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You'll Soon Be Able To Ask For Your Own Credit Score

By David Oliver

For many years, lenders have been deciding what interest rate they will charge, depending on a secret rating: your credit score.

Scores are supposed to make lenders more impartial and efficient, but consumers couldn't see their scores. Now, thanks to a growing consumer movement, borrowers will be able to get that once-secret information.

Fair, Isaac & Co., the California company that invented the formula, plans to make individual scores available to consumers through Equifax and Experian, two of the Big Three credit reporting bureaus that license its software. The third, TransUnion, is readying its own scores for release.

Scores are a number ranging from 300 to 900 that credit bureaus construct by plugging credit report data into the Fair, Isaac Software.

Fair, Isaac is revealing its list of factors that go into a score. The number of credit cards held affect a borrower's score, but it doesn't say what the right number is. Other factors that can hurt a score include the presence of new credit cards and the absence of car loans.

Finance company loans and many credit inquiries lower a score. No recent revolving balances lower scores of those chasing teaser rates or paying balances without paying interest.

The only way to "fix" a credit score is by building a record of paying bills on time, all the time, and removing mistakes from your credit report.

It helps to pay down some debts before applying for a mortgage. If you have more than 10 credit cards, cancel a few. It's good to keep a couple of inactive cards. A customer with five cards, each with a $5,000 limit, who has a balance of $4,000 on one, will have a better rating if the balance is spread over all five. Keeping a small balance is better than no balance at all. Seven cards and four other loans are the average.

Fair, Isaac says 13 percent of credit scores are below 600; 11 percent rate 600 to 649; 16 percent from 650 to 699; 20 percent from 700 to 759; the largest group, 29 percent, rate from 750 to 799. And 11 percent stand at 800 or above.

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This Week's Bipolar News

Overeating and substance abuse are similar disorders
Los Angeles Times
People with bipolar disorder have higher-than-average rates of obesity and substance abuse. But McIntyre found that the obesity rate in bipolar patients was ...

Club stoush bowls out member
The Advertiser
A MAN suffering from bipolar disorder and depression has been barred from membership at a Sydney bowling club after a clash over club bylaws.

Mom abandons 18-year-old under Nebraska safe-haven law
Richmond Times-Dispatch
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- Police say a woman has abandoned her 18-year-old daughter at a hospital, saying she can't control the girl, in what may be the latest use of Nebraska's unique safe-haven law. The woman told officials at BryanLGH Medical Center West that her daughter, who was adopted, is bipolar and has a learning disability, Assistant Police Chief Jim Peschong said today.

Click here for all Bipolar News.

Featured Article:

Romancing Your Spouse

"Romancing your spouse?" Ok, I can already hear you yelling at me! I know, it's a strange concept, but hear me out. Some of the longest-running marriages have lasted because of this very concept.

You may be thinking that this has nothing to do with Bipolar Disorder, but it does. Even the best of marriages has some strain on it - the pressures of day-to-day living, at the very least. However, Bipolar Disorder puts additional pressure on your marriage because of the issues you have to face in dealing with the disorder, whether you are the survivor or the supporter.

No matter how long you've been married, the suggestions in this article can put some "spark" into your marriage. And if you've only been married a short time, putting these suggestions into place now can help ensure a long, happy, healthy marriage (of course, you will still have to do some hard work yourself to make that happen as well!).

Click here to read the entire aritcle

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