When it comes to personal finances, your credit history plays a huge role. If you want to apply for a mortgage, for instance, your FICO credit score is going to be on of the big factors considered by lenders when it comes to approving or rejecting your application.
Fair, Isaacs and Company are the party responsible for bringing us FICO. The score is an attempt to reduce our credit histories down to a single number that tells lenders if we are a good risk. The big news is the FICO calculation has changed.
If you’ve every bought a car or home, you probably think you know everthing you need to about how a FICO score works. You don’t. Why? Because the recent changes to the calculation change the way the game works.
So, how exactly is FICO changing? Is FICO still, well, FICO or is it something else? Well, it is still the dominant credit calculation used by lenders, but the factors involved in coming up with the score have changed.
The weight of transgressions in credit has always been a murky area with FICO scores. Many believed the weight given even to one late payment was far too much. After all, is one late payment really an indicator of a bad credit risk?
The new FICO calculation appears designed to be more flexible. If you have one late payment, it will not kill your score. If you have multiple late payments, your score will take a bigger beating. In short, a mixed bag that is more accurate.
When there is a system in place, there is always a way to trick it. The authorized user function of credit scores was one such trick. It has now been removed from all FICO calculations.
Time is on my side said the old song. Well, it really is in the new FICO. The longer you have credit that is positive, the more it impacts your credit score. If you are a parent, establishing credit for your kids is a wise move. Just hide the credit cards.
From a financial perspective, our life is pretty much defined by our credit score. If you need to borrow money, your score is going to be an issue. Given this fact, it makes sense to know what it is before the ball gets rolling.