{"id":129,"date":"2012-06-17T22:41:15","date_gmt":"2012-06-17T22:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.apisbull.com\/blog\/?p=129"},"modified":"2012-06-17T22:41:15","modified_gmt":"2012-06-17T22:41:15","slug":"credit-score-secrets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.apisbull.com\/blog\/?p=129","title":{"rendered":"Credit Score Secrets"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nKnowledge is power. And with the knowledge I\u2019m about to give you, you\u2019ll never feel you are a slave to your credit score again.<\/p>\n

Have you ever wondered what\u00a0really<\/em>\u00a0makes your score rise or fall?<\/p>\n

And not just the myths put out by big banks. Like the idea that you should keep a small credit card balance.<\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t actually help your score or prove you can manage debt. But it does result in you paying a lot more interest.<\/p>\n

These industry-fueled lies make us mad. So we hand-selected a credit expert to shine a light into the shadows and clear some things up.<\/p>\n

Winning the Credit Score Game\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span>
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\nOnce you have knowledge of the credit score game, your score can start climbing rapidly.<\/p>\n

But it won\u2019t budge an inch if you don\u2019t first find out what\u2019s on your credit report.<\/p>\n

The good news is, you can get your credit report absolutely free 3 times a year.<\/p>\n

All 3 credit reporting bureaus are required to give you one free report every 12 months.<\/p>\n

You get them from\u00a0AnnualCreditReport.com<\/a>. Some people confuse this withFreeCreditReport.com<\/a>\u00a0which isn\u2019t always free, so be careful.<\/p>\n

The smart thing to do is get 1 free report from 1 bureau every 4 months. After a year you\u2019ll have gotten all 3 credit reports for free. And because you spaced it out, you can keep a better eye on your credit as events change.<\/p>\n

Now that you\u2019ve got your report…<\/strong><\/span><\/span>
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\nIt\u2019s time to see what\u2019s on it and what we can do to fix it.<\/p>\n

Your credit report will give you facts about the last 7-10 years of your credit history. This includes late payments, debt defaults, collections and even who has checked your credit recently.<\/p>\n

But what does it all mean? And how much does each item affect your credit score?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to know because the credit bureaus aren\u2019t always open about it.<\/p>\n

The Credit Report Breakdown\u00a0You\u2019ve Been Waiting For…<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n



\nRoughly, your credit score is weighted like this…<\/p>\n

*\u00a035% – Payment History:\u00a0<\/strong>Late payments and delinquent accounts hurt, even if your account is currently all caught up. If you\u2019ve been 30, 60, 90 or more days late paying anytime in the past 7 years, then it\u2019s going to lower your credit score. The more recent the mark, the worse it is. Debt defaults, collections and bankruptcies also hurt you here.<\/p>\n

*\u00a030% – Debt to Credit Limit:\u00a0<\/strong>Each open credit account should report to the bureaus once a month. The bureaus then look at your total debt from all accounts and divide it by the total credit available to you. This gives you a percentage called the Debt-To-Limit ratio, and if it\u2019s over 33% you\u2019re going to see your score lowered.<\/p>\n

*\u00a015% by Length of Credit History:<\/strong>\u00a0If you open a credit card account, plan to keep it active for 4-10 years. Accounts that are quickly shut down will lower your score, while older accounts will give it a boost.<\/p>\n

*\u00a010% by Recent Credit Approval:\u00a0<\/strong>Believe it or not, getting approved to borrow more money can actually raise your score… and make it easier for you to borrow even more! But only up to a point – too much credit available will eventually lower your score.<\/p>\n

*\u00a010% by Types of Credit Used:\u00a0<\/strong>You can raise your score by using multiple types of credit. If you just stick with a credit card, your score will be lower than it could be.<\/p>\n

Just knowing what helps or hurts your score most will help you prioritize what needs to be done to raise your score.<\/p>\n

For More Credit Score Secrets,\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>
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\nIf you want to improve your credit, then understanding how it\u2019s scored is just the first step.<\/span><\/span><\/span>The book below will fill you in on all the credit score traps, secrets, tips and tricks you need to know to start boosting your score.<\/div>\n
And just a suggestion – even if your score is good to excellent, you should still try to improve your score.\u00a0Why? Because the higher your score the more investment opportunities open up to you.<\/div>\n
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