Janet just ordered her free annual credit report and was excited about what she saw on her report. She decided to order her FICO score, and low and behold, her score increased over eighty points from the last credit report she ordered over a year ago. She had worked hard to pay off her credit cards throughout the year and was pleased at the positive results on her credit report. Janet was so excited that she finally figured out how to improve her credit report and FICO score. Unfortunately, as soon as she found out about her great credit report and FICO score, she ran across some information about a new credit scoring system that was going to be effective soon! She said to herself, I cant believe it! I worked so hard on improving my score and now they come up with this!

Just when you thought you knew how to understand and obtain your FICO score, the whole credit scoring system is about to change! The three credit bureaus have decided to flip the script on us and have worked together to create a new credit scoring system. Its called the VantageScore.

Why have the three credit reporting bureaus; Experian, Equifax and TransUnion decided to create a new credit scoring system? They claim the new scoring system will reduce discrepancies between your scores and the three bureaus. These bureaus indicate that the VantageScore, returns more accurate scores on consumers which may have a credit history which is limited.

Are the credit score ranges the same for VantageScore and my FICO score? No. The VantageScore will have a range from 501-990. For instance, a score of 901-990 is an A; 801-900 is a B; and 501-600 is considered an F.

The FICO credit scoring system has a range from 300-850. It appears that the VantageScore system may be tougher than the current FICO score. For example, if you have a FICO score of 720 you could get a 9% interest rate on a credit card you may have applied for. With the VantageScore, your interest rate for this same credit card may be as high as 20%!

The VantageScore became effective for commercial use on March 14, 2006. Time will tell, how effective this system will be for creditors and consumers. It appears that the new scoring system may be more advantageous to the creditors rather than the consumer, since the VantageScore ranges are much higher to qualify for a good interest rate. This would appear to allow creditors the ability to charge consumers more for products and services purchased.

As a consumer, make sure you become informed about the new VantageScore system and how it will affect you! Although the FICO scoring system can be still used by your creditor, they have an opportunity to choose which system they will review for your credit. Now there are two systems currently. How long the FICO scoring system will be around is anyones best guess!

You may not find out how bad your credit really is until you apply for a mortgage. Then you will quickly realize that the low interest rates everybody raves about these days, the rates that are a big part of the rising prices of real estate across America, don’t apply to everyone. To be specific, they don’t apply to you! If you have bad credit, you are not going to receive the same low interest rates on your home loan that your neighbor with good credit will.

Why not, you may ask. Well, here’s the thing. If your credit score is poor, banks and other financial institutions consider you to be a risky business partner. In order to lend you money, they have to insure themselves against the risk that you may default on payments. They do this by offering you a higher interest rate so their end of the deal looks a bit sweeter. For you, though, it means higher monthly payments and that you can afford to borrow less money than if your credit was better.

If you don’t even know if you’re considered a credit risk or not, don’t you think it’s time you found out? This is one of the smartest moves you can make, business wise, as it affects not only your mortgage but the interest rates you get on your credit cards, car payments and virtually every financial agreement you enter into.

Checking your credit score

When banks and others want to ascertain what kind of credit risk you may pose, they will consult your FICO score before doing anything. The FICO is like a report card of your credit. Your FICO score is a three digit number ranging from 300-850. You actually have three separate FICO scores, one for each credit bureau – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. These may not show the same score, since not every creditor reports to all three credit bureaus.

In order to make sure you see the same thing that your eventual creditors are seeing, order all three of your fico scores. Study them carefully. You look at the total score, naturally, but you also want to scrutinize the details carefully. Maybe that rent check last year that you sent in one week too late was never registered properly. This will definitely affect your overall score.

If you do find any errors in the reports, make sure to contact those responsible for that specific record and ask them to correct the entry. If you are lucky, a couple of phone calls will make a real difference in your credit score!

Adverse Credit We’ve All Heard Of It, But What Does It Mean?

If you’re one of those lucky people who have never missed a single credit card or loan repayment, then you don’t need to worry about the term adverse credit’. In this article, we are discussing the ins and outs of the term adverse credit’, something that describes people who have defaulted on credit repayments to a significant extent. The terms sub-prime and poor credit’ are also used to describe the same situation. What we are here to ascertain is: what do you have to do to be called an adverse credit customer, and where does the lender get their information about you?

To start off, we will discuss the credit reference agencies, companies such as Experian and Equifax who collect and store information about all your financial dealings, and sell this information to lenders. Other parties that can see your credit history are insurance companies, banks, landlords, government agencies and employers, they are allowed, by law, to see your past financial details.

They know a lot about you, you may be surprised at just how much. Apart from the obvious (your name, date of birth, social security details), they also have your addresses (past and present), records of all the jobs you have had and with who, your entry on the voter’s roll, your mortgage, credit card, loan and hire purchase details, records of any unpaid County Court judgements, and most surprisingly, details on all the loan and credit card applications you have ever made.

So where do the credit agencies get their information from? They get it from the Public Records offices and the financial institutions themselves banks, credit card companies etc. Once you’ve got a bank account, you’re on the computer records and the credit agencies start collecting information about you.

Experian, Equifax and the other agencies also offer another service to the lenders, they have the facility to give you a credit score, using the lender’s own criteria to score your eligibility for credit. If you don’t score high enough, you may not get the credit you have requested, which is why your credit score is so important. The credit score works by matching your financial details against different criteria. You could score well for having met all your credit card repayments for example, but score badly because you have moved address or employer a number of times. In any case, the higher score, the more likely you will get the credit you asked for.

The eventual credit score is providing an estimate on your eligibility to receive the credit, making the general assumption that your future repayment habits will be the same as your past. As extra insurance, they also compare your information with other applicants with similar characteristics as you, to see how they fared. In the end, the decision whether you can be offered credit is automated, and based on statistical analysis. If your score is close to the pass level, then the lender may choose to offer you a lower level of credit, or a higher interest rate.

All the lenders have different ideas about what is and isn’t acceptable, and some will refuse your application without giving you a reason why. It’s their decision, and it is not up to the credit reference agencies, they merely collate the information in the first place. It is the lender who gives you the label of adverse credit’ customer.

We have collated here a list (in no particular order) of the situations that will, either alone or with others, make it difficult for you get to credit with a lender: if you’re behind on payments for a loan, credit card or mortgage, if you have made a few late payments on the above, outstanding and unpaid County Court or High Court Judgements, if you are not on the electoral roll at the address you gave on your application form, and if you have made more than a usual number of loans and credit card applications. Two situations would normally result in automatic refusal: having had your home repossessed, and recent bankruptcy.

If you are aware of any of the aforementioned problems in your recent credit history, then don’t be surprised if your application for credit is turned down, especially by the big, mainstream lenders. Some of the mainstream lenders are a bit more forgiving about mortgages, especially if you already have a mortgage and are meeting your repayments.

This article should contain most of the information you need to know about adverse credit’, and help you understand what the lenders consider to be a bad risk, and why. If the worst happens, and you find yourself unable to get credit because of an adverse credit history, then you will probably have to seek credit from a sub prime lender. If you fit their criteria, they will offer you credit, but it will be more expensive.

The most important thing to remember is: always keep up do your loan, credit card and mortgage repayments, don’t pay late or even more importantly, don’t build up arrears. The financial consequences of getting behind could be both extensive, and expensive.