Tag Archives: Credit Score

Spouse average FICO credit score is higher?

September 20, 2011   admin   No comments

Having drastically higher average credit score than that of your spouse sometimes presents a problem. Especially if your incomes are quite different, and you and the spouse are applying for a mortgage together to use both incomes in order to qualify. Both will be on the mortgage application. Normally, the spouse with the higher income is a primary borrower, whereas the spouse with the lower income is a co-borrower.

In ideal scenario, primary borrower has higher income and higher or close to that of the co-borrower average FICO credit score. But that is not often the case, so what happens when the co-borrower spouse has higher credit score?

If the average FICO score of the higher earner is only lower by 20 to 25 points than that of the spouse, he or she can remain primary.

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  Tags: Credit Score, Higher

Credit 101: How Your Credit Score Range Affects Credit Card and Loan Options

April 22, 2011   Daniel Murphy   No comments

In last week’s post, we brushed up on the basics about credit score differences between credit bureaus and even within the same credit bureau. Now, let’s discuss the significance that three digit number might have to lenders looking at your credit.

Let’s take a look at your credit range, here based on TransUnion’s range used by Credit Karma, and how it influences your chance to access credit.

Poor Credit Score: 300 to low 500s

Your credit is in bad shape due to a derogatory remark on your credit, like a bankruptcy or foreclosure, or some poor credit choices in the past. Typical

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  Tags: Credit, Credit Score

A New Academic Study Scrutinizes Credit Score Reporting

April 02, 2011   Daniel Murphy   No comments

A New Academic Study Scrutinizes Credit Score Reporting

The all-important credit score has gained so much significance in our modern lives that a team of researchers from the University of Missouri plan to spend more than a million dollars to study it.

The group of experts was given $1.13 million in grant money by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and the educational institution released a statement to the media explaining that the focus of their research is to gain more insight into the how disputes related to credit scores are resolved. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act – a piece of legislation that attempts to protect consumers from unfair lending practices – anyone who has a credit score is entitled to contest it, ask for errors to be corrected, or block access to their credit history. The

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  Tags: Credit Score, Credit Score Reporting, Reporting, Score Reporting

Credit 101: Anatomy of a Credit Score

March 23, 2011   Daniel Murphy   No comments

While scrolling through the Credit Karma blog, I stumbled upon a credit score quiz. I’m happy to say that I only missed three out of ten questions, but I also realized that I, along with many other consumers, am still a credit newbie. So I’m going to start by brushing up on the basics.

Anatomy of a Credit Score

Your credit score is a three-digit number that has an effect on many areas of your financial life. It’s used by lenders to determine your creditworthiness, or the likelihood that you’ll pay your debts in a timely manner. Wheneve

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  Tags: Credit Score, Score

Top 10 Reasons Why Your Credit Score Isn’t As High As It Could Be

March 17, 2011   Daniel Murphy   No comments

We all gripe about our credit problems, whether you have a 550 credit score and don’t know the best secured credit card to get, or you have a 750 and still can’t qualify for that coveted American Express card.

Even though our credit problems are different, there are a handful of shared reasons why many consumers just can’t seem to get their credit score to climb.

Here’s a quick look at our top 10 reasons why your credit score probably isn’t as high as it could be.

  1. Two steps forward, one step back. It takes credit to build credit, right? In applying for credit cards or loans to build credit, those hard inquiries can sure add up and knock some points off.

    2. Read the full post

  Tags: Credit Score, Score

FAKO credit score is nothing to care about but …

March 17, 2011   admin   No comments

What is FAKO? It is a derogatory name for all types of credit score algorithms out there other than FICO. The FAKO term stands for a fake and is widely used by credit gurus on virtually every credit forum. Basically, FAKO should be considered useless by almost everyone looking for a loan. It is useless in practically every case, except those very rare occasions when you deal with certain credit unions that do look at FAKO. That what but … in the title is for.

FICO, which stands for Fair Isaac Corporation and its algorithm used to calculate your credit risk and worthiness, is widely accepted as the true credit score. FICO used to offer real TransUnion, Equifax and Experian credit scores.

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  Tags: Credit Score, Score
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