1. Who Determines your Score? Three Credit Bureaus:

2. Your Credit Score Decides:
How to Improve Your Credit Score
Your Credit Score Decides:
Whether you’ll be approved for credit for mortgages, car loans, and credit cards
What interest rate you’ll get on those loans
The cost of homeowners and car insurance

3. What makes up a Credit Report?
Includes:
Financial activities/ Balances on all accounts
Credit card accounts
Loans
Payment history
Legal action against you. E.g. Bankruptcy (not being able to pay off a debt).

4. What makes up my Credit Score?

5. Types of Credit in Use
Considers the number of credit accounts and the mix of credit types: credit cards, installment loans (such as cell phone payment plans), mortgages

6. Payment History
Record of past payments on mortgages, credit cards, car loans, other installment loans such as furniture or cell phones
information from public records, such as bankruptcies and lawsuits
Details of any missed or late payments, such as the amount, how long ago it occurred, and how late it was.

7. Amounts Owed total $$$ owed for all accounts
the mix of types of $$$ owed (credit cards & car loans not the same)
total # of accounts with balances
% of total available credit being used (the closer you are to maxing out your available credit, the more negative the impact on your score)

8. Length of Credit History
More years of credit = higher credit score

9. New Credit
When banks inquire for your credit score this can have a negative effect on score in short-run
Try to limit applications for new credit