Credit Scoring : What Goes into a Credit Score
Your credit record contains:
- Identifying information (your name, address, and social security number)
- Details concerning your current employment (your position, length of employment, and income)
- Specifics about your personal history (birth date, dependents, previous addresses and employment)
- Information about your credit history (how promptly you have paid your debts, how much and how often you've borrowed)
- All the consumer credit that has been extended to you over the past 7 years, including the names of the creditors, dates the accounts were opened, payment patterns over time, and names of joint owners or cosigners
- The highest and lowest balances from each of your creditors
- The number of payments made on time to each creditor
- The number of late payments and how late they were
- Names of companies or individuals who have requested a copy of your report within the last 2 years
- Information from public records (bankruptcy, overdue child support, civil suits, and tax liens)
If you want to see approximations of how much weight certain factors are given in comparison to others, read this.
And from TransUnion's website, these are the kinds of "trades" (types of credit listed on your credit report) that go into a perfect credit score.
1. A few (say, 3 or 4) revolving credit cards, each with very high lines of credit ($10,000+), and very low carried balances on only 1 (or maybe 2) of them at a time.
2. At least one charge card (American Express, Diners Club, etc.).
3. All tradelines at least 6 months old, and at least 1 more than 3 years old.
4. No derogatory notations.
5. Very few inquiries -- no more than 1-3 in a six month period.
6. At least one "installment" tradeline in good standing, i.e., a mortgage, auto loan, or student loan.
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