When was the Last Time you Ran a Personal Credit Report?
Your Personal Credit Report - What's In It and What Does It All Mean?By Marie Stark
Do you know what your credit score is? Do you know what credit score banks and other lenders look for when they review your mortgage application? When was the last time you looked at your personal credit report?
Your credit score is a reflection of how well you use credit and many view it as an excellent picture of your financial health or stability. Your credit score is based on information contained in your credit report. Your personal credit report shows several pieces of your financial history. It shows:
- How much credit you have been approved for and how much of it you are using
- Which bills you pay on time and which bills you pay late
- Who all of your creditors are, how long you've had each account open and how much credit you are using with each creditor.
A person seeing your credit score and reviewing your credit report can draw many conclusions about you based on what they see.
Your credit score is a numeric value between 300 and 900 that is primarily determined by the timeliness of your past loan payments and the amount of debt you have.
Actual rankings vary slightly from lender to lender but generally speaking, a credit score of 620 or above is considered good and a credit score of 619 or below is cause for some concern and additional review. The median credit score in the United States is 723. This means that the same number of people have a credit score above 723 as those that have a credit score below 723.
Obviously, the higher your credit score is, the better off you are. A credit score of 750 or above is usually considered to be excellent, while a credit score below 580 means it could be very difficult to qualify for a loan.
You should review your credit report at least once a year to make sure it is accurate and to see what your credit score is. Each of the three credit reporting bureaus -- Experian, Trans Union and Equifax -- are required by law to give you one free annual credit report and you can even get this credit report free online. You can find information about getting your free credit report online at http://www.annualcreditreport.com/
Visit us online for more information about credit reporting bureaus
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