Will Inquiries Lower Your Credit Score?

What are inquiries?

When you apply for credit the creditor or lender checks your credit report to verify that you qualify for the credit or loan you are applying for. The "inquiry" is then reported to the credit bureaus and shows up on your credit report.

Does this affect your credit rating or score?

Yes, it does. Although only a few points are deducted from your score for each inquiry, having multiple inquiries may drop your score to a lower bracket, forcing a higher interest rate. You may not even qualify for the loan or line of credit at all.

Will requesting your credit report generate an inquiry?

This is a common misconception and is totally false. You should view your report at least once a month. Doing so will not generate any inquiries.

What if you did not authorize an inquiry, can you dispute it?

Yes. If you did not authorize any of the inquiries on your credit report you can and should dispute them. To dispute inquiries obtain your credit report, then make a copy of your credit report, highlighting the inquiries in dispute. Finally, send the copy of your highlighted inquiries along with a letter demanding the inquiries be deleted from your credit report to the credit bureau.

Is it worth it?

The next time you are out shopping and the salesperson asks you, "Would you like to apply for our credit line and receive 15% off your purchase?" Ask yourself, "Is it worth it?"

Scott Brown is a fair credit reporting advocate and the author of his own website Credit Repair (http://selfhelpcreditrepair.blogspot.com), a free information site dedicated to help consumers repair bad credit and optimize their credit reports and credit scores.

What Is A Good Credit Score?

 

As a credit repair specialist, the question I hear most often is "what's a good credit score?".

It seems that everyone cares about their credit score these days, withinterest rates lower than ever and the easy money lending environment we havenow that comes with low rates.

The good news is, it is easier to get that loan for your house or car thanever before.

"Oh No, I Have a 622 Credit Score!"

Recently, I went to purchase a triplex to live in and keep as an investment,and when I got to the lender's office I found to my horror that I had a middlecredit score of  622. I will explain this in a moment, but even though thisscore was considered "bad" a few years ago, it turned out to be ok.

Your Middle Score

What do I mean when I say I had a middle credit score of 622? There are threemain credit bureaus, and banks are now in the practice of looking at your creditscores from all three bureaus, and then using the "middle creditscore" as an indicator of your credit performance.  They order areport that they call a "Tri Merge" or a 3-in-1 credit report. Thereare actually six main companies that banks like to use to provide this type ofreport, although there are many companies out there that will sell reports tothe public. If you order a 3-in-1 credit report on your own, the banks willstill insist on ordering theirs from one of their preferred companies. Once theydiscover your middle credit score, they use this as a very important indicatorabout your creditworthiness. Your credit scores can make or break your home loanor credit application.

What Does My Credit Score Mean?

Generally speaking, having a 650 credit score or higher means that you canfind many home loans at a good rate, and having a 720 credit score or higher isthe "holy grail", the highest score category where you can qualify forall the best loans like zero percent down or 125 percent financing. Creditscores go all the way up to 850, and all the way down to 350.

However, things change with time.  Where a few years ago only the peoplewith a 720 credit score got the best loans, today even people with a 620 creditscore or over have plenty of options for home loans at a decent rate.  Evenpeople with a 580 or more can enjoy a new home loan today.

As I found out, my  622 credit score in 1/2005 Sunday can remember himin her I get him out and get a fair and I think it can do is beginning: you alot yowasn't so bad after all.

How To Qualify For a Home or Car Loan

Who has the best credit? The answer is, people who have three lines of creditopen, no 30 day lates, and no more than 30 percent of their credit card balancesowing. these are the people who will have a 700 credit score or more. What ifyour credit record is not so good? I had a friend who lost her job and thatdivorce at the same time. She had 10 lines of credit open and four of them wentinto a delinquent or "charge-off" status. The term charge-off meansthat the credit card company "gave up" on collecting the debt.

My friend felt very ashamed about her past, and for six years avoided lookingat her credit. When she finally got her credit report she found that she had a620 middle credit score, very close to mine. Even though I had 11 accounts whereonly one was 30 day late. The credit score looks mainly at your last 18 monthsof behavior, so even though she had four delinquencies in her past her creditwas still considered ok. She qualifies for a home or car loan.

A Good Credit Score

However, to summarize some of the points made here, for the best credit makesure to 1) have 3 credit lines open  2) pay off 30% of your credit cardbalances and 3) avoid 30 day lates at all costs.

If you need a good credit score in a hurry, check out my e-book ImproveYour Credit Score In 24 Hours.

L. K. Hughes is author of the best-selling book "Improve Your Credit Score In 24 Hours".

What Does Your Credit Score Tell You?

What is a credit score and how is it calculated? Learn how to maintain a decent credit score.

When you apply for a loan or a mortgage, the first thing the lender does is to check your credit score. Based on your credit score, the lender decides the amount of finance you are eligible for and the interest rate at which you will be charged. So what is this credit score and how does it influence your capacity to take fresh credit?

Your credit score is a number that reflects on the likelihood at which you will pay back a loan. Credit scores generally range between 300 and 800.  In general, a score of above 620 is needed to avail of a loan at lower costs. If you have a low credit score, it would indicate high risk and would make it difficult for you to obtain fresh credit at reasonable costs.

So what goes into the calculation of your credit score? Credit scores do not take into consideration your income or how much savings you have. Instead, your credit score is primarily influenced by your current debt level, your credit history and how many times your credit report is pulled up by various agencies.

• A high debt level would lower your scores considerably as it means that you are already financially burdened with many loans and would not have the capacity to take on fresh credit.
• Your credit history would take into consideration your track record at paying past and present dues. Timely payment of such dues would ensure a higher credit score as compared with late payments.
• The more frequently your credit report is pulled up by various agencies, more the points docked off your credit score. However, your checking of your own credit report will not affect your credit score as you are entitled to doing so.

To ensure you maintain a decent credit score its most important that you pay all your bills in a timely and consistent manner and also that you not take more debt than you can handle. If youre able to do that, your credit score shouldnt be able to trouble you too much in life. Take care and be wise with your finances.

Sameer S Panjwani - Home Buying, Home Selling and Home Renting

Options For Finding A Better Motorcycle Loan With A Better Credit Score

It is common knowledge that motorcycle lenders base high importance on your FICO credit scores when approving motorcycle loans. However, what many people overlook is that their FICO credit score can highly impact the term on their motorcycle loan along with the interest rate that is assigned to the motorcycle loan.

In order to gain better motorcycle loan rates it is important that you think of your FICO credit score as a picture of how risky you are to the lender. Your FICO score is essentially a enchmark which lenders use to grade you and assign a risk to you when applying for a motorcycle loan. Since factors about your credit change on a daily basis so can your FICO credit score.

The below 5 steps are designed to help ensure you improve your creditworthiness as your credit score changes. Ultimately these steps should help you obtain better motorcycle loan rates in the future.

Avoid Excessive Credit Inquiries A credit inquiry normally happens when you apply for credit. If you have a large number of credit inquiries in a short time period many motorcycle lenders see this as a negative since it affects your FICO score. Therefore, when you are applying for credit or shopping for motorcycle loans be careful how many times your credit is accessed. Be advised that sometimes motorcycle dealerships will pre-screen you by asking you for your driver licenses and social security number. Normally this results in a credit inquiry on your credit report. Be prudent in shopping for credit and motorcycle loans.

Make Your Payment On-time - Paying your current credit bills on-time is one of the biggest factors that contributes to a higher FICO score. Typically when motorcycle lenders see potential customers that do not pay their bills on-time then they either decline them or issue a motorcycle loan at a much higher interest rate. Late payments, collections and bankruptcies have the greatest negative effect on your credit score and how lenders rate you when getting a otorcycle loan.

Establish Credit Early Time is very important part of improving your FICO score. Therefore, it is recommended that you start building credit early. Getting one or two credit cards can significantly help build credit. However, the key to this strategy is keeping your purchases small and frequent and paying off the balance every month on time. When establishing credit you should also keep the oldest account on your credit report open in order to lengthen your period of active credit use. The length of your credit history can make a big difference in getting approved for a motorcycle loan.

Watch Your Debt Keep your account balances below 30% of your available credit limit. This is especially true with your credit card because many motorcycle lenders see credit card debt as more risky. If you have a credit card with a $5,000 limit, you should try to keep the balance owed below $1500 when you apply for a motorcycle loan.

Check Your Credit Regularly In todays age it is easy to get online to check your credit. Checking your free credit report regularly is very important because it can help you uncover inaccuracies that are affecting your FICO credit score. Dont let your credit health suffer due to inaccurate information. If you find an inaccuracy on your credit report contact the creditor associated with the account or the credit reporting agencies to correct it immediately.

Copyright (c) 2005, by Jay Fran This article may be freely distributed as long as the copyright, author's information and the following active live link with anchored text is published with the article:

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Jay Fran is a successful author at http://www.motorcycle-financing-guide.com - A comprehensive resource for finding motorcycle financing lenders, online motorcycle loans, poor credit motorcycle loans and new & used online motorcycle buying tips for Harley-Davidson, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda and more.