Understanding Credit Score: A Guideline for a Beginner


Life is great when you have achieved a pleasant credit score; an excellent credit score helps people to buy homes, start businesses, and acquire car loans. Get to learn about building credit in this guide;

The importance of having a good score

It is simple to establish a good credit score; however, it’s important factor for the general financial overview. With an excellent score, you will easily get approvals for renting a house; one will acquire favorable rates on owning a home and getting car insurance; it will be affordable to borrow funds whenever one is in need.

A favorable credit score is essential when undergoing an unpredicted financial problems, such as getting fired. When money lenders deem you a trustworthy borrower, there is a high probability that you will get favorable offers. A good credit score enables individuals to access travel perks, luxury benefits, security on major purchases, and best rewards credit cards.

Credit scores margins

Credit scores varies from 300-850. In FICO score credit varies from poor to excellent; very poor begins at 300, fair begin from 580 to 669, good from 670 to 739, very good ends at 779, and excellent begins from 800 to 850. In vantage score credit ranges, very poor ranges from 300-449, poor ranges from 500-600, fair ranges from 601-660, good ranges from 661-780, and excellent ranges from 781-850.


Limitations of a fair or a poor credit score

A fair and bad credit score can greatly affect your general financial freedom, affecting the numerous types of loans and products for approval. The disadvantages are;

  1. Chances of being approved to acquire credit cards and loans are low- a poor credit score will limit the approval possibilities for loans and credit cards, affecting the abilities to realize various objectives. Suppose one wants to get out of bad debts, one will require a good credit score, and if one wants to earn rewards, it will be impossible due to bad credit.
  2. You will get fairly favorable loan terms if approved- if a person is approved for credit, you will get less favorable terms, like annual fees or high-interest rates, compared to individuals with good credit.
  3. Credit card choices are limited- bad credit will limit the range of credit cards you can be accepted for. The remaining choices will be mainly secured cards.

Factors that will influence your credit score

  • Payment history- this is if you settle bills on time.
  • Owed amounts - it involves comparing the amount of loans and credits you are utilizing to the available credit limitation.
  • New credit- it is how many times you have requested to open a new account.
  • Duration of the previous credits- the duration of the time you have unpaid credit.

Ways to impact your credit score with no credit history


To build an excellent credit, one should consistently practice good credit behavior, like settling bills on time. Options that can make individuals improve their credit scores are;
  • Becoming an authorized user- this is a clever option; it is fairly minimal risk and enables one to boost and build their credit rates.
  • Getting credit for prompt payment of monthly phone bills and other utilities.
  • Opening a college student card- application for a college card is a great way to begin developing an excellent credit early as you take notice of special financing offers or offered rewards.

Improving credit score when having bad credit

The options for improving it are;
  • Applying for a secured card.
  • Applying for a card created for users with average or poor credit.

Ways to maintain a good credit score

After improving your credit score, you should maintain it. Maintaining credit scores above 670 will ease life in various ways. The steps for keeping a good credit score are as follows;
  • Pay bills in full and timely- payment records is crucial in achieving a good score. Failing to pay reflects on your credit information, making it hard to attain a score suitable for the credit benefits. Because of this, you must attain your minimum required payment. Further, when you pay on time, your score will improve.
  • Achieve a lower credit usage rate- when balances accumulate with time, your credit score is in a risky situation. One’s credit usage is essential in improving scores behind the payment history.
  • Limiting new credit applications- every time you make a credit application, requests are made on the credit information. This will effectively put limitations your credit score by probably few points, which will be reinstated after few months of your involvement.

Credit score terms

Credit bureau- This agency collects data in regards to clients’ credit information and provide the information to financial bodies and also other like entities like the housing companies.

Credit report: It is a collection of an individual credit information. It includes data on credit information like balances, payment information, and the day of registration of the new account.

Credit limit: It is the highest amount of funds allocated to a certain card. It can also be termed as spending limit.

Credit score- it is a number that stands for one’s creditworthiness. The commonly known type of credit score is the FICO score.
Credit utilization/usage rate- it is also referred to as CUR or utilization ratio. It compares the amount of credit an individual uses to the amount of credit they have available.





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