Over the past year and a half, the big three credit bureaus of Equifax, TransUnion and Experian have made some subtle yet important changes to the way negative information is reported on credit reports. What does this mean for you? It could mean that your FICO credit score has risen recently—even if your debts and monthly payments haven’t changed. Following a study by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, all three credit bureaus began scrubbing all civil judgments and ta

"I’VE BEEN TRYING VERY HARD TO IMPROVE MY CREDIT SCORE, BUT I SLIPPED AND WAS LATE ON ONE OF MY BILLS. HOW MUCH WILL ONE LATE PAYMENT HURT MY SCORE?" Although a single late payment can lower your credit score—since payment history is 35% of your FICO credit score—how much it affects your score will depend on a lot of different factors. For example, making a payment one day late on a low-limit department store credit card may not be as detrimental to your credit as being 60 da

"I RECENTLY READ THAT FICO CREDIT SCORES MAY NO LONGER BE USED IN THE FUTURE. INSTEAD, LENDERS WILL BE USING ALTERNATE SCORING MODELS. IS THIS TRUE?" Although any movement away from the current FICO credit scoring model isn’t a done deal, there has been some serious discussion—both inside the federal government and in Congress—about alternate scoring models. Not only are federal regulators putting pressure on mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to come up with alternat

The importance of your credit score cannot be understated. Your score will affect your ability to get a loan and, in the end, how good (or poor) your score is can save you money or cost you money. In this issue, we’ll take a look at the five factors your FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation) credit score is based on, how each factor is weighted, and what you can do to improve your score in each area. In the next issue, we’ll answer some of the most frequently-asked questions about cr