A Good Credit Score isn’t as easy to pin down as it may seem. Learn how to tell whether you have a good credit score and what you can do to improve it! How do you know if you really have a good credit score? This...
What is Bad Credit? Bad credit means you’ve been labeled untrustworthy like the boy who cried wolf. Lenders don’t want to let you borrow money, and if they do, it’s going to be at a very high interest rate. You look like a risk to them...
Credit Scores and Getting a Loan Lenders are in the business of loaning money, but they are picky about who gets it. They will pull your credit history and look at your credit score before offering you a loan. It’s only fair—they want as little risk...
Why The Credit Bureaus Suck! If everyone on the planet had one dollar each, these 3 companies would be worth more than the combined population of the Earth. All together, these businesses grossed $8,414,000,000. That’s more than half the gross domestic product of Iceland. They service...
Credit Scores and Marriage The “ties that bind” don’t combine your credit histories when you marry. Every person’s credit score is tied to his/her Social Security Number, so it doesn’t make a difference if you change your name. Your credit score also doesn’t change when you...
Credit Score Basics A credit score is a three-digit snapshot of your creditworthiness. Several different versions exist, from the ever-popular FICO to VantageScore and RiskView. Some are customized for mortgage lenders while others are customized for auto lenders. The usual range of these credit scores is...
Understanding Your Credit Report Let’s take a look at what the credit bureaus say they know about you. Are you who they think you are? Find the section that shows your name, Social Security Number, and address (sometimes it’s on the first page, sometimes it’s on the...
Hard or soft, that’s really what matters when it comes to credit inquiries. Soft inquiries When you look up your own credit history or score, that’s a soft inquiry. It doesn’t damage your score at all. If you use a credit monitoring service, chances are that...
Student Loans Your Credit Score Your student loans are a reflection of the dreams you had when you started school. But now your financial goals are at risk because of those loans. You may have heard that paying off student loans too fast can hurt your...
Credit Score Myths Credit scores and credit scoring systems are complex and at times hard to understand. As a result there’s a lot of misinformation that floats around the public sphere and as with anything this can sometimes lead to widespread rumors that just simply aren’t...