Improve Your Credit Related Articles List

• Fair Isaac Invented the FICO Score—They’ve Also Patented How to Explain a Credit Score

  Does anyone really understand what goes into your FICO score?  I would hope that someone at Fair Isaac Corporation (the company that invented the FICO score) would know.  You’d also think they would know how to explain your FICO score to you.  Well, we’ve found out that it isn’t that simple (in fact, it’s so complicated that they’ve patented an approach for explaining your credit score!).

• Who is Doing Your Credit Repair?

  Credit reports have become big news lately with a proliferation of advertisements on television, radio and the internet for credit repair companies, free credit reports, and credit monitoring services. What often happens when something becomes trendy among the general public, many companies and individuals try to benefit from the opportunity by offering services and products to complement the trend. Some of these companies, unfortunately, do so by preying on consumers who need help and offer poor or outright deceitful services designed solely to turn a profit.

• Who’s Looking at Your Credit Reports?

  You might have been surprised when your auto insurance rates went up. You did not get into an accident nor did you get a ticket. You can’t seem to figure it out, so you call your insurance man and find out that they checked your credit report and found that you were a credit risk. This may cause your rates to skyrocket and even worse if you look to change providers the new company may not accept you because of your credit score.

• Is Credit Repair Legal?

  A lot of people wonder if credit repair is truly legal.  The truth is it’s not only perfectly legal it is imperative for the majority of us.  Research has shown that up to 70% of all credit reports in the United States have errors on them.  These mistakes need to be repaired or your credit scores will not reflect your true risk factors. Yes, there are some firms out there touting repair services that are illegal, and some that are simply unethical.

• We hear about credit scores all the time.  But most people don’t understand where these scores come from and what types of things influence your score. We all know that a higher credit score means better interest rates for car loans, mortgages, and other types of credit. Here are the 5 things you need to know about credit scores.

• Credit Repair Also Requires Ditching Debt

  Want to improve your credit score?  Sure, you can use legal credit repair techniques to bump your score.  But real and lasting credit repair requires that you also ditch your debt.

• FICO Credit Score

  A credit score is a number that reflects your creditworthiness at a given point in time, and can change as information on the credit report changes. Many people have heard about credit scoring but do not understand the basic facts about what it is and how it works.  FICO credit scores are the most widely used credit scores in the United States.  Here’s what you need to know about them.

• 7 Ways You Can Get a (Truly!) Free Credit Report

  Are you sick of hearing about “free credit reports” that aren’t really free?  Us too!  So we’ve compiled a list of 7 ways you can get a REAL free copy of your credit report (without having to sign up for a 7 day free trial or other scam). 

  In the United States, Government credit laws provide consumers with an ability to obtain free credit reports. There are a number of ways to get a free credit report (and no, they don’t all involve signing up with sites like FreeCreditReport.com!!).  Here are a few ways to get your free credit report. Keep in mind that while credit reports may be obtained free from the credit bureaus they are not obligated to give consumers credit scores for free. Getting your report just makes good financial sense as your finances are reflected on the pages of your credit report.

• Been Denied Credit? Here’s What To Do

  Have you applied for a mortgage and been told you don’t qualify?  Or a new car loan, and told that your credit is not good enough to qualify for the special teaser rates?  Unfortunately, it happens all too often nowadays—more and more people are receiving credit denial letters.  If you receive one, here’s what you need to do.

• Establishing Positive Credit (Part II of II)

  Yesterday, we presented part I of a two part series called “Establishing Positive Credit”.  We continue the series today, with a number of additional tips that can help you establish credit and improve your credit score.