What does your Cholesterol, Blood Pressure and FICO score have in Common?
We have many number that are important in out lives, however of all the numbers we should know, the most elusive and misunderstood is the credit score or FICO. FICO is an acronym for Fair Isaac Corporation who invented the score but that tells us nothing about what it measures and why we need to know our number.
Vicki Walton, Sales Coordinator for Prosperity Mortgage in Ellicott City defines a FICO score as “a three-digit number between 300 and 850 that summarizes a person’s credit risk based on their credit report at a particular point in time. The number tells a prospective lender how likely someone will pay on time, with higher scores indicating lower risk and with lower scores indicating higher risk.” Having a good credit score can save you money on loans, insurance and credit cards for companies will give you a better rate if they know you pay your bills on time.
The score tells lenders at a glance “how the person pays, how much he or she owes, how long they have credit, to what extent any new credit has been taken on and the different types of credit experience they’ve had.” The number can also be influenced by the number of credit reports are pulled. The more credit histories requested the higher the risk.
You can get your FICO score for FREE a few places like myfico.com but they want you to join their service for $ 14.95 for a minimum of 3 months, however you can cancel for no charge within 10 days at no charge.
According to Vicki, information the score doesn’t look at on a credit report includes marital status, gender and race. It doesn’t even look at the name or address, so the location has no bearing on it. Another thing it doesn’t look at that is commonly misunderstood: It does not look at income or assets.
Knowing your score is important if you are thinking of buying a home, refinancing a home or applying for any type of loan. Consumers have the right to check their credit score once a year for free and it will not affect your FICO score. To get your yearly credit reports go to www.annualcreditreport.com
What to know more????
Call Vicki Walton, Sales Coordinator for Prosperity Mortgage in Ellicott City.
Prosperity Mortgage Company | 9171 Baltimore National Pike | Ellicott City, MD 21042
Phone (410)480-3374| Fax (877) 803-9908
vicki.walton@prosperitymortgage.com
