Texas Cash Back Real Estate Jill Aylwin - Real Estate Broker, Realtor, MBA E-mail: jill@texascashbackrealestate.com     Ph: (281) 334-CASH

  Do You Know Your Personal Credit Score?

This will likely affect the amount of home you qualify for.

It's just one number, but it is based on years of all the payments you have made on the mortgage, car payments, credit card bills, and other obligations. And this one little number is considered the best single indicator of whether you're likely to meet your future obligations.

Where does the number come from?

All three of the major credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) use a slightly different system to arrive at a score. The best known is called the FICO score, based on a model developed by Fair Isaac and Company and used by Experian. Equifax's model is called BEACON, while TransUnion uses EMPIRICA. While each of the models considers a range of data available in your credit report, the all use these factors:

• Credit History - How long have you had credit?

• Payment History - Do you pay your bills on time?

• Credit Card Balances - How much do you owe on how many different cards?

• Credit Inquiries - How many times have you had your credit checked?

Each of these, and other factors, are assigned a value and a weight. The results are added up and produce this single number. FICO scores range from 300 to 800; the higher, the better. Most home buyers' scores fall in between 600 and 800.

FICO scores are used for more than just determining whether or not you qualify for a mortgage. Higher scores indicate you are a better credit risk and will likely meet (pay) your obligations, and thus you may qualify for a better mortgage interest rate.

You can make sure that your credit history is correct by logging on to www.myFICO.com Each of the credit services offer helpful advice on their web sites: www.equifax.com, www.experian.com, and www.transunion.com.

If you are looking to improve your score, you can get help from multiple sources - from the internet to books.

E-mail jill@texascashbackrealestate.com today
-- Or -- Call us anytime at (281) 334-CASH