, but not your acores.  You can get your scores, for a small payment from each bureau on their websites: www.equifax.com, www.experian.com and www.transunion.com.