Credit Repair and Your FICO Score

Credit Repair and Your FICO Score

If you know what a FICO score is, you should be aware how credit repair could help improve your score. Ranging from 300 to 850, a FICO score is a system developed by Fair Isaac Corporation that most banks and institutions use when determining your creditworthiness. Every individual has a score, and even the smallest credit repairs can make a difference between getting that mortgage or not.

Your FICO score is derived from information on your credit report as reported by your creditors. Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion do not verify the information that is reported to them, so it is very important to check your credit regularly for errors. Fair Isaac Corporation uses a formula based on things such as your debt to credit ratio, the length of your credit history, and the number of credit applications you’ve applied for when determining your score. The higher your score, the more likely you are to be approved for new credit.

You have the legal right to check your reports with all three credit agencies, and request changes be made as needed. Almost 70% of all credit reports have errors in them, and most of these can easily be fixed by submitting a written request to the agency in error. Something as simple as an outdated address or misspelled name can cause trouble when applying for a new credit account.

Knowing what your score is and monitoring your credit on occasion is critical to keeping your credit in good standing. When you get your reports from all three agencies, carefully cross check all information, such as name and address, job history, social security number, reported late payments, account balances, and credit inquiries. Credit repair is the simplest and straightforward way to improve your FICO score quickly, giving you the credit you deserve.