The FICO score is your financial credit score that is very crucial in your financial life. It is the score that lenders rely on to understand your creditworthiness and to determine whether or not to advance you credit. It is financially responsible to periodically monitor your FICO score, but too frequent monitoring is counterproductive. Here are the things that you should know about monitoring your FICO score responsibly.
FICO score is an abbreviation for Fair Isaac Company; FICO is a credit score that measures your creditworthiness
FICO is an acronym for Fair Isaac Corporation, the firm that developed the FICO scoring model from which your three-digit credit score originates from. This score is used by lenders when scrutinizing loan, credit card, mortgage, and many other applications. As a rule, the larger the FICO score, the better the loan conditions for a client will be.
Why it is unwise to keep on checking your credit score
Each time a lender pulls your credit report, this is referred to as a ‘hard pull’. If there are many hard pulls within a short span, it means you are credit starved and a high credit risk to the lender. Instead, they reduce your score a little each time – it is a constant chipping away at your creditworthiness. Of course, if you have too many in a short space of time then you lose valuable points.
When does too much become too much, or when is too frequent too frequent?
It is advised that one should review the FICO score no often than once a year especially if one is not in the process of applying for credit or any significant purchase that requires financing. In case you will be applying for credit shortly, it is advisable not to write checks more than 1-2 times a month. Any more frequently risks unnecessary hard inquiries that could bring your score down.
Five safer ways you can check your FICO
If you want to keep closer tabs on your score, you have options:If you want to keep closer tabs on your score, you have options:
-
Verify a soft inquiry score. Credit Karma is one of the popular platforms that offer free credit scores using what is known as a soft inquiry, which does not affect your credit report or score. This allows you to gain the knowledge without having to endure the repercussions. Just know these are generally VantageScores not FICOs so the numbers may vary.
-
Focus on the report, not the score. Available at AnnualCreditReport. com and free of charge, you can check all the reports from the three major credit bureaus once per year without any impact on your credit score. Dispute any you see.
-
Employ FICO’s basic offering or paid package. Visit MyFICO. com and subscribe for the basic service or paid monthly service by which you may see FICO scores based on the data of your credit reports.
-
Consider credit monitoring services. Some of the services offered by IdentityForce and PrivacyGuard include monitoring tools with the option of FICO score alerts. Begin by comparing services and the prices that are offered in order to find the best fit.
When it’s time for authentic cuisine
The above mentioned options are useful for general monitoring, but if you are planning to take a mortgage or any other major loan, you need to know the actual FICO score that can be seen by the lender. In such cases, purchase access to your complete FICO and all three credit reports only 1-2 times within a sixty day window before applying. This reduces the amount of hard inquiries while at the same time giving you an idea of what lenders will use to determine the fate of your application.
Do not forget that scores vary periodically, so be persistent. If the rest of your report is good, one dip will not ruin your application. And now that you know how to keep tabs without a detrimental effect on your credit health in the long run, it is possible to responsibly monitor your FICO score for the long term. That is why to receive higher scores in the future, it is necessary to maintain such healthy credit habits as paying all the bills on time and keeping credit balances low.
Call now for expert credit repair services: (888) 803-7889
Read More:
How can I check my FICO score without hurting it?
Do banks look at credit score or FICO score?
How can I raise my FICO score fast?
How rare is a 900-credit score?
Do dealerships look at FICO score 8?
