So I've been feeling a little paranoid about my credit report. A while back, I got a 60-day-late on one of my student loans because they had been sending the payment notices to my parents' house. I just graduated, so this loan was just starting repayment. I paid off the loan with a balance transfer at 4% cause the loan was at 8%, but was worried that it was going to ding my credit. (Since I'm young and have short-lived accounts, it doesn't take much.)
Well, I guess my worry was overstated - I got a credit report and score from Equifax and at least by their records, that loan isn't even on my credit report. So, no ding. Hooray! Nothing suspicious on my report, either, which is good. It shows my collection of consolidated loans (so I have one big one, and several with $0 balances) as all paid as current, for some reason.
And my score is... 735! Yaaaay!
Well, I guess it's not record-worthy, but it'd get me the best mortgage rates. I think people get a leeeetle too caught up in having a high score - but your credit score is only good for something if you need some credit. So if it's a little low, unless you're going to apply for a card or a loan, it's not a big deal right then. But it's nice to know that just by default, by not doing anything wrong but at the same time not doing any of the right things (like having long-held accounts or all below-30% utilizations) you can get a perfectly acceptable credit score. I think it's actually higher than a year ago when our brokerage company pulled Boyfriend's and my credit reports for our apartment application.
Equifax says this about my account:
Positive factors - no late payments, no recent attempts to obtain credit
Negative factors - age of accounts is low, most recently obtained credit is 8 months old
I guess I can't really do anything about those. As with many things, time cures all credit reports. =)
You can also check your credit reports at Bestcreditreports.com
Thursday, August 03, 2006
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5 comments:
If you have a Citi credit card, every so often they'll have Identity Monitor offered for a free credit report and score and a 30-day free trial of the service. So if you want another report/score randomly, that's one way not to pay for it! You can just check the "special offers" section when you check your card on their website.
You better check all 3 of them, not sure if you mentioned that you did, as I know Equifax has the capabilities, (for a fee), to allow you to see the other reporting agencies. I do know that they all offer free trials, (which is a good, frugal way of checking it out). I have found that their information varies,so do look if you are concerned about a negative mark.
Quo
youre probably years of credit-worthiness ahead of me darlin...
i just got my FREE report
(www.annualcreditreport.com)
and uh it was pretty depressing to say the least.
If you only understood the power of that score you have! You could be financially free in a year.
"In the US, Consumer Power is Based on How Good Your Credit Is, Not how much money you have"
"A definition of a banker is a person that won't give you any money when you need it, but wants to give you Fort Knox when you have all the money you need".
Utilize your good credit to buy investments (good debt), and live the life you imagine!
The life I imagine is one without debt of any kind. ;)
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