If You Want A Better Mortgage Rate Read Credit Scoring Basics

by Rob Kosberg

Mortgage pricing is now paying more attention to credit scoring. Since credit scores are now more important , it is vital that you locate and review your credit score. If you learn how the credit scoring system operates, you can make it work for you. The web site my FICO.com is a great place to start.

Published by credit scoring powerhouse Equifax, myFICO.com give you information right from the source. There are tens of pages of tips and tricks from which everybody can learn.

Following are some of the basics:

Remember the number 30: Credit card balances should hold steady at no more than 30% of the card limit. The credit bureau believes that you are responsible with use of credit if this is your situation. If you consider consolidating several credit card balances into a single card, be careful of the single card limit because overloading could hurt your score.

Your Trend Is Your Friend: Payments that are “on time” are favored by the credit bureaus. If your pattern is on time payments, the bureaus know you will probably continue paying regularly and on time. This is the biggest part, 35%, of your credit score. If you have late payments, catch up.

If You Don’t Use It You’ll Lose It: You need to use your credit because this is how you get an assigned credit score from the credit bureaus. You can simply charge a small amount and pay it off each month and you will have a score.

Learn From History: Your “credit history” is 10% of your score. So, to hold that history, don’t close credit cards that you don ‘t use.

Start to identify the probable issues in your credit history and improve them. More helpful ideas are available at my FICO.com. Later this year, more credit score adjustments to mortgage rates are expected. So, protect yourself with proactive measures.

Credit scoring is not always intuitive so if you’re not getting the personal information you need from general Web sites, ask your loan officer for an in-depth analysis. The mortgage rate you save may be your own.

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