What is a Credit Score Rating?
Any time you apply for a loan one of the first things that the lender is going to look at is your credit score rating. This simple three digit number can mean the difference between being approved for the loan and being rejected. There are many other problems that can occur if you have a poor credit score that you may not be aware of. Most people do not realize that many employers, especially those where handling money is involved will run a credit check before hiring a new employee, those with bad credit may not get hired.
If you have never thought about your credit score then perhaps you do not know what lenders consider to be a really good credit score rating. Typically anything over 650 is good enough to get you most loans, but even at this the interest rates and terms may not be the most favorable. In terms of a credit score that is going to be considered good enough to ensure that as long as you have a job, you can get the loan you want, your score needs to between 700 and 849.
This is the credit score rating that most people strive for and as long as you have never missed a payment, including your regular monthly bills such as phone and utilities or been late, you should be able to earn this type of score. In today’s tight credit market even a score of 700-750 may not be enough to get the best interest rates. Most banks and lenders now reserve the best rates for their customers that have a score of 760 and up.
With this in mind, if your credit score rating is low there are many things that you can do to bring it back up to a number that will fall within the good credit rating levels. Start by getting a copy of your complete credit report from all three agencies to make sure that there is nothing on it that does not belong. You can dispute anything on there and if it is not valid it must be removed by law.
Once you have removed these entries, the rest is in your hands. Start by making sure that you are never late or miss any payments you have including your rent, utilities and credit cards. It will take time but, if you reestablish a good track record your credit score will improve and eventually return to the point where you will have a good enough credit score rating to be able to buy your own home or that new care you have been dreaming about.