1. Understanding Credit Reports

2. The first question one should ask is… What is a credit report?

3. A credit report is a record of a person’s or company's past borrowing and repaying history.

4. Why should you care? Because credit report is what determines whether or not you should be allowed to get credit cards, loans, and how much interest you should be charged.

5. Two questions you should ask are… Where do you get the credit report from? How does it work?

6. There are three main sources that provide credit reports.

7. High credit score means that you are trustworthy enough to get a loan or credit card. It also means that you will get lower interest rates. Low credit score means that you are not trustworthy to get a loan or credit card. It also means that you will get higher interest rates.

8. The next question you should ask is… What information is given in the credit report?

9. Your name or names Birthdate SSN Current and former addresses Current employer Fraud Alerts Bankruptcies Litigations Open and closed accounts # of credit inquiries Credit score

10. Credit Score Range Excellent Credit Score: 800 and Higher Very Good Credit Score: 700 – 799 Good Credit Score: 680 – 699 OK or Fair Credit Score: 620 -679 Poor Credit Score: 580 – 619 Bad Credit Score: 500 – 579 Very Bad Credit Score: 499 and Lower

11. Take care of your credit score and it will take care of you…

12. Neglect it and it will hurt you financially…