Saturday, March 29, 2008

Do Credit Inquires hurt your Credit Score?

Do Credit Inquires hurt your Credit Score?
A credit inquiry is an item on your credit report that
shows with permission a creditor requested your free credit
score report.

Not all credit inquiries affect your credit score:
You may notice when you pull your credit report there are
inquiries on there from a business you are not familiar
with. The only inquiry that affects your credit score is
the one where you are applying for credit. This is
considered a hard pull on your report.

Inquiries that affect your credit score:
There is only one type of inquiry that affects your credit
score. This type of inquiry is applications for a mortgage,
auto loan and other credit, by you authorizing these
creditors to access your credit report. This type of
inquiry prompted by your own actions ends up on your
personal credit report and affects your score.

An inquiry that does not affect your credit score: Checking
your own personal credit report or any business that offers
goods and services that requests your report. A business
that you already have a account with that requests a check.
A potential employer that does credit checks. Some of these
types of inquiries might show up on your report but do not
affect your credit score.

Checking your credit report does not affect your credit
score:
Checking your credit report on a regular basis to ensure it
is accurate and error free is recommended by Fair Isaac the
inventor of the FICO Score. Maintaining a error free credit
report is part of credit management which will improve your
credit rating over time. Ordering your credit report at
CreditScoreQuick.com does not hurt your credit score.

How credit inquiries are factored in your Credit Score:
There are five types of information used to calculate your
credit score. Each category accounts towards a percentage
of your score.

Payment History - 35%
Amounts Owed - 30%
Length of Credit History - 15%
Types of Credit in use - 10%
New Credit - 10%

Don't let inquires scare you. There is nothing wrong with
shopping for a better rate, or better terms on a loan. As
you can see in the about chart, payment history is the
biggest factor in calculation process of your credit score.
The second biggest factor is how much of your approved
credit limits are charged up. But of course you don't want
to go out and start applying for every credit offer out
there either. Be responsible and have a good mix of credit,
but stay away from too much credit as well You really on
need 3 lines of credit reporting on your credit report.

Example:
1. credit card
2. car note
3. installment loan

This type of credit mix accounts for 10% of your score.


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About the Author: Mike Clover is the owner of
http://www.creditscorequick.com/ . CreditScoreQuick.com is
the one of the most unique on-line resources for free
credit score report, fico score, Internet identity theft
software, secure credit cards, and a BlOG with a wealth of
personal credit information. The information within this
website is written by professionals that know about credit,
and what determines ones credit worthiness.

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