Factors to Consider for your Credit Scores
You can read more about how credit scores are broken down here. Below discussed factors to consider when worrying about your credit scores.
The majority of credit scores in Canada are between 399 and 862. Credit scores are based on the information in your credit records. You have to have a higher score to help you increase your chances of getting the loans that you need.
Keep in mind that when lenders evaluate a credit application, credit scores are not the only factor they use in making their decision. They usually ask for additional information (such as income and monthly payments) to determine your ability to repay the loan.
Here are the top factors that make your score higher:
Average age of trades
The age of your accounts on your credit file is a good indicator of your credit experience. The older your account is (5 years or more), the better, because you are considered to have solid credit experience. If you do not have any old accounts, then other factors such as the number of accounts and type of accounts will be more important to consider.
Total high credit for national card trades
Generally, the more diversity in industries and types of accounts, the better. Your credit limits and outstanding balances are grouped by industries to determine your present and potential usage of credit.
Number of sales finance trades
Paying your bills on time is very important. But in addition, the diversity of your experience in the types of credit and lenders you have dealt with in the past is also important. Generally, positive experience with one lender in a given industry or type of credit will indicate good probability of positive future experience with a similar type of credit.
Number of inquiries in previous 12 months
An inquiry occurs when a lender checks your credit rating. Unfortunately, we cannot avoid this credit hit when we are applying for credit. If you have too many credit inquiries, lenders may be concerned you are over-extending yourself. Furthermore, it can also be negative if the lender you applied for credit with is known to charge a higher interest rate because they provide credit to people with lower credit scores. To put you at ease, if you have several different inquiries (because you are shopping around for credit) on your credit report in a very short time frame, these are often considered one “event”, and do not negatively impact your score.
Conclusion
Credit scores and information on credit reports are extremely important when applying for credit cards. So it is important to know your credit scores.
I often hear how people are scared that their credit score will go down. My bigger fear is that my score is not going up. If you understand how credit scores work and focus on increasing your credit scores with all the means available to us, then we won’t have to worry about the score going down because it is too busy going up. Always stay informed and know the facts!