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HomeBlog Personal FinanceConsumers Are In Need Of Credit Score Education
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Consumers Are In Need Of Credit Score Education

January 30, 2014 by National Debt Relief

woman looking at a documentAre you confused about your credit score? If you are, then you may want to pay attention to this article because we will try to give you some of the basic credit score education that you need.

A consumer’s credit score is taken from their credit report. This report holds vital information about you. It shows a list of your credit accounts plus any good and bad behavior that you have displayed. In fact, that is the whole purpose of your score. It says a lot about your credit behavior. It is a number that represents your debt situation and how you rank at managing it. Simply put, when you are in a bad financial situation, chances are, you have a low credit score.

People usually encounter this score when they are trying to apply for a new credit account. Lenders and credit card companies will always check if a consumer is a responsible credit holder. Anyone who will let you borrow their money will naturally be interested in how you will pay it back. It does not matter if you have the income to pay your dues. Some people borrow money and forgets about it. This is something that lenders and creditors want to avoid.

Apart from loans and new credit accounts, employers will also look at your credit score before hiring you. Utility companies and even landlords can use this information to check out your credit behavior. These inquiries about you makes credit score education all the more important.

Study shows a lot of consumers do not understand credit scores

Unfortunately, everyone may know about credit scores but not all of them fully understand it. An article recently published by CNN.com discussed a survey done by VantageScore – one of the providers of credit score information. Apparently, lenders follow the Dodd-Frank Act by providing consumers with a disclosure notice to explain a credit application disapproval, but most consumers do not understand it. These reasons could include a current delinquent account or too many credit inquiries, but consumers have no idea what all of these mean so they fail to take the steps to help improve their score.

VantageScore surveyed 200 lenders and it revealed an increasing need for credit score education. The highlights of the survey as mentioned in the article includes the following:

  • 75% of lender participants are concerned that their clients do not understand what is written in disclosure notices.

  • 10% of lenders think their customers understand the disclosure notice “reason codes.”

  • 10% of lenders do not have a Spanish translation for their disclosure notice.

  • 38% of lenders are willing to help provide applicants with tips to help improve their credit score.

  • 33% of lender believe that a clearer and simple language will help make disclosure notices more understandable.

A separate survey, that is a joint effort of VantageScore Solutions and the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), revealed that a lot of consumers know very little about credit scores. The survey results as published on the ConsumerFed.org and it showed the following information:

  • ⅖ of consumer respondents are not aware that credit card companies and lenders refer to credit scores when it comes to making decisions about pricing and approval.

  • ⅖ believe that age and marital status influence credit scores.

  • ¼ to ⅓ of consumers do not know that they have the right to be informed of the reason for credit decisions (loan disapproval, interest rates, etc).

  • ⅓ to ⅖ of respondents are not aware that even the credit score of co-signers can be affected by student loans.

  • ¼ or more of respondents do not know how to improve or keep their credit scores from declining.

  • ⅓ of consumer respondents are misinformed about credit repair agencies.

Source: http://www.consumerfed.org/pdfs/CFA-VSS-Survey-Results.pdf

All of these statistics prove that more than ever, consumers should take time to get credit score education. You need to learn how to utilize this so it will not have any effect on any financial opportunity that comes your way in the future.

Here is a video from National Debt Relief that discusses why credit scores are important and how it can affect your plans to refinance your home.

Important credit score concepts you need to know

Now that you understand why credit score education is needed, let us discuss the basic concepts that you need to learn. If anything, this information will help you fix your credit score fast – or at least, in time for you to keep it from ruining financial opportunities that will come your way.

Here are 5 things about credit scores that you need to know about.

What is a credit score?

A credit score is a measurement of a consumer’s creditworthiness. As mentioned, it depends on your credit report. The data found on this report is a compilation of all your credit information from the various credit and financial institutions that you have transacted with. The three major credit bureaus (TransUnion, Experian and Equifax), compile this information and put it on your credit report.

A credit score range will depend on the company behind it but the average is from 300 to 850. A high credit score indicates that you are creditworthy while a low credit score would raise warning bells for lenders.

How is your score computed?

The exact formula to compute your credit score will vary. Fico Score and VantageScore, for instance, will compute your score differently. But all of them will base your score on your payment history, debt amount, credit history, new accounts, and type of accounts. These are the 5 important factors affecting your credit score.

Based on the FICO Score, the payment history affects 35% of your score. When you have a late payment, this will be affected. The next part is your debt amount – which is 30% of your score. When you have a high debt amount, this will suffer. Your credit history is 15% of your score. The older the account, the higher your score will be. The fourth involves new inquiries – which is 10% of a credit score. When you apply for a new loan and the lender looks at your credit report, that can affect your score negatively. The fifth also affects 10% of your score and it is the type of accounts that you use. The more variations, the higher your score will be.

Who looks at your score?

The majority of the people who will look at your score includes lenders and credit card companies. If you plan on transacting with any of them, you need to brush up on your credit score education. They make up the majority because you are borrowing money from them. Other viewers of your score includes employers, landlords, insurance companies and utility companies.

How to check credit scores?

If you want to take a look at your credit score, you need to get a copy of your credit report first. You can get a paid copy from one of the major credit bureaus or you can download a free copy from the Annual Credit Report website. The government mandates the three major credit bureaus to provide consumers with a free copy of their report every year. That means you get three free copies annually.

Once you have your credit report, you can proceed to search for a credit score calculator. There are many free calculators online – just make sure you will go with a site that is trustworthy and secure. Simply input the data in your credit report to get an estimate of your credit score.

What happens when you have a bad credit score?

Probably the most important question in credit score education is what will happen when you have a bad score. It really depends on who will look at your score. A bad score would mean higher interest rates from lenders and credit card companies. It will not really mean a disapproval – unless your score is really very low. For landlords, they may keep you from leasing their place or they will get a higher rental deposit from you. For employers, a bad credit score can cost you a job. For insurance companies, it can mean a higher premium payment. For utility companies, it can be the same as the landlord, you could be asked for a deposit.

Nothing is wrong with keeping your credit score high so you might as well try to take care of it. Start by learning more about it through credit score education. Added knowledge will never put you in a bad light.

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National Debt Relief
National Debt Relief

National Debt Relief is one of the largest and best-rated debt settlement companies in the country. In addition to providing excellent, 5-star services to our clients, we also focus on educating consumers across America on how to best manage their money. Our posts cover topics around personal finance, saving tips, and much more. We’ve served thousands of clients, settled over $1 billion in consumer debt, and our services have been featured on sites like NerdWallet, Mashable, HuffPost, and Glamour.

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Moderate National Debt Relief Caller: Charlotte Transcribed WE 1/24/2021 Charlotte: Before I begin, I have to let you know that our call may be recorded. Can you tell me, how did you first hear about our National Debt Relief? JOAN: Oh, I don't know. I don't remember. I don't know how I heard about it. Charlotte: What made you decide to work with them? JOAN: Well, obviously, I needed to consolidate my debt. Charlotte: Tell me about the service program that they provided you with. JOAN: Well, I'm not done. But for me, it’s costly. What I did not like about it was that they add on. They say it's going to be X amount of dollars. But then what they do is they say, “Oh, well, we found another creditor that you need to…” So that'll be at a different part of the month and I don't like staggered bills. If I'm gonna pay a bill, whether it's to the phone company, the insurance company, whatever it might be, I want to pay that bill once a month. That's the only drawback. Charlotte: So let me get this. Normally, they are collecting the bills upfront. And then they work to get them paid off at a different rate. So everything wasn't collected all at once, if that's what I'm hearing correctly. JOAN: No, no, no. Every month, money is taken out of your account. And they pay X amount of dollars. Like let's say you owe $5,000 with Citibank, $500 in Credit One, whatever. They work out a deal with them and then they say, “Well, you have to pay $350 a month.” And they'll pay $20 a month towards -- they give you like around about how long it's going to take. Two years, two and a half years. And then they work it out that way. Charlotte: Now, what did you think about your negotiator? JOAN: I don't know. I just called up. It's a completely different department. So when you call up to sign up, it's very different. I don't remember that. It's just that they collected all the information. It was easy for me. I didn't have to go through and find whatever bills I wanted to put in the debt relief. They did that. Charlotte: So say you have questions or concerns. How did you get your questions or concerns addressed? JOAN: I would just ask and they answered it. They're very helpful like that. They'll answer any questions you have. And if they don’t know, they will find out. Charlotte: So was there not a particular person that you spoke with? JOAN: No, you don’t have one person that you deal with that just handles your account. Once you do – they’re like headhunters. Until you sign up, you're going to have that one person and even other people calling. Once your name is out there, they're going to keep calling you. So, once you sign up, then it's whoever answers the phone. It’s customer service. Charlotte: How comfortable did you feel working with National Debt Relief through this process? JOAN: I felt very comfortable, very safe. I was not worried about anything. Charlotte: Is there anything about this process that you would have liked to seen handled differently? JOAN: Yes. The way the payments come out. I'd rather have them one instead of … Charlotte: Everywhere. JOAN: Right. Well, not everywhere. For the most part, the bulk of them were. But then if there's one here, one there, they don't just extend it to another payment. And then the payments change, like the payment amount. You could pay $20 for six months, and then all of a sudden, it's $80 for the next three months, so you really don't know. Charlotte: So if you have to rate this experience on a scale of one to five, five is you’d recommend to friends, one you're pretty dissatisfied… JOAN: No. I would definitely recommend it to a friend. Charlotte: How would you say working with National Debt Relief has impact your life? JOAN: Well, it did help until I hit a speed bump. I'm in the middle of a divorce and my husband closed our checking account, of course. But so far, as a matter of fact, that's why I thought you were calling. I have to postpone the next month, so hopefully, they'll be able to postpone it, because I've been postponing it for a few months. Charlotte: Would it be okay if I posted your comments as a review on our public website for National Debt Relief? Because you did give us some really good feedback. JOAN: Yes, but not using my name. Charlotte: Okay, I will make it anonymous for you. I will also send over a link so that you can have it as a record for yourself at jdola20@yahoo.com. JOAN: Yes, but do not put that public. Charlotte: Oh, no, no, no. That doesn't go public. Definitely. How would you say working with National Debt Relief has impact your life. JOAN: Well, really, it would have helped if I could have stayed on the program. Charlotte: We’re recorded.

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