The FICO score is the best-known and most widely used credit score in the United States.  Creditors use your FICO score to determine your eligibility for loans, credit cards and other types of credit.  Employers will often request your credit score to ascertain how reliable an employee you might be, should they decide to hire you.

Your FICO credit score contains a host of broad information about your financial life, including your credit history, payment history, the amounts you owe, the length of your credit history, any new lines of credit you’ve recently opened and the types of credit you have used. However, there are many things that are not reflected in your FICO score.

Here are nine things your creditors will not find when pulling your FICO credit score.

1. Your FICO score contains no mention of race, color, religion, national origin, sex or marital status.  Federal law prohibits credit scoring from considering any information of this type. The law also prohibits consideration of any receipt of public assistance, and any mention of rights you have exercised under the Consumer Credit Protection Act.

2. The FICO score does not reflect your age.

3. You FICO score will not mention your salary, occupation, title, employer, date employed or your employment history. Lenders may consider this information looking at your credit report however, as they compare your current salary against your level of debt, to decide whether or not you’ll be able to afford extra payments.

4. You FICO score gives no consideration to where you live.

5. Your FICO score will not consider any particular interest rate being charged on any particular card or account.  So if you find yourself paying a 400% interest rate, it’s no different to the 4% interest rate you also have.

6. The FICO score does not reflect any items reported as child or family support obligations, or any rental agreements.

7. Your FICO will not reflect requests for your credit report. 

8. There are certain types of inquiries the FICO score does not consider. The FICO score does not count any inquiries initiated by the consumer, such as any times you’ve requested your credit report in order to check its accuracy. Any inquiries made by a creditor to pre-approve you (also known as promotional inquiries) are not counted. Also, whenever one of your creditors requests your report to review an account you have with them (also known as administrative inquiries), such requests are not counted. Finally, should a request come from an employer, such requests are not considered.

9. Your FICO score will not mention if you are obtaining credit counseling of any kind.

So, rest assured that your FICO score does not contain irrelevant or discriminatory information. And now that you know what it does contain, you can start working to boost your score: bring down credit card balances, and make payments on time. A better score will be reflected with lower interest rates on loans and credit cards, and that means more money in your pocket.

We get asked that question all the time, and for good reason!

To answer "What is included in my credit score?", let's look at what FICO says.  

Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) calculates credit scores for the major credit reporting agencies like TransUnion, Experian and Equifax.

So how do they determine your score?

Basically, FICO uses 5 different categories by various weighted percentages:

PAYMENT HISTORY:   35%

Major categories:

• Past due accounts
• Bankruptcies
• Judgments
• Wage attachments
• Paid as agreed accounts

AMOUNTS OWED:   30%

• Amounts owing on all and specific types of accounts
• Number of accounts with balances
• Proportion of credit lines and installment loan amount used

LENGTH OF CREDIT HISTORY:  15% 

• Time since accounts opened
• Time since account activity

NEW CREDIT:   10%

• Number of recently opened accounts, and proportion of accounts that are recently opened, by type of account
• Number of recent inquiries
• Re-establishment of positive credit history following past payment problems

TYPES OF CREDIT USED:   10%

• FICO weighs different types of accounts and it is not very clear which type has more weight.
• Large accounts such as your home mortgage are not as adverse as say too many small credit cards with very high interest rates.

FICOtakes into consideration all of these categories, not just one or two.  In other words, no one piece of information or factor alone will determine your score.

A lender will look at other things when making a decision:

• including your income
• how long you have worked at your present job
• the kind of credit you are requesting.

Finally, your score considers both positive and negative information in your credit report.

For example, late payments will lower your score, but re-establishing a good track record of timely payments will raise your FICO credit score!

If you feel overwhelmed with too much credit or would like to know how to improve your credit score, please request our FREE, FINANCIAL ANALYSIS.

We will help you determine the best course of action with no obligation!

Call 877-492-4109 TODAY

photo by: SMJP