Know What’s on your Credit Report
Take control of your Credit Report before you set out to purchase big items such as a car or house. Obtain copies of your Credit Report from all three major reporting agencies (Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian). Negative items, except bankruptcy, should only appear on your credit report for seven years; bankruptcy can remain for 10. If you have negative entries older than seven years, you can dispute them. Other things you can dispute include:
- Payments reported late that were actually on time
- Accounts that aren’t yours
- Inaccurate credit limit/loan amount or account balance
- Inaccurate creditor
- Inaccurate account status, for example, an account status reported as past due when the account is actually current
Know your Credit / FICO Score
Take control of your Credit Score before you walk in the door or before you visit a website. You should know what your credit score is before any potential creditor knows. Your credit score will limit or maximize what you are qualified to purchase. The FICO score, one of the most commonly used credit scores, ranges from 300 to 850 with higher credit scores being better. Each creditor might have slight differences in what they deem a good or great score; in general, an excellent credit score is anything from 750 to 850. A good credit score is from 700 to 749; a fair credit score, 650 to 699. A credit score lower than 650 is poor, meaning your credit history has had some rough patches.