How To Check Your Credit Score?
In 2020, our financial lives revolve around our credit scores. Want to buy a car? Better have good credit! Want to lease a house? Good credit is a must. Applying for a new credit card? You’d best hope your credit score is high enough.
Every major financial decision, every major monetary transaction, every purchase is influenced by this fickle, mysterious number. But what exactly is a credit score? And how can you find out what your credit score is? Let’s look at what a credit score is, and how you can check yours!
What exactly is a credit score?
In short, a credit score is a complete history of a person’s financial history. If a person has ever been late on a car payment, it will show up on their credit score. If they’ve ever defaulted on a loan, their credit score will show it. If they have credit card debt, it will affect the magic number. Essentially every time you’ve ever borrowed money in any way, shape or form, how you handle that responsibility will affect your credit score.
How can you check your credit score?
There are a variety of available options when it comes to checking your credit score. There are three credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You can get one free report from each of these bureaus per year, and additional reports if you believe you may have been a victim of credit fraud or have been rejected on the basis of poor credit.
The most important caveat with this method of checking your credit score is that it does not actually provide you with a credit score. There a variety of methods to check this, such as using a proprietary tool provided by your credit card company, but the easiest and most reliable method is to use a service like Credit Karma or Credit Sesame. These services utilize the newer VantageScore 3.0 scoring model, which provides heightened accuracy and precision. Best of all, these services are free!
If you want to learn more about how credit scoring works, and how you can improve your credit score, you can find helpful information on The Official Real Estate Agent Directory®.
Popular Real Estate Questions
Popular Real Estate Glossary Terms
Linkage in real estate means the proximity of a particular piece of land to its originally intended function. In addition, linkage can refer to the time and distance between a ...
Mortgagor's signed statement that the stated remaining balance of a mortgage is correct and it is a property lien. This prevents a mortgagor from later stating the facts were ...
Decision rendered by a court of law. ...
Same as term lateral support: The right of a landowner to have lateral land support from adjacent properties. The right of lateral and subjacent support means that an adjacent land owner ...
The right to allow livestock to graze on a certain range or grazing lands. Grazing rights can be obtained through a lease or by contractual agreement stipulating the period of time and the ...
Income for investors arising from net long-term profits of a real estate mutual fund realized when the portfolio is sold at a gain. Fund managers pass on profits from sales of real estate ...
Insurance protection for the replacement cost of damaged property. Thus, the accumulated depreciation is not subtracted in determining the amount of reimbursement. ...
An arm’s-length transaction is a business deal, or transaction where the seller and buyer act independently of each other without influence on the other party. What sets these types ...
Putting a waterproofing substance on the exterior cement walls of the structure to prevent water from entering the interior of structure. The cracks in the walls are patched up. ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.