Fico Credit Score Related News

08/29/2011 - 5 Ways To Repair A Trashed Credit Score - If you have a significant amount of revolving debt, pay as much down as you can afford. While paying down a card with a higher interest rate makes more sense from a budgetary standpoint, if your main goal is to raise your score, pay off the card with the balance closest to its limit. Davies says you ideally want to use no more than 30 percent of your credit limit at any given time. - www.nytimes.com

06/19/2011 - Medical bill collection accounts may be depressing loan applicants' credit scores - Critics charge, however, that medical bills are different from other types of credit accounts since often the consumer does not choose voluntarily to spend money but is forced to do so by uncontrollable events such as illness or accidents. Terry Clemans, executive vice president of the National Credit Reporting Assn., whose members prepare a large percentage of the reports used by mortgage lenders, said the negative effects of collection accounts on a borrower's scores vary, but in extreme cases can be "in the high double digits or even more than a hundred" points. - www.nytimes.com

05/14/2011 - The credit agencies have you in economy class. Credit Error? It Pays to Be on V.I.P. List - The credit rating bureaus, whose reports influence everything from credit cards to mortgages to job offers, have a two-tiered system for resolving errors - one for the rich, the well-connected, the well-known and the powerful, and the other for everyone else. The three major agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, keep a V.I.P. list of sorts, according to consumer lawyers and legal documents, consisting of celebrities, politicians, judges and other influential people. - www.nytimes.com

05/01/2011 - FICO's new analytical tool. Stung by homeowners who give up paying, banks ask: Who'll walk away? - Homeowners who strategically default on their mortgages hope to fly under the radar, living payment-free while their foreclosure wends its way through the courts - a years-long process in some cases. But the nation's leading credit-scoring company says it has developed a better way to identify borrowers who can afford to pay their mortgage but choose foreclosure instead. FICO's new analytical tool, which combines such factors as spending habits, changes in a person's debt and housing depreciation, is heralded as a way to ferret out borrowers making a business decision to walk away vs. homeowners who truly can no longer afford their mortgage. FICO claims to be able to make this distinction before a borrower is even in default. - www.palmbeachpost.com

03/02/2011 - Consumers get easier access to credit scores - For years, if consumers wanted to know their credit score, they had to buy it. But starting this year, potentially millions will be able to get their score for free thanks to new federal regulations. - www.cnn.com

06/03/2010 - Credit cards you should cut up (VIDEO) - How to close down your unused credit cards without a significant hit on your credit score. - www.cnn.com

03/23/2010 - 5 ways to kill your credit score. To get the best rates on mortgages, credit cards and auto loans, you need a killer score. - Lenders have already raised their standards by about 20 to 40 points this year, according to Barry Paperno, consumer operations manager at FICO. So while a score in the 720 to 740 range would have gotten you the best rates on a mortgage in the past, you now need a score of at least 760 to snag the best loans. - http://www.cnn.com

03/19/2010 - Credit scores can drop after getting loan help - For borrowers who are making their payments on time but are on the verge of default, the Obama administration's loan modification program can reduce their credit score as much as 100 points. That makes it harder to get a loan and can present a problem when applying for a new job. - http://www.sun-sentinel.com

09/22/2009 - LATEST RECESSION CASUALTY: YOUR CREDIT SCORE - New Credit Score Calculations Squeeze Cash-Strapped Borrowers. Even though some consumers have seen their credit scores improve as they trim their debt, others have seen their scores drop significantly because of late payments on bills, foreclosures and rising credit card debt. - www.usatoday.com
Read More: CREDIT SCORE QUESTIONS?, DEBT SETTLEMENT, STRUGGLING WITH STUDENT LOANS?

08/31/2009 - Bad Credit folks helped by New FICO - According to Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FIC), the new FICO is a more predictive and consumer friendly score now... - www.bad-credit-advisor.com

08/24/2009 - Raise your credit score to 740 - As lenders tighten credit requirements, getting a good interest rate -- or a loan at all -- requires that you understand how the scoring system works. - www.cnn.com

08/24/2009 - Win at the credit scoring game - To get the best deal on a loan, you need some new strategies to bump up your score - and keep it there. - www.cnn.com

08/16/2009 - Rejecting a Job Applicant based on their Credit Score - Discrimination? - Based on some of the employers' comments in the article, there seems to be a widespread belief that a tarnished credit report necessarily results from bad decision making and that it is evidence that an employee is unreliable, unwise or too susceptible to temptation to steal. - www.economicpopulist.com

08/16/2009 - Credit Scores Are Vital to Your Financial Health - A credit score is a number that helps lenders and others predict how likely you are to make your credit payments on time. Each score is based on the information then in your credit report. - www.pueblo.gsa.gov

08/16/2009 - Credit Score Information: About FICO Scores - myFICO.com - Get free credit score information including what is a FICO score, FICO credit score ranges, FICO score chart, and what are good credit scores online at ... - www.myfico.com

08/14/2009 - Do You Understand What Impacts Your Credit Score? Take This Quiz! - Forty-Two Percent of Americans Have Below-Average Credit Scores. While a credit score close to 700 used to be considered unquestionably an A-credit score, the credit crunch has re-set the limits. - www.rismedia.com

08/14/2009 - Borrowers May See Change in Credit Scores - People looking to finance a home or a new car may experience a substantial change in their credit scores since the FICO credit scoring model was recently modified. - www.bestsyndication.com

08/14/2009 - The Misuse of Credit Reports - As jobs are lost and incomes fall because of lower prices, many people's credit scores will deteriorate. Not only might they face prolonged joblessness because of a change in their credit score, but they may also face salt in the wound: raised insurance prices. - www.nytimes.com

08/06/2009 - Another Hurdle for the Jobless: Credit Inquiries - Digging out of debt keeps getting harder for the unemployed as more companies use detailed credit checks to screen job prospects. - www.nytimes.com

08/14/2009 - Getting an auto loan with a low credit score - lenders look for a strong down payment. Even if a consumer has a week credit score, a high down payment will often allow them to qualify for a loan. A high down payment means the lender has less risk giving out a lower loan. - www.consumerloanwire.com

07/26/2009 - Adding fiance to your credit card account might boost his FICO score, but be careful - The key is whether the credit card issuer will "export" this data from your credit file to his. Some issuers automatically do this export for any authorized user; others do so only for spouses. The only way to know for sure is to ask your credit card company. - www.latimes.com

08/12/2009 - Cracking Your Credit Score Code - Here are the criteria credit agencies use, and how to leverage that information to your benefit. - www.mainstreet.com

07/17/2009 - Sinking Credit Scores and How to Boost Them - The average credit score fell to 674, according to consumer credit services company Credit Karma. That's down 20% since 2007, yet the minimum score needed to get a good deal on a loan or new credit card has topped 720, - www.mainstreet.com

07/22/2009 - Average credit scores down from 2007, but leveling off - As credit card companies continue to lower available credit and raise interest rates, I don't expect to see major credit score improvements any time soon. Generally the best scores go to people with a credit utilization of about 10% to 20%, which can be very difficult if your allowable balance has been drastically cut. - www.walletpop.com

05/29/2009 - Online Credit Scores Don't Add Up - wCustomers come in having checked their scores online, only to find out the scores available to consumers on Web sites are far different from the ones the bank uses. A 50- to 60-point difference is not uncommon, - www.mainstreet.com