Credit Report Quick Facts

Your credit report is your financial report card.

It tells how you borrowed money and your history of how you paid it back.

It has four kinds of information:

Identifying: name, address, birth date, social security number, employer
Public Record: Bankruptcy, tax liens, judgments

Credit: A list of all the people you owe money to and if you pay on time
Inquiries: List of those who pulled your credit report

TO ORDER YOUR FREE REPORT

Free reports are being provided only through the following avenues:

Website: www.annualcreditreport.com

Phone: 1-877-322-8228

Send the attached form to:

Annual Credit Report Request Service

P.O. Box 105281

Atlanta, Georgia 30348-5281

Credit Scoring

Quick Facts: Your credit score is a number that lenders use to help them decide whether to give you a loan and what interest rate they should charge.

Scores range from 300 to 850.
In general a score higher than 740 is very good and below 600 is not very good.

Higher scores are better.

Five parts to your credit score:

Payment history – about 35%
Length of your history – about 15%
Other factors – about 10%

How much you owe – about 30%
New credit – about 10%

How to raise your score:

Pay all bills on time.
Keep balances low on credit cards. If your limit is $5000, don’t charge more than $2500.
Keep your positive payment history - don’t close your oldest account.
Shop for mortgage or car loans in a short period of time.

If you have missed a payment on an account, catch it up.
Pay off your debt instead of moving it around.
Apply for new credit cards rarely.

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