How Your Credit Rating Affects You, and How to Check It.
You might not know it, but every time you take out any kind of loan or credit or pay something back, it gets counted on your credit rating. Who keeps a record on you will vary according to where you live, but the big three credit reference agencies are Experian, Equifax and Trans Union. They will provide your credit rating to any company that is thinking of lending you money.
What is Included in Your Credit Rating.All the debts you currently have are included in your credit rating. There is a history of all the debts you’ve had in the past ten years or so, and special emphasis is put on anything that has gone wrong. Defaulting (never paying) on any debt will ruin your credit rating completely. Borrowing a lot before you start paying anything back will make you look like a very bad risk, and so will going all the way up to (or even over) your limit on a credit card.
It is also worth considering that the credit reports of anyone you live with may be linked to your report, and could reflect badly on you – your wife or husband’s credit rating is tied to yours quite closely.
How Your Credit Rating is Worked Out.The most common method of coming up with your rating is called ‘FICO’, named after the Fair Isaac Corporation, who invented it. Your current credit status is prioritised, in this order: whether you’ve paid past debts, how much debt you currently have, your credit history, the types of debt you use, and how many times your rating has been checked recently. Things that happened more recently are given more weight than things that happened a long time ago.
Why Your Credit Rating is Important.Any time you get turned down for a credit card or any other loan, the chances are that it was because of your credit rating. Companies giving out small loans are far more likely to rely completely on this rating than to bother checking your income, and a worse rating will mean that you are offered a higher interest rate.
Your rating is important when you get car loans and mortgages too. You don’t want to find a house you love only to get turned down for the mortgage thanks to your habit of paying your credit card bills late.
How to Check Your Credit Rating.Credit reference agencies can’t hold your information on file without telling you what it is they have. If you write them a letter and pay a very small fee, they have to send you the full credit report that they have about you.
You can then check over your credit rating, and send a letter back to the agency telling them about anything that you think isn’t right. You might find that a screw-up has made you look bad when it wasn’t your fault. They will include anything you send in your file.
In some countries, you may find that you can sign up to get credit reports regularly for a small fee, or even for free! Make sure to check your local laws.We recommend the following credit card and debt resources. They are highly reputable and will help you in choosing the best available solution for you, as well as in finding the best credit cards around.
Credit Card Resources
CreditAxis guarantees anyone a bad credit loan or credit card approval through their directory of little-known lenders. They also offer a unique credit repair kit and a do-it-yourself bankruptcy filing kit. Their information is applicable to residents of the U.S., Canada, and the UK.
LowerMyBills is a comprehensive service that helps consumers lower all their monthly bills, all in one spot. They offer a broad range of savings opportunities, with a special focus on home loans. LowerMyBills has established itself as leader in the online comparison shopping marketplace.
Debt consolidation is one of the hottest offers online today and DebtAdvocates.cc (from Intermark Media) is the first in the industry to give consumers the choice to either consolidate or eliminate their debt - based on their financial situation.
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