December 27,2008
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Everything You Wanted to Know About FICO Scores*, Pt.3 –
– Still more categories.5) (10%) Choosing the lender: Believe it or not, it does matter who's credit card you are using. The major lenders like Bank of America, CitiCorp, Capital One, Discover, etc. will provide more clout toward a good credit rating than the smaller of branded credit card lenders like JC Penny's and credit cards of other department stores or finance companies like HFC.
6) (0%) Non-discriminatory: Believe it of not, personal information plays very little roll in your credit rating. Things like your marital status, your income or your age are not taken into account when determining your credit rating. However, demographics like where you live are now being used by the credit card industry when deciding interest rates and available credit. If your neighborhood is experiencing a high rate of foreclosures or rising unemployment, you will not be on their A-list.These next few categories can affect your, though not usually directly.
7) Number of Accounts: This figure includes all open credit card accounts and recently closed accounts, including those in collection. It dies not, however, include; lost, stolen nor transferred accounts. These don't usually have a direct effect on decision making but can cause influence when making judgments in other areas.
8) Open accounts: These represent credit card accounts which were open at least part of the last six months. Closed, disputed legally and in bankruptcy are not considered here. Treatment here is similar to "Number of accounts".
9) Inquiries: There are two types – ‘hard' and ‘soft'. Hard inquiries are initiated by someone with a risk concern over you. Job offer, new credit card account application, etc. Too many will hurt you FICO Score. The ‘soft' inquiries can be routine checks from your lenders or just companies who want to sell you something (like good credit card offers).