It is very important to get your credit report and analysis. Why is this important? For one thing, if you’re thinking about buying a house or applying for credit for any other big purchase, you’ll need a clean credit report, and it’s always best to get your credit report and analysis before your lender does. This will give you an opportunity to clean up any discrepancies or errors, which are fairly common,

…

In the face of a worsening economy, would-be borrowers are having an increasingly difficult time getting approved for home and car loans. Although you can’t control how the banks set their lending criteria, you can control how your credit score shapes up – and the first step towards improving your score, is learning how it’s calculated.

Your credit score, referred to as a FICO score, is an indication of your creditworthiness; it’s a simple three-digit number that will determine the amount you can borrow and the interest you’ll pay.

FICO scores range from 300 to 850,

…

Credit scoring is a process that lenders – such as banks or building societies – use to work out the risk that potential borrowers will not repay what they owe.

They obtain information from two main sources: your application form and your credit report, which contains the history of your credit accounts and repayment record, plus other related data. Any previous or existing relationship with the lender may also be taken into account.

They then allocate each item a value, using a unique formula based on past and industry experience

…