Nine Steps to a Great Credit Score -- Save Yourself Thousands of Dollars

Here's a piece from David Bach on the nine steps to a great credit score. But before he talks about those nine steps, he tells how having a good credit score can save you lots of money:

You might be surprised to know that from the time you got your first credit card or took out your first student loan, you've been compiling what's known as a credit history. And it's your credit history, along with your income, assets, and liabilities, that ultimately will dictate how much you will pay for your mortgage, car loan, insurance premiums, and perhaps even where you live or who employs you.

That's because lenders have long used your credit history and what's now known as a credit score (or FICO score), to determine whether to lend you money and how much interest to charge you. For example, here's how your credit score could affect your monthly payments for a $200,000 mortgage: $1,264 each month with a 750 score; $1,520 with a 650 score. That's a total penalty of $92,160 for less-than-stellar credit for a 30-year loan!

Wow! And this is only in one area of your life. Imagine if you could save big amounts on your insurance, car loans, etc. as well -- not to mention get a better-paying job as a result of having a good score. The good news:

There are ways to turn your credit score into your ally and use it to save you thousands of dollars.

Here's how:

1. Get your own credit report, and find out your score.
2. Identify mistakes, and repair errors
3. Negotiate with debt collectors first
4. Control your spending, and reduce your debt
5. Limit credit-card applications
6. Don't cancel your old accounts
7. Ask lenders to report your credit limit
8. Sign up for automatic bill payment
9. Monitor your report

We end with Bach's promise:

By paying attention to your credit score and implementing these simple steps, you'll be on your way to a higher financial GPA and a score that could save you thousands annually.

I must admit that I really haven't paid much attention to my credit score at all. Since we are debt free, it seemed like there was no reason to. But now that I know it could impact other areas of my life (and help save me money!), I'll pay closer attention when I perform my credit check-ups.

FMF recommends Emigrant Direct.

Comments

[Blaine Moore (Run to Win)]

Your credit score is much more important than it should be. I have no problem with using it to determine how much interest you will be charged on a loan or what your credit limit on a card will be, but I see no reason for it to dictate whether or not you can get a job or what you have to pay for your insurance.

This is an issue that my partner and I are going to be talking about in our upcoming book that we are in the process of writing. (note that that book has nothing to do with the URL I provide with my name)

[SingleMom]

I agree with everything except #3. Some debt collectors are bottom feeders who try to collect on old debts that should no longer report or were previously settled/paid, some try to collect from the wrong person, some are unscrupulous and take advantage of uneducated consumers, some violate the FCRA and FDCPA, some are not licensed to collect, and some are just down right nasty and dirty. #3 should be “pay your bills on time to avoid debt collectors. If this is inevitable, always communicate in writing and demand validation of the debt pursuant to the FDCPA before ever discussing payment!”

Not sure what it’s worth, but that’s just my $0.02

Happy Friday!

[ib]

my comment is more of a question, if that's okay.

what should i do if one of my banks provided the wrong address (misspelled street name) to the credit bureaus. i had them fix my statements, but both the correct & incorrect addresses are now on my report. should i make the bank correct with the credit b. since they made the mistake?
(i want it fixed b/c would be easier for scammer to steal my identity with a misspelled st name....). if i need to do it too, would i still go the bank for them to do as well for more credibility so to speak? and which first?

many thanks in advance! thank you FMF for updating your blog often; i view it often.

[Mary]

What if #1 you get hurt at work, within 2 years your permanently disbled. #2 a year later, you lose your home and car to a fire. this can mess up a not so perfect credit score. By the way our home was paid for, my husband had a crippling injury in 1987. so with his modest settlement we paid off our mortgage.
Fortunetly we still have our land, and hope to rebuild this year, but no one will finance a construction loan, unless we sign away our land.(one acre) Trying to do this step by step.
Thanks for all your info,

Just Surviving in Texas

[FMF]

ib -- If it were me, yes, I'd make the bank correct it.

[Agent0]

SingleMom:
Send a certified letter, signed receipt required, to the CRA that is reporting the incorrect address and very specifically dispute the incorrect address. To comply with the FCRA, they have to investigate and report the outcome of that investigation within 30 days.

If that's too much trouble, I believe the CRA's might accept disputes via phone or Net.

-Zero-

[Bill]

I am confused about something. I thought it was important to make sure that all old accounts no longer used were closed out. I have done that on all but one old account that I inadvertantly missed. Am I understanding that you say to leave the old accounts open and this will positively affect my credit score? Please let me know what to do on this? Also, on my credit report, some of the negative factors affecting my score (758) are as follows:
avg. loan amounts are too low, such as mortgage!
ratio of balances-to-credit limits across open rev. accts. are too high. I only owe on 1 credit card and it is only half of my available credit amount! And I have never been late on the payments.
Too few credit accts. paid on time in recent months. Each one on my list says Never late! Go figure!
Please let me know what I should do to help my FICO.
Thanks very much!
Bill

[FMF]

Bill --

Click through on the article (the first link) to get all the details of what Bach is saying on this issue.

[DRJ]

Bill, with reference to your open account, you only want to use up to about 25% of the available credit if it is a revolving line of credit. This is considered ideal. It means to the bureaus that you're using credit for secure, convenient cashflow management purposes, & NOT building your standard of living off of you're credit lines & your income.