Need Credit or Insurance? Your Credit Score Helps Determine What You’ll Pay

Ever wonder how a lender decides whether to grant you credit?

For years, creditors have been using credit scoring systems to determine if you’d be a good risk for credit cards, auto loans, and mortgages. These days, many more types of businesses — including insurance companies and phone companies — are using credit scores to decide whether to approve you for a loan or service and on what terms. Auto and homeowners insurance companies are among the businesses that are using credit scores to help decide if you’d be a good risk for insurance. A higher credit score means you are likely less of a risk, and in turn, means you will be more likely to get credit or insurance — or pay less for it.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, wants you to know how credit scoring works.

What is credit scoring?

Credit scoring is a system creditors use to help determine whether to give you credit. It also may be used to help decide the terms you are offered or the rate you will pay for the loan.

Information about you and your credit experiences, like your bill-paying history, the number and type of accounts you have, whether you pay your bills by the date they’re due, collection actions, outstanding debt, and the age of your accounts, is collected from your credit report. Using a statistical program, creditors compare this information to the loan repayment history of consumers with similar profiles. For example, a credit scoring system awards points for each factor that helps predict who is most likely to repay a debt.

A total number of points — a credit score — helps predict how creditworthy you are — how likely it is that you will repay a loan and make the payments when they’re due.
Some insurance companies also use credit report information, along with other factors, to help predict your likelihood of filing an insurance claim and the amount of the claim.

They may consider these factors when they decide whether to grant you insurance and the amount of the premium they charge. The credit scores that insurance companies use sometimes are called “insurance scores” or “credit-based insurance scores.”

Credit scores and credit reports

Your credit report is a key part of many credit scoring systems. That’s why it is critical to make sure your credit report is accurate. Federal law gives you the right to get a free copy of your credit reports from each of the three national consumer reporting companies once every 12 months.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) also gives you the right to get your credit score from the national consumer reporting companies. Once per year you can get a copy for free. When you get your score, often you get information on how you can improve it.

Increase Credit Score – How Do Credit Scores Work?

Although many mortgage companies and finance experts have been warning consumers about the importance of maintaining a good credit score, many people fail to recognize the value. When applying for any type of credit, potential lenders review our credit history and base loan approvals on its contents. If applying for instant credit, lenders simply use credit scores. Here are a few tips to help you understand how credit works, and tips for boosting your personal rating.

The Value of Credit Scores

Credit scores are a valuable tool for lenders. Because banks and other lending institutions receive numerous loan requests on a daily basis, it is challenging determining which applicants should get approved.

Lenders have many methods for judging a person's credit worthiness. To speed up the process, several lenders begin by reviewing a credit score. To separate the good applicants from the bad, they establish a minimum credit score requirement. If your score falls below this requirement, it's an immediate credit denial.

Calculating Credit Score

Many factors play a role in credit scoring. Scores are between 300 and 850. The higher the score, the better the credit. Although having perfect credit is very hard, it is possible to maintain a good credit rating. This typically consists of scores above 680. Those who fall into this category usually qualify for prime rates on home loans, auto loans, and credit cards.

When calculating credit scores, several factors are taken into account. For example, payment history, outstanding debt, length of credit, and inquiries. Payment history and outstanding debts contributes largely to credit scoring.

Payment history with creditors is important because future lenders are curious as to whether you submit payments on time, or have a habit of being late. Moreover, having too much debt will have a negative effect on your score.

Raising Credit Scores

Little things can quickly boost your credit score. For starters, begin establishing a good payment history with creditors. Because payment history contributes to 35% of credit scoring, paying creditors on time is a great way to increase your score. Furthermore, reduce your outstanding debts. Debt contributes to 30% of scoring. Thus, the more debt you have, the lower your score. Keeping credit cards at their maximum limit is damaging. If possible, keep cards at about 25% of their maximum limit.

Improve Credit Score – Ways To Raise And Protect Credit Score

When a potential creditor pulls your credit report, they will learn your employment, address, and credit history. Details about credit history are their primary concern. For this matter, it is important to maintain a good payment history with creditors. This will likely result in a better credit score, which affords better financing options.

If your credit score is low, making an effort to raise your score will serve to your advantage.

Benefit of Regular and Timely Payments

There is no secret method to obtaining a good credit rating. Even if you are unable to achieve a very high credit score, it is possible to maintain a good rating by simply paying creditors on time. Late payments and skipped payments can decrease your score by several points. If irregular payments become a habit, your credit score will continue to decline.

On the same line of thought, making regular payments will increase your credit rating. When outlining a plan for boosting credit rating, begin by paying all creditors on time. If possible, submit payments a few days before the due date.

Reduce Debts and Keep Low Balances

Too much debt will have a negative effect on your credit rating. Most consumers with maxed out credit cards are able to keep up with minimum payments. However, excessive debts make potential lenders nervous. In this case, it may be difficult to obtain prime rates on home loans and auto loans.

Low credit card balances will not have a damaging effect on your credit rating. Consumers are encouraged to keep credit balances below 25% of the credit limit. If your balance exceeds this amount, take the necessary steps to reduce debts. This may include paying triple the minimum payments, transferring the balance to a 0% interest credit card, or obtaining a debt consolidation.

Ways to Protect Credit Rating

In addition to boosting your personal credit rating, careful credit report monitoring is essential. Sadly, millions of people become a victim of identity theft each year. Proving identity theft is difficult. Thus, victims often have to live with the effects of having their identity stolen.

How To Raise Your Credit Score

Is it really that important to raise your credit score? Maybe. Lenders have "break points" between scores that get you one interest rate or another. Suppose you have a score of 688, and the lender drops the mortgage rate by .5% at 690. Those two points can cost you an extra $20,000 in interest on a $170,000 loan (over 30 years at 6.5% instead of 6%). Is that important enough for you? What can you do?

Eight Ways To Raise Your Credit Score

There are ways to raise your credit score. Some of them take more time than others to have an impact, but if you start working on it now, you can boost that score before long.

1. Check credit reports for errors. If there are errors that are hurting your score, contact the credit reporting agency that issued the report and challenge them. The agency is obligated to investigate and correct any mistakes within thirty days. If a creditor doesn't respond to their inquiries, they have to automatically remove the item in question (you may have to remind them about this part of the law).

2. Pay off balances every month. It is just good for your future, as a way to keep you out of excessive debt. It can save you a lot in interest also. Finally, it demonstrates your ability to manage your debt, and so increases your credit score.
3. Have the right number of credit cards. At least two is best, but having more than five or six can actually lower your score.

4. Pay bills on time. Borrow money to get those bills paid on time, if you have to. Paying on time has the biggest positive impact on your credit score. Unfortunately, paying off old delinquencies won't immediately raise your credit score, because these will still show as being paid late, but start paying on time now, and with time, these old late payments are deemed less important.

5. Manage your credit card balances. It's best for your credit score if the balance on a given card is less than 50% of the limit on that card. Manage your use of your cards to keep the balances below this amount. If, for example, you have three cards with limits of $2,000, $3,000 and $2,500, it is better to have a $600 balance on each than $1800 on one.

6. Don't apply for too many cards and loans. These applications generate inquiries on your credit reports. Having oo many inquiries in a short time lowers your score. Avoid applying for a lot of cards in a given year.

7. Keep and cancel the right cards. When you close accounts or cancel cards, do it right. Old accounts are better than new ones for your credit score. Keep those old ones open, even if the balance is zero. Also, because it's best to keep balances below 50% of the card limits, you might consider canceling your lower-limit cards if you regularly keep balances on your cards.

8. Be careful about whom you borrow from. Furniture stores and others help you finance your purchases, but through finance companies. This can lower your score. If you can't pay cash, it is better to borrow the money from a bank or credit union.
Maybe you noticed that this is almost a list of things that lower your credit score. It basically is, and you should keep that in mind. Paying things bills on time and avoiding the things that lower your score - that is the best way to raise your credit score.

How to Evaluate and Raise Your Credit Score

Why do some people get offers for pre-approved credit cards and others don’t? What do car dealers know about your financial health that you don’t know? The answer is your credit score.

Your credit score is a number generated by a mathematical formula to estimate how likely you are to pay your bills. Based on the information in your credit reports from the three credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, your credit score has been a factor in your ability to qualify for loans and good interest rates for more than twenty years. Lenders compare your credit report with millions of others to determine your score.

While there are a variety of credit scoring methods available to lenders, the most widely used is the FICO score. Based on a scoring system developed by Fair, Isaac & Co., FICO scores range from approximately 300 to 800 points and are provided to lenders by the three credit bureaus. You also have access to your FICO scores but will be charged a fee by each credit agency providing your report.

According to Fair Isaac, the credit scores of the American public are divided as follows:

• 499 and below 1 percent
• 500-549 5 percent
• 550-599 7 percent
• 600-649 11 percent
• 650-699 16 percent
• 700-749 20 percent
• 749-799 29 percent
• 800 and above 11 percent

A score of 720 or higher will probably get you the best interest rates on a home mortgage. Your credit card company looks at your credit score to decide whether or not to raise your credit limit or charge you a higher interest rate. The higher your credit score, the better you look to lenders and the lower your interest rates.

Several factors affect your credit score including your payment history, the length of your credit history, any outstanding debt, how long and how often you’ve had derogatory credit information, such as bankruptcies, charge-offs, or collections, and the amount of credit you are using compared to the amount of credit available to you.

So how do you raise your credit score? Well, the first thing to do is to order a copy of your credit report with the score included from each of the three credit bureaus. Review your reports and note any discrepancies. Correcting blatant errors is the first step to repairing your credit, and changes can take up to three months to be recorded.

Next, remember to pay your bills on time. It may seem like a small thing at the time you’re writing that monthly check, but an accumulation of timely payments says a lot to a potential lender looking for a reliable client. Prompt payments in the last few months can actually make a big difference in your credit score.

While collections, bankruptcies, and late payments have the greatest negative effect on your credit score, your debt is a factor as well. Keeping your account balances between 25% and 50% of your available credit signals a responsible borrower. For example, if you have a credit card with a $2000 limit, keep your debt below $1000. For this reason, consolidating your credit card debt can actually lower your credit score, as it raises the ratio of your debt to your available credit. The best solution is to simply pay off your existing cards as quickly as possible.

Excessive inquiries over a short period of time also damage your score. When lenders, banks, or credit card companies check your credit report, the inquiries are recorded. Several of these “hard inquiries” in the same time period may signal to other lenders that you are opening multiple accounts due to financial difficulty.

If you discover that you have accounts on your report that you didn’t open, or your public records such as tax liens or judgments that are not yours, you may be a victim of identity fraud. It is up to you to deal with the damage that can happen to your credit score because of this criminal activity. Being aware is your first step, but when the items end up on your report, you have no alternative but to clean it up.

Overall, give yourself time to build a good credit score and even more time to correct serious problems. The length of your credit history is another determining factor in a good score. Lenders want to know that you are able to maintain prompt payments and good standing for a period of time. So check your reports yearly, do your due diligence, and your score can improve.

Free Credit Score Check

Free credit score check is one of the best ideas to improve or increase your credit score. There can be many errors in your credit report that can obstruct your financial flexibility. Some people have the opinion that checking score can reduce their credit score rating but it is not so. Checking does not harm your credit score. In fact credit score check improves the credit score rating of an individual.

Why Check Credit Score?
Many lenders and retailers who extend credit facilities use credit score. The main purpose is to eliminate bad debts or any such poor line that may involve in the transaction. If you have bad credit score the lender may refrain from extending credit facilities but person with good credit score does not face any financial shortage. If you desire to have good credit score or want to increase credit score scale then you must check your credit score periodically. It is always advisable to check your credit score once in six months. Remember a minor error in your credit score can cause major destruction in your credit score rating.

Credit Scoring: Advantage
Your credit score reflects your past payment and debts history. Because of this credit score and reports many financial institutions are able to lend "instant credit" to the borrowers. Now days if you intend to purchase a car or house on credit the prospective seller ask for your credit score. That indicates that your credit extension is totally based on your credit score scale.

Your credit score consists of 5 components, which are payment history (35%), types of credit used (10%), Credit Inquiries (10%), total amount owed (30%) and length of past credit History (15%). It also reflects your bankruptcy, divorces, judgement, lien as well as all the negative and positive remarks. In order to avoid such things you must make your payment on time or before the due date.

Five Tips For Building A Good Credit Score

Improving yourself is always a good thing. If you thrive hard to become a better public speaker, you can might yourself a promotion. Exercising and going to the gym can help you lose weight and have the figure you have always wanted. But the best thing of all is improving and building your credit score ‘ this can help you save hundreds and thousands of dollars on your biggest purchases.

For some, it may be hard to keep up a good credit score but actually, improving credit is not that hard to achieve. You just need to be patient and learn a little bit about the credit scoring system and how it works.

A person who is patient and willing to improve their credit profile can do it easily. There are five things that they can follow in order to boost their credit scores.

1.Check your own credit report from time to time. It is necessary to regularly check your credit and take the steps to remove any inaccuracies in your credit report. Sometimes bad credit is caused by simple inaccuracies in the report. If you see something, contact your creditor immediately, and work to correct the error as soon as you can. Leaving an inaccuracy on your report counts against you.

2.Be on time with payments. Literally, it means that you have to pay all your bills on time. If you are always late with your payments, it will affect your credit report and score. Also, collections and bankruptcies have the most negative effect on your credit report. All reports including the late payments are noted and written in your credit report.

3.Learn how to manage your debt. You must maintain the balance of your credit report to 35% of your available credit limit. Make sure that you always watch your accounts and estimate if you can still handle the using more credit.

4.Avoid unnecessary inquiries. Every time you make an inquiry, it is written in your credit report. Even if you have no plan to open a credit account, your inquiry records will show how often someone has looked at your report, and will cast doubt on your ability to pay. So as much as possible, do not make an inquiry into your credit report unless it is important.

5.Give yourself time. Time is considered one of the most significant aspects that can help improve your credit score. Time management is important to get yourself on the right track and show that you can handle your credit responsibly. You can also keep even the oldest account open in order to help make your credit use look longer.

Easy Steps To Maintain A Good Credit Score

A good credit score can be an asset when you need it most. But if you don't regularly monitor your credit status, your credit score can become a liability. Have you checked your credit report lately?

By law you are able to obtain a copy of your credit report free every 12 months from each of the three nationwide credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. The three companies have formed a central agency so that you can request a copy from all of them at once. It’s called Annual Credit Report and can be accessed online.

This free credit report can be a valuable tool in maintaining your lifestyle and can save you money. By monitoring your credit report on a regular basis, you can catch any errors that may have been recorded and see that they are corrected immediately. Also with the increased crime of identity theft, with a vigilant eye on your credit reports, you can catch any funny business early.

There are just a few things you need to do to maintain a good credit score.

-First and foremost, make your payments on time.

-Stick within your budget and manage your debt.

-Do just what you're doing and monitor your credit report regularly to correct any possible errors.

-Try to avoid any unnecessary inquiries of your credit report, as each request can be marked against your good credit score.

-Reduce your credit card balances if they're limited out.

-If you don't have enough credit history, you may consider applying for new credit.

By carefully reviewing your credit report on a regular basis, you can be sure that you maintain a good FICO score. "What is a FICO score?" you say.

The FICO score is the 'grade' with which financial institutions use to judge the risk they take when extending you credit. The higher the FICO score, the better. The scores generally range from 499 - 800 plus.

By keeping a close watch on your credit reports, you can help to protect your good credit. Whether it's a car loan, credit card, or mortgage, your credit score can dictate the interest rate of your new loan. A good credit score can save you money.

Car loan with bad credit score - Is this possible

Are you considering buying a car but afraid just because you have a bad credit score? Bad credit score does not mean end of the world. It’s true that having a good credit score is very much important. But a person with bad credit score can also get his loan approved.

There are number of money lender who offer loan to individual who have a bad credit record. The only drawback of borrowing loan with a bad credit score is paying high interest rate than what you would have actually paid if you had a good credit score.

How can you get car loan with a bad credit score?

1.    Don’t rely on the money lender: You might come across many money lenders who will agree to pay you credit. It’s very important that you do not haste in getting your car loan approved. Money lenders may try to rip you off just because you have a bad credit history. You must compare the rates of different money lenders but actually arriving at a decision. A good search can help you fund lenders who are willing to provide you loan at a much lower interest rate.
2.    Check your credit report: It’s very important that you check your credit report but applying for a loan. Checking your credit score can only help you improve your credit score. The reason for this check is that there might be certain errors in your credit report. It’s quite possible you might have paid your dues but they are not recorded in the credit report. You have to notice all these errors and inform the credit agencies to do the necessary corrections. Remember a credit score repair can help you improve your credit score by quite a margin. This in turn will directly affect your loan gaining capacity.
3.    Repair your credit score: If you find any errors or flaws in your credit report it would be advisable to contact the credit agency as quickly as possible. Get the error rectified and find improvement in your credit score.

An Average Credit Score – It Is Important When Borrowing

The average credit score is the rating that the 3 major credit bureaus assign to your credit report. It is based on your borrowing and repayment habits and depends on how much money you owe and how many times you have applied for credit. If you have a low credit score, there are ways of improving it. In general, an average credit score tells creditors that you are a good risk for them to lend you money.

Computing a credit score is a scientific process that Experian, Trans Union and Equifax use and each one has its own unique system. The credit score range is between 375 and 900, with around the 600 mark being the average credit score. In order to find out what your credit score is, you need to request a free copy of your credit report. This will give you an idea of what creditors see when they do a credit check on you.

If you find that your average credit score is below 500, then you are in the lower part of the credit score range. It also means that you have to take steps toward improving credit scores. For example, if you plan to look for a loan for a new car within the next year, you should start now by making a diligent effort to pay all your bills on time. If you apply for a loan, even if you are accepted based on your earnings, every person that asks for your credit score shows up on your credit report. This deters some creditors because they think you are a compulsive borrower.

The higher your credit score, the better chance you have of being granted credit. This is why you should always know what your credit report says about you and what your average credit score is. The credit score range you fall in not only determines whether or not you get a loan, bit it also determines the interest rate you have to pay. When you understand what creditors are looking for, you can work towards improving credit scores. When your average credit score is good, you will save money in the interest rates charged on the loan.

An average credit score is fine, although you can always do better.

5 Things To Protect Your Credit Score This Holiday Season

1. Avoid Department Store Offers for Instant Credit and Don't Open Up New Lines of Credit

"Would you like to save 10% today on your purchase today?". We have all been asked that question when paying for our purchases. Every store under the sun would like to offer you their own credit card. This is not good for your score. The damage to your score you'll incur by opening up a new line of credit is just not worth the few dollars you might save. Department score credit is poor quality credit and the credit scoring system frowns on it. Just don't apply for the card. You may want or need to apply for a new car loan, a new home loan, a re-finance a home loan. By applying for store credit to save a couple of dollars, you could be hurting your chance of getting an important loan at a good rate until the middle of next year.


2. Avoid Overspending

Spending affects credit. 30% of your credit score is made up of how you manage your debt, and when your credit card balances exceed 30% of their available limit, the credit scoring system red flags you and your score goes down instantly. The logic behind this is that if you suddenly max out your credit cards, it looks to the system as though you are in financial trouble. Only charge if you can pay the balance in full before the next statement date. Plus, overspending and overcharging will also cause you to carry larger balances longer. It is best to keep your balances low at all times.

3. Pay Your Bills On Time

Payment history is 35% of your credit score. One 30-day late can cost you 50 points or more. December is traditionally the busiest time of the year. Active calendars filled with work and social commitments for family and friends and the frenzy of the season can preoccupy you and cause you to be late in paying your bills. Make staying on top of your bills a priority. Put all of your bills in a file and make sure you pay them on time. In doing so, you will save points on your credit score and ridiculous late charges as much as $39 or more. Additionally, when you are late in paying your bills, you nullify any preferential finance rate and your account will default to a dramatically higher interest rate. A ding to your credit score, a high late fee, and a huge increase in interest rates are all big incentives to make sure you are on time with your bills. I recently got a call from a customer who had been late, but not 30 days late and the rate jumped on his card to over 30% annually!

4. Take the Time to Plan and Prepare Your Gift Giving

We all do it. We walk into a store ready to buy a specific item and end up getting lured into a spending vortex. Panic spending because the store does not have the item you went in to buy; deciding that if you buy this item for this person, then you have to buy this item for another person; succumbing to the temptation of the latest must-have gadget. You can prevent this well-woven retailer trap by doing your research online. By preparing before you even darken the automatic doorstep of the alluring retail establishment, you can determine where you can purchase specific items and for what price. In doing so, you can avoid the retail traps and retain control of your spending (and your sanity). Online shopping sites have grown tremendously in popularity. Traffic to those sites is up more than 30% from just last year. There is a wealth of information on the web. In fact, pricegrabber.com lists all of the hottest holiday items and tells you who sells them and for how much. Remember, if you pay your credit card bill prior to the statement date, it will help your scores. froogle.com is another great site to find the item for less.

5. Manage Your Credit Wisely

Keep track of your credit card balances and keep them as low as possible. Studies show that as consumers increase their credit card balances, they become increasingly apathetic about their balances and even about adding new debt. By tracking balances, you will maintain a sense of control over your credit score and your finances. Write out a chart of who you owe, how much you owe, and what the minimum payment is. It will help you to get a handle on your bills, and help start planning how to pay them off.

5 Common Credit Score Myths

Your credit score is an integral part of your financial life. It is important that you understand what it's all about. Lenders, landlords, insurers, utility companies and even employers look at your credit score. It is derived from what's in your credit reports, and it ranges between 300 and 850.

Yet, according to a survey that was recently conducted, nearly half of all Americans don't know how these scores are derived or even what factors are used to come up with them.

For example, if your credit score is 580 you are probably going to pay nearly three percentage points more in mortgage interest than someone who had a score of 720.

Or another way of looking at it, if you had a $150,000 30- year fixed-rate mortgage and your credit score was good enough to qualify for the best rate, your monthly payments would be about $890. This is according to Fair Isaac, the company that created the FICO score and who the rate is named afte (Fair Isaac COrporation). If your credit is poor, however, it is very likely that you would have to pay more than $1,200 a month for that same loan.

With so much depending on the credit score, it’s important to understand what it is all about and what are the things that affect it.

Unfortunately, people commonly have a lot of misinformation and misunderstandings about their credit score. Here are five of the most common credit score myths and along with it the true facts:

MYTH #1: The major bureaus use different formulas for calculating your credit score.

FACT: The three major credit bureaus - Equifax, TransUnion and Experian -- give the score a different name. Equifax calls their score the "Beacon" credit score, Transunion calls it "Empirica" and Experian gives it the name "Experian/Fair Isaac Risk Model." They all use different names for the credit score, but they all use the same formula to come up with it.

The reason that the credit score you receive from each bureau is different is because the information in your file that they base the score on is different. For example,the records that one bureau is using may go back a longer period of time, or a previous lender may have shared its information with only one of the bureaus and not the other two.

Usually the scores are not too far from each other. Unless there is a big difference between what each bureau says is your credit score, many lenders will just use the one in the middle for the purpose of analyzing your application. So, for this reason alone it is a good idea to correct any errors that exist in each of the three major credit bureaus.

MYTH #2: Paying off your debts is all you need to do to immediately repair your credit score.

FACT: Your credit score is mostly determined by your past performance more than your current amount of debt. It will definitely be very helpful to pay off your credit cards and settle any outstanding loans, but if yours is a history of late or missed payments, it won’t remove the damage overnight. It takes time to repair your credit score.

So definitely pay down your debts. But it is equally important to consistently get in the habit of paying your bills on time.

MYTH #3: Closing old accounts will boost my credit score.

FACT: This is a common misconception. It's not closing accounts that affects your credit score, it's opening them. Closing accounts can never help your credit score, and may actually hurt it. Yes, having too many open accounts does hurt your score. But once the accounts have been opened,the damage has already been done. Shutting the account doesn’t repair it and it may actually make things worse.

The credit score is affected by the difference between the credit that is available and the credit that is being used. Shutting down accounts reduces the amount of total credit available and when compared with how much credit you can use your actual credit balances are made to seem larger. This hurts your credit score.

The credit score also looks at the length of your credit history. Shutting older accounts removes old history and can make your credit history look younger than it actually is. This also can hurt your score.

You generally shouldn't close accounts unless a lender specifically asks you to do so as a condition for them giving you a loan. Instead,the best thing you can do is just pay down your existing credit card debt. That's something that definitely would improve your credit score.

MYTH #4: Shopping around for a loan will hurt my credit score.

FACT: When a lender makes an inquiry about your credit, your score could drop up to five points. Some borrowers think that if they shop around by going to a number of different lenders that each time a lender does an inquiry it will generate another reduction in the credit score. This isn’t true. For credit score purposes, multiple inquiries for a loan are treated as a single inquiry, as long as they all come within a 45 day period. So it is best to do your rate shopping within this 45 day window.

MYTH #5: Companies can fix my credit score for a fee.

FACT: If the credit bureaus have accurate information, there’s nothing that can be done to quickly improve your score if in fact you have a history of not handling your debts well. The only way to have an effect on your credit score is to show that you can manage your debts in the future.

Also,if there are errors in your file, you can contact the bureau yourself. You don’t need to pay someone else to do it. Each of the major credit bureaus has a website which clearly explains what you need to do to correct an error.


So, the best ways to improve your credit score are: pay down the debt,pay your bills on time, correct existing errors on your credit reports in each of the three bureaus and apply for credit infrequently.