Understanding Your FICO Score
My friend, Kathy Daubert, from Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, will be posting a series of articles explaining Credit Scores. They'll be linked to each other and placed in the "credit score" category. I'm confident they'll be very helpful.
What exactly is a FICO score? When you apply for a loan, whether mortgage, car loan, or credit card, lenders want to know your credit risk level. There are 3 major credit reportig agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) in the US that maintain records of your use of credit. The most widely used credit scores are FICO scores, the credit scores created by Fair Isaac Corporation. Lenders can buy FICO scores from all three major credit reporting agencies. They use FICO scores based solely on infomrmaton in comsumer credit reports maintained at the credit reporting agencies.
Your credit score influences he credit that's available to you and the terms (interest rate, etc.) that lenders offer you. A better FICO score means better financial opportunities for you.
More information on FICO scores and credit scoring can be found on the FICO website.
Fair Issac was founded in 1956. It uses advanced math and analytics to help businesses make smarter decistions. As well as inventing the FICO score, Fair Isaac has also created other leading tools, including products that help businesses detect credit fraud, manage credit accounts and automate complex business decisions. It is important to note that while Fair Isaac works with the credit reporting agencies to provisde your FICO scores, it does not dertermine the accuracy of the information in your credit report. Thus, the importance of keeping aware of your credit score. It's up to you to make sure of the accuracy.
How FICO Scores Help You: FICO scores give lenders a fast, objective estimate of your credit risk. Before the use of scoring, granting credit was a slow, arduous process. The use of credit scores have brought consistency, fairness, and efficiency to the process. People can get loans faster, many times within minutes or hours, instead of weeks. Credit decisions are more fair using FICO scores because lenders can focus on the facts related to the credit risk, rather than personal opinions or biases. Older credit problems fade as time passes, affecting your score less and less.
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See today's rates at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.
We’re Chris and Karen Highland, The Highland Real Estate Group. We’ve lived in the Frederick area for over 18 years and are raising our 4 children here. We’ve seen many communities built where there once was farmland. We love the “small-city yet large-town” atmosphere of Frederick, the quality of life, and the affordability we’ve found here.
I've been selling real estate in Central Maryland for almost 16 years. Karen has been helping me over the years in different capacities, as an assistant, then as a buyer’s agent. For a year, I managed an office and Karen took over the bulk of the business. It was a great experience for both of us. I managed 90+ agents and saw more contracts come over my desk than the previous 14 years combined!
Now I'm back, running the business and Karen is running the office, and blogging and marketing. With each new year comes a different kind of market and new challenges.
In this present market, we face many challenges with mortgage problems, distressed properties and the credit crunch. I've gotten a nationally recognized certification , CDPE, Certified Distressed Properties Expert, to equip me to help homeowners in distress. I'll be blogging about a lot of these issues and about all kinds of real estate topics.
Karen and I always have something to say! Join us in our online, ongoing conversation about Frederick Real Estate