Credit--Check

There is no denying that lenders have put the squeeze on buyers looking for loans. The days of no income, no assets, no credit...no problem are over. The largest and most influential factor a persons ability to get a loan is their credit or FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation) score.

Your FICO score is the grade assigned to you by the credit unions (Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian) to determine your credit risk.

Your FICO score is comprised of:
35% Payment History
30% Amounts Owed
15% Length of Credit History
10% New Credit
10% Types of Credit Used

There are a number of steps that can be taken to improve your credit. Here are 3.3 steps to improve your credit:

1. Opt-Out
One of the most surprising steps to improve your credit score is to opt out of receiving solicitations from credit card companies and insurance companies for business. This can be accomplished by visiting www.optoutprescreen.com One mortgage broker reported that her credit score improved by nearly 40 points in the course of several months by taking this small step.

2. Keep Balances Low
Having credit cards or revolving lines of credit that are 75%-100% of their limit negatively impacts your credit and lowers your credit score. You can improve your credit by either paying down the credit line or increasing your credit limit. Warning to you big spenders: if you increase your credit line, be prudent to not max out your limit and increase the amount of debt you carry. Calling your credit card company and asking for an increase in a credit limit can positively impact your credit score and improve your credit worthiness.

3. Keep Credit Lines Open and Pay On Time
Frequently opening and closing credit lines can temporarily improve a credit score, it is important to have lines of credit that have been open for a long period of time and have a good history of on-time payments. These credit lines show lenders that a person can and will be good for payments. If you have a credit line that has been inactive for a long time, it may be a good idea to use that line depending on the number of lines of credit open.

3.3 Check Your Credit
In these days of frequent and common identity theft, it is important to check your credit on a regular basis. Inquiring directly from the reporting agencies or an organization that provides credit reports to consumers does not negatively affect your credit score in the way that other inquiries do. A good service to utilize for checking and improving your credit score is www.myfico.com You can visit the sites of the credit reporting agencies as well at www.equifax.com www.transunion.com www.experian.com