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Saturday, March 26, 2005
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Improve your credit score by following these tips
By JUSTIN BACHMAN AP Business Writer Many of us still don't understand credit scores, that abstruse number between 300 and 850 that lenders assign to us based on our credit histories.
It's based on five factors, and the higher your score, the more likely you are to be considered a fine catch by a lender. These are: payment history, amounts owed, length of history, new credit applied for and taken, and type of credit.
Fair Isaac Corp., the company behind the common "FICO" score, and a coalition of credit card companies offer a few tips to raise your score:
* Pay bills on time. This is the most important thing you can do as a consumer to demonstrate you're a responsible borrower.
* Don't move your debt. Paying it off, instead of shuffling it among a plethora of lenders, will improve your score.
* Check credit reports. Errors on personal credit histories are not uncommon and can wreak havoc on your score. Check all three main credit-reporting companies -- Experian, Equifax and TransUnion -- to make sure you have a mistake-free trio reporting on you.
* Manage your debt. Letting this float around your finances year after year, with paltry payments, will burden your score.
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