How to get a good credit score is a question that is both easy and difficult to answer. Meaning some aspects of it are constant and straightforward, and others can vary depending upon circumstance. First, lets talk a little about the principles that remain constant. Some are obvious, but its always good to review.

• Paying your bills on time (Late payments are HUGE credit killers)

• Don’t get in over your head (A good rule of thumb is never use more than 45% of your income on Housing and Transportation expenses combined) This actually has little bearing on your actual credit score, but the implications are obvious, people in over their head tend to get in trouble, have late payments etc.

• Get on a Budget (Like the old saying goes, those that fail to plan, plan to fail) Its hard…I KNOW it is, but this is one of the single greatest indicators of financial success. Those that dont have discipline in their spending rarely have a good credit score for long.

• Use credit as a tool. (It is a means to an end. ALWAYS have your outcome in mind when you use credit. Using it without a purpose is a recipe for disaster) Building a credit score by charging items that you HAVE the cash to pay for, or supplementing cash flow for a business are valid reasons to use a credit card. Christmas spending that you didn’t save up for…is NOT.

Dave Ramsey often refers to credit scores as “I Love Debt Scores” and he is right. He is the prototypical “millionaire next door” meaning despite him having an above average income, he lives below his means, saves money, invests it well, follows a budget and DOES NOT USE CREDIT AT ALL. For this reason, he does not have a credit score.

Credit Cards: Your Best Friend…Your Worst Enemy

This scenario plays out at least 3-4 times a week when I meet with people about getting a home loan.

I ask the borrowers if they know anything about their credit. If it is good they tell me how they ALWAYS pay everything on time and always have since 1982 and they have cut up all their credit cards because they don’t believe in them.

I then pull their credit and they are dismayed to find that they do not have amazing credit scores. They might be average, or low, or non existent.

“WHY!?” they ask.

And I tell them; You don’t believe in Credit cards.

There are essentially two factors that come in to obtaining and maintaining good credit. Depth, and Credit usage. These are my own terminology, and are not actual words used by the credit bureaus or the industry at large per se. I simply use them to illustrate ‘how it works in the real world’.

You see paying your house or car on time every month is OUTSTANDING…when a human looks at your credit. It says you are responsible, it says you care about paying your debts.

On the other hand the mathematical equation used to determine your credit score (called an Algorithm, and typically provided by FICO or Fair Issacs Corporation) looks at this factor with little weight in the over all big picture.

On the other hand, a person with the very same credit profile who also has 3 revolving (read credit cards) lines of credit that had perfect payment histories over a 5 year period, who never carried more than a 30% balance (this number is somewhat debated amongst credit experts and varies from 10-45%) would likely have a much higher credit score.

So in laymans terms…a Credit score is an indicator of who borrows money and pays it back the most often. Or who makes the banks a lot of interest. THEY will have high credit scores.

Why? Because Credit Bureaus are in the business of selling information.

They sell YOUR information to lenders.

Lenders want to know who will make them money.

Credit scores indicate who will make them money.

Thus, having and using credit cards will get you a high credit score.

Lesser Known Facts

Here are some pointers that are not quite so commonly known about obtaining and maintaining a great credit score

• Never use more than 30% of your available credit (It’s a good rule of thumb for your spending, but its crucial for your credit score) There are times when you actually need to “go into debt to go into debt” meaning if you know you are coming up on a large purchase such as a house, refinancing or a car it might be worthwhile to put a balance on your credit card(s). This needs to be done well in advance of applying for the new credit because creditors typically only update once a month. So if you charge your groceries on the 20th, and go apply for credit the next day, it won’t show up and your credit score won’t be affected.

• Open and Maintain 3 revolving lines of credit for 5 years (Often opening a new revolving line of credit for a borrower with zero credit cards will provide an immediate boost to their scores) Having said that, over time they will need two more to establish good credit depth in the eyes of the credit bureaus. The longer this history is reported the better credit scores tend to be.

• Become an Authorized User (This was supposedly done away with, but we have proven it still works with certain companies) The idea comes from a law that was passed in the 1970′s to allow parents to help their kids build up a credit history. Essentially you can take and add your child or spouse (or relative, or…well anyone) and add them as an authorized user to an existing credit card account. Once this information reports to the credit bureau they “piggy back” on your account and your good credit history would report on your report AND theirs. In theory this could allow whoever was added to the account to make charges. However if the card holder provides their own address for the new authorized users card to be delivered to, they can destroy the card and make it impossible for the authorized user to make any charges to the account. For those looking to build a credit history this can be a valuable tool.

• Open an Overdraft Protection Line of Credit Often people who “dont believe in credit cards” will simply refuse to give in, even for the sake of getting better credit scores. If you fall into this category, one option is to apply for an overdraft protection line of credit. Yes it is still technically a credit card. However its purpose is very different. It merely protects you in the event that you ever go beyond your checking account balance. However the bureaus see it as a credit card. This is a great strategy for building a credit score without having to give in to the evil forces of capital one.

• Stay Away From Store Credit Whether its a Jewelery store, Home Depot, Best Buy or Sears…just pass. Not only are the rates and fee’s often exorbitant, even in comparison to some major credit cards, but they are not “created equal” in the eyes of the credit bureaus. For the purposes of building credit stick to good old fashioned credit cards.

• DON’T dispute every single thing on your credit report Often so called credit repair companies will dispute everything on a persons credit that isn’t a perfect account. This can do more harm than good at times. The math behind your credit score is complex to say the least. It is heavily weighted towards the newest items, and as things age they become less important to how your score is calculated. One curiosity is that sometimes removing a negative item from your credit can LOWER your score. One example is a satisfied collection account that was revolving. Odd as it may sound, sometimes these get reported as open and revolving accounts. Losing that history will lower your score.

Following these tips will help anyone get the best rates on any type of loan be it a Mortgage or a Car Loan. Credit is increasingly used in Insurance as well to help determine risk. Not to mention by prospective employers for Job candidates.

Tagged as: buying a home, credit advice, Credit score, Utah Home Loans