Purchasing a Home?  Your FICO Score is more important now

UNDERSTAND YOUR FICO SCORE

Payment History
         Account payment information on specific types of accounts (credit cards, retail accounts, installment loans, finance company accounts, mortgage, etc.)
         Presence of adverse public records (bankruptcy, judgements, suits, liens, wage attachments, etc.), collection items, and/or delinquency (past due items)
         Severity of delinquency (how long past due)
         Amount past due on delinquent accounts or collection items
         Time since (recency of) past due items (delinquency), adverse public records (if any), or collection items (if any)
         Number of past due items on file
         Number of accounts paid as agreed

Amounts Owed
         Amount owing on accounts
         Amount owing on specific types of accounts
         Lack of a specific type of balance, in some cases
         Number of accounts with balances
         Proportion of credit lines used (proportion of balances to total credit limits on certain types of revolving accounts)
         Proportion of installment loan amounts still owing (proportion of balance to original loan amount on certain types of installment loans)
   
Length of Credit History
         Time since accounts opened
         Time since accounts opened, by specific type of account
         Time since account activity

New Credit
         Number of recently opened accounts, and proportion of accounts that are recently opened, by type of account
         Number of recent credit inquiries
         Time since recent account opening(s), by type of account
         Time since credit inquiry(s)
         Re-establishment of positive credit history following past payment problems

Types of Credit Used
         Number of (presence, prevalence, and recent information on) various types of accounts (credit cards, retail accounts, installment loans, mortgage, consumer finance accounts, etc.)

Please note that:
         A score takes into consideration all these categories of information, not just one or two.
No one piece of information or factor alone will determine your score.
         The importance of any factor depends on the overall information in your credit report.
For some people, a given factor may be more important than for someone else with a different credit history. In addition, as the information in your credit report changes, so does the importance of any factor in determining your score. Thus, it's impossible to say exactly how important any single factor is in determining your score - even the levels of importance shown here are for the general population, and will be different for different credit profiles. What's important is the mix of information, which varies from person to person, and for any one person over time.
         Your Credit score only looks at information in your credit report.
However, lenders look at many things when making a credit decision including your income, how long you have worked at your present job and the kind of credit you are requesting.
         Your score considers both positive and negative information in your credit report.
Late payments will lower your score, but establishing or re-establishing a good track record of making payments on time will raise your score.
 
 
What is Not In Your Score

Credit scores consider a wide range of information on your credit report. However, they do not consider:
         Your race, color, religion, national origin, sex and marital status.
US law prohibits credit scoring from considering these facts, as well as any receipt of public assistance, or the exercise of any consumer right under the Consumer Credit Protection Act.
         Your age.
Other types of scores may consider your age, but credit scores don't.
         Your salary, occupation, title, employer, date employed or employment history.
Lenders may consider this information, however, as may other types of scores.
         Where you live.
         Any interest rate being charged on a particular credit card or other account.
         Any items reported as child/family support obligations or rental agreements.
         Certain types of inquiries (requests for your credit report).
The score does not count consumer-initiated inquiries requests you have made for your credit report, in order to check it. It also does not count promotional inquiries requests made by lenders in order to make you a pre-approved credit offer or administrative inquiries requests made by lenders to review your account with them. Requests that are marked as coming from employers are not counted either.
         Any information not found in your credit report.
         Any information that is not proven to be predictive of future credit performance.
         Whether or not you are participating in a credit counseling of any kind.