The beginning of a new year is a good time to evaluate your credit score, your credit report and your finances in general.
You can receive a free copy of your credit report to check for errors and mistakes and to see how you’re doing. Go to annualcreditreport.com
Now you can also receive a free copy of your credit score. A higher credit score will allow you to be able to get the best terms if you do need credit or financing.
Credit scores are a numerical representation of your past credit history and they range from 300 to 850. Those with the highest scores of 850 are few, in fact only 1% of the population has ever reached that pinnacle of perfection. However, all of us can improve upon our credit scores.
Your credit score is comprised of these factors as an overall percentage of your score.
1. Payment history – 35%
2. Credit Utilization-30%
3. Length of credit history-15%
4. New credit-10%
5. Types of credit used-10%
It is interesting to note that the ones with the highest scores use just 10% of their available credit.
