Achieving and maintaining great credit is a lifelong commitment, or at least it should be. After all, your credit reports and scores exert a tremendous amount of influence over your life and finances. Your credit can impact your ability to purchase a home, purchase a vehicle, land your…
Category: Credit Scores
Building a Credit Score from Scratch
Updated October 27, 2021 You have to be careful about the advice you follow when it comes to your credit —especially when building credit for the first time. Have you ever Googled for credit tips? If so, you probably discovered a tsunami of articles and ideas clamoring to…
What Is Credit Utilization and Why Is It So Important to Your Credit Scores?
Updated September 27, 2021 If you want to earn great credit scores, pay your bills on time every month. The previous statement is good advice; however, it is also incomplete. Paying your bills on time is not enough to achieve and maintain great credit scores. Only 35% of…
Equifax Data Breach: How to Find Out If You’re Affected and What to Do About It If You Are
In September of 2017, the credit reporting giant Equifax announced some very unsettling news. The credit reporting agency experienced a massive data breach which unfortunately compromised the personal identifying information of approximately 143 million people.
Who Is Allowed to Check Your Credit Reports?
Accessing your credit information is easier now than it has been at any other point in history. Thanks to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, an amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you even have the right to view a free copy of all 3…
The Difference Between Hard Inquiries and Soft Inquiries
Credit scores, like FICO and Vantage Scores, are based upon a variety of factors. For FICO scores the factors which make up an individual’s credit scores fall into 5 categories. The least influential categories, Mix of Credit and Inquiries, each account for 10% of a consumer’s credit scores….