A credit score is a three-digit number calculated to indicate your creditworthiness. The higher
the score, the more creditworthy you are to a lender. A credit score is calculated from the
information in your credit report. It considers your on-time payments, the length of your
payment history, your mix of different types of credit accounts, and other such factors. It is
essential to know that your score does not take your age, income, employment, marital status,
or bank account balances into account.

You can learn more about credit scores and scoring models from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau website here. 

To place a credit freeze on your credit profile, you must contact each of the three major credit
bureaus:

• TransUnion - Phone: (888) 909-8872 / Web: Credit Freeze | Freeze My Credit
• Equifax - Phone: (888) 298-0045 / Web: Security Freeze | Freeze or Unfreeze Your
  Credit Equifax®
• Experian - Phone: (888) 397-3742 / Web: Security Freeze | Experian

Credit reports, also known as credit files, comprise the credit-related data a credit
reporting company has gathered about consumers from different sources. Credit reports include records of mortgage payments, credit card balances, credit card payments, auto loan payments, and credit inquiries. It may also include accounts that have gone into collections, public records, and other information from government sources.

Credit reports include the following about your debt accounts.

• A list of creditors that have extended credit or loans.
• Total loan amounts and credit card limits.
• Payment amount and history on all loans and credit lines.

Credit reports may also include:

• Inquiries, each time your credit report was pulled by a lender in the past two years.
• Your current and/or former address(es)
• Your current and/or former employers
• Other details of public record

Under Federal law, you can receive one free copy of your credit report from each
credit reporting agency every 12 months. You can obtain a free copy of your credit reports
at here or by calling 1-877-322-8228.

For more information and details, click here.

One of the differentiating factors of the VantageScore® models is the ability to calculate scores
for more consumers, which includes those who are new to the credit market, infrequent credit
users, or those who have two or fewer credit accounts.

The VantageScore® models are more likely to provide a score for consumers new

to credit and with less than six months of history. They also score those with activity up to two
years ago on at least one of the accounts in their file.

The credit reporting agencies do not remove accounts once they’ve been closed or paid off.
There is no law requiring credit reporting agencies to remove accounts that are in good
standing. At this time, however, the credit reporting agencies choose to remove inactive or
closed accounts ten years after closing. Additionally, while closed or paid-off
accounts are still on your credit reports, they are still considered in credit scoring.

Your credit score may go down if you close a credit card account. The reason your score drops
would be due to the loss of the credit limit of the closed card in your debt-to-credit limit ratio
measurements.

If you carry a balance on other credit cards, then your debt-to-limit ratio, calculated by dividing
your aggregate credit card debt by your aggregate credit limits on open credit cards, will likely
go up. This may cause your credit score to drop.

If you don’t carry a balance on other credit cards or the credit limit on the newly closed card
was modest enough, then the account closure may not result in a change in your debt-to-limit
ratio sufficient to result in a score reduction.

Not necessarily. The balance of an account does not affect the speed at which you will build or
re-build your credit scores. A credit card with a $5,000 balance ages just as quickly as a credit
card with a $0 balance. Further, even if you pay your balance in full each month, there’s no
guarantee that the account will show up on your credit reports with a $0 balance. Credit card
issuers report your statement balance to the credit reporting agencies. That means even if you
pay your balance in full any subsequent use of the card will result in a statement balance
greater than $0.

One of the most effective ways to build or rebuild your credit is by responsibly managing your
accounts. Maintaining low balances on credit cards and never missing a payment will lead to
better credit scores.

Paying off debts does not automatically boost your score. While your credit card and other loan
balances may be low because of a recent payment, due to the lenders’ reporting cycles, it may
take some time for the payments to be reflected in your credit score. Moreover, available credit
and balances are only one of several other factors that credit score models consider.
Improving your credit score can be achieved over time by regularly practicing these sound
financial management techniques:

• Pay your bills on time
• Apply for credit only when it’s needed; do not open new accounts frequently or open
  multiple accounts within a short period.
• Keep your outstanding balances low – a good rule of thumb is not to exceed 30% of your
  available credit limit with each account.
• Pay any delinquent accounts as soon as possible and then keep them current.

Credit balance does not positively or negatively impact credit score.

Credit reports reflect your credit activity. The quantity of cards is less important than how you
manage your credit cards. It’s generally a good idea to have a limited number of credit cards so
that you can keep low balances, with a good payment history, over a long period.

Consumers are encouraged to shop for the best loan rates and conditions. Accordingly, the
VantageScore® model does not penalize multiple inquiries made within a short period. When
several inquiries are made within a shortened timeframe, it is assumed that the consumer is
shopping around for a rate and not opening multiple lines of credit.

The VantageScore® model uses a 14-day rolling window in which all credit inquiries within that
window are considered one inquiry regardless of the type of account. So, regardless of whether
the credit inquiry is made in response to a mortgage, auto, or bank credit card application, it will
be counted only once during that 14-day window.

The quantity of loans is not as important in credit scoring as the quality of how well those
accounts are managed. In other words, your score is more positively impacted by keeping loans
in good standing without missing payments.

Medical bills are usually not reported to the credit bureaus unless they have been unpaid for a
long time and have gone to collections. Collections accounts stay on the report for as long as 7
years even after you’ve paid them off. These accounts typically hurt scores, though some
scoring models do not include medical collections, especially those with small balances of less
than $100. VantageScore® 3.0 does not take paid collections accounts into account in its
model.

Source VantageScore

When you close a credit card account, you lose the value of that card’s credit limit in the credit
usage calculation. The credit limit is important when determining a consumer’s
balance to credit limit or the “credit usage” ratio. This ratio rewards consumers with low
credit card balances relative to their credit limits.

If you close credit cards, especially those with large credit limits, you will likely cause your credit
usage ratio to go up (if you carry balances). This can cause your score to go down considerably.

Additionally, if you close credit card accounts, the credit bureaus will eventually remove them
from your credit reports. Even though it can take years for an account to be removed from your
credit reports, once it is gone, you will get no credit for the account management you are responsible for.

A charge card is like, but not the same as, a credit card. As such, there are subtle differences in
how they’re used in credit scoring.

Typically, a charge card balance is due in full each month, while credit card balances can be
carried, or "revolved," from month to month. Charge cards do not have published credit limits,
whereas credit cards do.

Charge card accounts factor into credit scores but are not used by the VantageScore® scoring
model due to the lack of a credit limit used in calculating "balance to credit limit" measurements.

Since the single most important factor in credit score is payment history, using credit and paying
off your balances on time will have the greatest impact on your score. Carrying a balance monthly may incur interest charges, so if you can, pay off the cards in full and on time.

The best way to build a solid credit score is to properly manage your accounts. Best practices
include paying all your credit obligations on time every month, applying for credit only when
needed, and keeping balances on credit cards as low as you possibly can if you cannot pay
them in full each month.

There are several ways to improve your credit score. However, it’s much more important to
focus on improving what’s in your credit report rather than over your credit score. Here are some
quick tips to help:

• Pay Your Bills on Time, Every Month. Payment history is the largest factor in your
  credit score.
• Apply for Credit Only When You Need It. Try not to open too many accounts too
  frequently. These frequent inquiries can ding your credit.
• Keep Your Outstanding Balances Low. Keep balances below 30 percent of the credit
  limit on each of your revolving accounts.
• Reduce Your Total Debt. It is not necessarily bad to have debt as long as it’s
  manageable. Too much debt at high interest rates can get out of hand if a financial
  emergency comes up. Consider paying down some of your outstanding loans.
• Build Up Credit History. Maintaining a timely payment history for a mix of accounts
  (e.g. credit cards, auto, mortgage) over a long period can improve your score

No, a credit score is just one part of several factors lenders use in their lending criteria. Other
lending criteria considered may include:

• Loan-to-Value Ratio
• Income
• Current employment and work history

You must contact the three major credit bureaus to unfreeze your credit profile. Each bureau
has a different process, but each will initially provide you with a PIN to unfreeze your profile

Any institution that lends money – credit unions, banks, credit card companies, financing
companies, mortgage lenders, and others – can use a credit score to help them assess whether
you meet their lending criteria. These institutions use your credit score and other relevant information you provide, such as income, work status, and down payment amount. In
general, higher scores allow access to more credit at competitive rates.

Insurance carriers can also use credit scores to help assess risk and to price accurately
homeowners and automobile insurance policies.

Your credit report and score are different. Your credit report is all the information that a credit
reporting agency has gathered about you. Credit reporting agencies calculate your credit score
by plugging the information in your credit report into their proprietary credit score formula.

Federal law gives you the right to ask for a copy of your credit report from each nationwide
credit reporting company every year for free. However, the law does not require credit reporting
companies to give your credit score for free.

Learn more here.  

A credit freeze, or a security freeze, is a free way to restrict access to your credit
report. Adding a freeze means no one, not even you, can open a new credit account while the
freeze is in place. You can, however, temporarily remove this freeze at any time if you want to
apply for new credit.

It is important to note that a credit freeze does not affect your credit score. While the freeze is in
place, you will still be able to apply for a job, rent an apartment, purchase insurance, and
receive pre-screened offers.

Given this incredible volume of data provided by lenders to the agencies, there are times when
the information reported about your credit activities may be inaccurate.

If you find information you believe is incorrect on your credit report, contact the company
that issued the account or the credit reporting company that issued the report. You can dispute
any inaccuracies found on your TransUnion credit report by navigating to the bottom of the
SavvyMoney Credit Report and clicking “dispute.”

For more information, visit the following link.  

Not sure about what’s in your credit report? Click over to “Credit Report” to review all your
accounts, payments, and more. You can also receive a free Credit Report from each of the
credit reporting companies – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion once a year.