Repair Your Credit Profile

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Knowing your credit score:

Yet that number - probably somewhere between 300 and 850 - plays a large role in determining your financial future.

“The credit score is a three-digit summary of your credit history,” says Greg McBride, senior financial analyst for Bankrate.com.

“It’s relevant to our everyday lives, not just when we borrow, but it can also be evaluated by prospective landlords, employers and even your auto insurance company.”

Fair Isaac Corp. developed FICO, the scoring system most widely used by lenders to evaluate potential customers.

Scores are calculated using a formula that takes into account how long you’ve been using credit, how many accounts you have, how much you owe relative to your income, and - most important - how promptly you pay your bills.

Women tend to rank higher, according to Experian, one of the three main credit bureaus that track the information behind the score.

The company says women have an average rating of 682 vs. 675 for men.

Women tend to have more credit accounts - a negative as far as the ratings - but men tend to have higher overall debt loads, Experian says.

Amy Ghannam, vice president and district sales executive at National City Bank in Lansing, says consumers she talks to tend to be more savvy about the importance of credit scores.

Yet they are often surprised to see what’s influencing those scores, she says.

Federal regulations preclude banks from sharing customers’ credit reports with them.

“It is confusing sometimes, because they’re sitting there, and we can’t show it to them,” Ghannam says.

Bank officers can tell consumers about something on a credit report that’s influencing a loan decision, but the customer is the one who has to take care of the problem.

“The biggest factor is paying your bills on time,” Bankrate’s McBride says.

“How you pay your bills and how much debt you have are the two primary drivers of your credit score.”

Your credit is your business Lansing State Journal, MI - 18 hours ago … “The credit score is a three-digit summary of your credit history,” says Greg McBride, senior financial analyst for Bankrate.com. …

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