How To Increase My FICO Score  Part 3 | Why and How Do Companies Use Your FICO Score

The FICO Score (calculator) Simulator is a powerful tool to help you determine how actions can affect your FICO® score– for better and worse.

There are two options for simulating how certain actions might affect your FICO® score:

If all of your accounts and account balances stay the same, this will help you determine which action to take that will have the best outcome on your FICO score. The choose your own action, option will allow you to choose an action and then the FICO score calculator will show you how this action will affect your FICO score. If you choose to take two separate actions, and each would bring your FICO score up 20 points, doesn’t really mean that your score will go up 40 points.

When you purchase Score Power® you will gain access to your Equifax Credit Report™ at no extra charge. This report will show all the information on your credit file as of the date of purchase, and is available for 30 days.

Most of the financial institutions use FICO scores to make all of their credit decisions. This includes most major mortgage providers. Lenders use the FICO score to see how well you have managed your credit obligations in the past, and to determine whether they should extend credit to you. Lenders usually take into consideration the information on your credit application as well. These credit scores range from 300 to 850, the majority of scores falling between the 600s and 700s.

There is no cutoff used by all lenders each has their own criteria, but they are not far off from one another. The lender may be able to tell you how they use your information for giving credit. Most lenders use FICO scores to help with their lending decisions and each has their own strategy including what the risk factors are.

The FICO  simulator can be a great tool to help you determine the actions you can take to increase your FICO score. This is a way for you to try different strategies before you actually put them into practice.
   

What Factors Affect A FICO Score | What Is A Good FICO Credit Score?

A good Fico score is a score of about 725 or higher. To be sure you maintain a good Fico credit score, you will need to keep your payments current on all loans and credit accounts. If you are late on your payments quite often, your good Fico credit score will lower remarkably.

Tips to Keep A Good FICO Score

-To keep a good Fico score you will need to be diligent in paying all your credit accounts on time.

-Not owe more than 70% of your line of credit, try to keep this down as it will count against your Fico score.

-A Fico score is also determined on the number of outstanding credit accounts you have open, too many and your Fico credit score will plummet.

You can have a couple of credit card accounts, but don’t go overboard. A revolving credit account or two will not hurt any thing either. Just make sure you don’t have a history of late payments, one won’t hurt anything but if you make it a habit your Fico credit score will be much lower.

It really isn’t difficult to maintain a good Fico credit score, you just need to follow the above tips. Keeping a good Fico credit score, will assure that you will be able to get a home or car loan quickly and with an excellent interest rate.

The number on your Fico credit score will range between 300 and 900, 300 being a very low Fico score.

The breakdown of how your Fico credit score is determined is explained below.

* 35% is based on your payment history. The score goes down each time you make a payment late, if the payment is sent to collections, or you declare bankruptcy.
* 30% is how much debt you owe. Try to keep your credit card balances at or below 50% of their limit.
* 15% is determined by the length of time you have had the credit. The longer you have had established credit, the higher your score will be.
* 10% has to do with the number of times someone has inquired about your credit. The more and more recent these inquiries are the worse your Fico credit score will be.
* 10% is based on the types of credit you have now. This includes any loans that are available to you. This is about credit and credit cards. While there is no set number that you should or shouldn’t have. This is the last factor on which your credit score is based.

How Do I Get My FICO Score?

There is a way to get your credit report from the top three reporting credit bureaus. You are entitled to a free credit report once a year.

Some people are mistakenly under the impression that the 3 credit report with fico score is available for Free.  The annual 3 credit report is FREE but the FICO score is an additional charge.

So, to answer the question "how do I get my FICO score?".

How do I get my FICO score? | You can purchase it

You will be able to purchase your Fico or credit score at the same time you get your free credit report.

Even though it isn’t usually possible to get a free Fico score, you should certainly purchase one to see where you stand in the world of credit.

The FICO score is based on the information in your credit report, and is compared to patterns in hundreds of thousands of past credit reports of others.

This FICO score will show the level of YOUR credit risk - it is a formula that allows the financial world to measure whether your a "good risk" to lend money to or not.

How do I get my FICO score? | You must have the following……

Your credit report must contain at least one account that has remained open for six months or more, and one account that has been updated in the last six months. There needs to be something to base this score on.

How To Increase My FICO Score - Part 2

A high Fico score is a very good thing. The higher the Fico score, the better your credit rating will be.

So when you are wondering "how to increase my FICO score" - we will share some tips to follow to raise your FICO score and keep it high.

Keep in mind, the lower your Fico score, the more problems you will have getting good interest rates, or if your score is real low, you may not be able to get a loan at all.

You should certainly purchase your Fico score, to see where you stand in the scheme of things when it comes to your credit rating.

Because a high Fico score is a good thing, here are a few tips for "how to increase my FICO score" and to help you raise your FICO score.

How To Increase My FICO Score Tip #1

1. If you have no credit history, limited lines of credit, or bad credit, you should ask a family member or friend add you to their credit card as an authorized user. Make sure the account is at least two years old, and does not have a balance of over 50% of the credit limit. Of course your name will be on the card as a registered user, but you will not be using it, you are just interested in the credit history it can provide. If you can do this with more than one card, that will help the situation. You do not want to have a bad pay history or one with high payments because this will effect your score. Remember, a high Fico score is a good thing. The next time the card reports to the credit bureau it will show that you have been on the account from the beginning and the good pay history is yours too. You can raise your score up to 50 points by doing this.

How To Increase My FICO Score Tip #2

2. Manage your own accounts and get them down to below 70% of the credit limit of the card. If you owe too much on your accounts your Fico score will be lower, as they believe you do not manage your credit very well.

How To Increase My FICO Score Tip #3

3. Don’t transfer credit card balances more than once a year, choose the offer that will give you a year of 0% interest. The more new credit you open the lower your FICO score will go. Opening a new card once a year should have no effect.

How To Increase My FICO Score Tip #4

4. You should check your credit rating every 3 to 4 months, but not every week. Every time you run your credit you lose 2 points on your score, and your credit rating does not change that rapidly. A high Fico score is a good thing, so you don’t want to do something to take points away.

How To Increase My FICO Score Tip #5

5. Do check your credit at least once a year to make sure there are no mistakes. You are allowed one free credit report a year, from each of the three top credit bureaus. There is no cost for this, but you will need to pay for your Fico score.

These tips should help to raise your Fico score, but you will need to be diligent in paying the proper amounts on your credit accounts, and paying them on time to keep your FICO score high.