Before you can repair your credit, you need to understand what the credit score number actually means
and where it comes from.
First of all, your credit score is a number given out by Fair Isaac Corporation. In a nutshell, this
number is a guide if you will, used by creditors and lenders to determine what kind of credit risk you
are. The higher your number, the better credit risk you are and the more likely it will you be to obtain
credit.
Generally speaking, level of credit "worthiness" or the likelihood of getting credit based on your
score is something like this:
700+ = you will most likely get credit anywhere
660+ = you shouldn't have issues, but you may be asked for more information
620+ = most common range. Should be fine, but it's not a slam dunk to get credit
620 or below = the chances of getting decent credit is not in your favor.
You're goal is to be ABOVE 620 with the ultimate goal being about 700. At that point, you could easily
have creditors knocking down your door to give you credit, now that's a great feeling!
Several factors determine your overall credit score such as your payment history (good or bad); how
long you've had credit (the longer you have good credit, the better it is); the amount owed on credit
cards vs. the credit limit on each card (the lower the % you owe opposed to your high credit limit, the
better it is); new inquiries (the more inquiries you have in a short period of time, the WORS it is.
There are other factors, but let's get these in line for now, ok?
There are several ways to correct any credit issues you've had in the past, but I'll leave that for
another article.
