The statistics don’t lie ? only about 40% of consumers have truly good credit. This is defined as a credit score of more than 700 from all three of the credit bureaus; this is called Prime Credit standing and is a desirable thing to achieve. With this kind of credit score, your score will usually not be affected by minor issues such as late payments and inquiries.
If your credit score is somewhere below the 700 mark in all 3 credit bureaus, then you are in the higher risk 60% segment and the scoring model will be very hard to predict as to what will lower or raise your credit. Getting a loan for land, housing, businesses, or even an expensive car or boat will be a crap shoot that can leave you worse off than when you started.
The credit scoring system is fixed? The credit bureaus have made it very hard to get a score of 700 and up because the lenders who fund the credit bureaus make more money in interest payments from consumers with lower credit scores. If you have a score of less than 700, then you need a fast score system to get you into a position where you’re not forking over any more of your hard-earned cash then you have to.
One thing you can do to keep your credit score up is to never incur more than 25% of your annual net income in debt. You can talk to your accountant or simply look over your tax returns to find this number. Whenever you use credit to make a purchase, make sure that you really need it and that this won’t cause your debt to go over this 25% limit.
The credit reporting system is deeply flawed, since everyone but the consumer benefits from the system. Consumers have long lobbied for change and with the 2004 Fair Credit Reporting Act, some reforms were made; but unfortunately it did nothing to require the credit reporting bureaus to maintain accurate information and of course, many question how strictly the stipulations of this act are enforced if indeed they are at all.
Let’s say that your credit score it 600 and you apply for a loan. You would lose 35 points whether you get the loan or not. If you were in the 700 bracket, you would not have had a 35 point drop. Since your goal is to get above the 700 mark you need a fast score system to get you beyond the petty problems at the lower brackets.
You should be very careful about credit repair services as well. While they can indeed have some of the negative items on your report removed, be aware that this can actually lower your credit score. If your credit score is under 700, you’re better off not removing these items at least not right away. Instead, add new accounts in good standing to balance out the negative items. Your concern should be improving your credit score instead of simply making your report “look” better.
Related Story:
