KNAHOMES :: MORTGAGE :: BUY, SELL & RENT PROPERTIES IN CHICAGO

How long will a foreclosure affect my FICO score?
A foreclosure remains on your credit report for 7 years, but its impact to your FICO® score will lessen over time. While a foreclosure is considered a very negative event by your FICO score, it's a common misconception that it will ruin your score for a very long time. In fact, if you keep all of your other credit obligations in good standing, your FICO score can begin to rebound in as little as 2 years. The important thing to keep in mind is that a foreclosure is a single negative item, and if you keep this item isolated, it will be much less damaging to your FICO score than if you had a foreclosure in addition to defaulting on other credit obligations

How do FICO scores consider student loan shopping?
The growth of the student loan industry has increased public interest in how lenders assess the credit risk of young college-bound adults. Both large and small lenders often use FICO® credit scores to help them underwrite student loans. How the FICO credit scoring formulas treat credit inquiries depends on the way in which those inquiries are reported by lenders to each of the three credit bureaus. If the inquiries are reported by the lender in a manner that indicates rate shopping for a single loan (such as a mortgage, auto, or student loan), the FICO scoring formula reflects that in its calculation of your score (for a more comprehensive discussion of rate-shopping and inquiries, click here). In general, student loan shopping inquiries made during a focused time period (for example 30 days) will have little to no impact on your score. In the rare instance in which a credit inquiry related to a student loan is not coded so that it receives our special rate-shopping inquiry logic, that inquiry typically would decrease one’s FICO score by only a few points.
What's the best advice for people shopping for student loans so they protect their FICO scores? Doing a little homework first is always a good idea no matter what type of credit you're seeking. As you're shopping for the best student loan rate, the lenders you approach may request your credit report or credit score. You can generally avoid having those inquiries affect your score if you finish your rate shopping in a reasonable amount of time. That's easier if you first do your homework ahead of time and decide which companies to get quotes from. Then try to finish your rate shopping and finalize your loan within 30 days. Not only will loan rates be easier to compare when the quotes come only a few days apart, but you also will protect your FICO score.

What are the different categories of late payments and how does your FICO score consider late payments?
Your FICO® score considers late payment using these general criteria; how recent the late payments are, how severe the late payments are, and how frequently the late payments occur. So this means that a recent late payment, could be more damaging to your FICO score than a number of late payments that happened a long time ago.
You may have noticed on your credit report that late payments are listed by how late the payments are. Typically, creditors report late payments in one of these categories: 30-days late, 60-days late, 90-days late, 120-days late, 150-days late, or charge off (written off as a loss because of severe delinquency). Of course a 90-day late is worse than a 30-day late, but the important thing to understand is that you can recover from a late payment prior to charge-off by getting and staying current with your payments. If however, you continue not to pay your dept and your creditor either charges it off or sends it to a collection agency, it is considered a significant event with regard to your score and will likely have a severe negative impact.
It's important to always stay on top of all of your bills; your history of payments is the largest factor in your FICO score. There may be circumstances which cause you to be unable to keep current with your bills – maybe an unexpected medical emergency or losing your job. Before being late for any payment, we recommend that you reach out to your creditor; the creditor may be willing to work something out with you that you both can live with. If your creditors won't work with you, try to avoid having your account going so delinquent that the creditor sells your account to a collection agency or it becomes a judgment. Again, late payments hurt, but you can get current with them by paying them off – you can never again get that account current once it becomes a judgment or is turned over to a collection agency.

How long will negative information remain on my credit report?
It depends on the type of negative information. Here's the basic breakdown of how long different types of negative information will remain on your credit report:
• Late payments: 7 years
• Bankruptcies: 7 years for completed Chapter 13 bankruptcies and 10 years for Chapter 7 bankruptcies.
• Foreclosures: 7 years
• Collections: Generally, about 7 years, depending on the age of the debt being collected.
• Public Record: Generally 7 years, although unpaid tax liens can remain indefinitely.
Keep in mind: For all of these negative items, the older they are the less impact they are going to have on your FICO® score. For example, a collection that is 5 years old will hurt much less than a collection that is 5 months old.

How will my FICO score consider a bankruptcy?
A bankruptcy will always be considered a very negative event by your FICO® score. How much of an impact it will have on your score will depend on your entire credit profile. For example, someone that had spotless credit and a very high FICO score could expect a huge drop in their score. On the other hand, someone with many negative items already listed on their credit report might only see a modest drop in their score. Another thing to note is that the more accounts included in the bankruptcy filing, the more of an impact on your score.

A credit reporting agency that is a clearinghouse for information on the credit rating of individuals or firms. Is often called a “credit repository” or a “consumer reporting agency”. The three largest credit bureaus in the U.S. are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

Contacts and resources

Equifax: equifax.com PO Box 105069, Atlanta, GA 30349 (800) 525-6285
Experian: experian.com
TransUnion: transunion.com PO Box 6790 ,Fullerton, CA 92634 (800) 680-7289

Helpful Links
The National "Do Not Call" Registry; Federal Trade Commission; FTC Consumer Complaint Form; Equal Credit Opportunity Act; U.S Government Identity Theft Web Site; Identity Theft Complaint Form; FirstGov for Consumers

Glossary of credit terms

Application scoring- The use of a statistical model to objectively evaluate and “score” credit applications and credit bureau data in order to assess likely future performance. Scores help businesses make decisions such as whether to accept or decline the application.

Bankruptcy-
A proceeding in U.S. Bankruptcy Court that may legally release a person from repaying debts owed. Credit reports normally include bankruptcies for up to 10 years.

Charge-off- The balance on a credit obligation that a lender no longer expects to be repaid and writes off as a bad debt.

Collection-
Attempted recovery of a past-due credit obligation by a collection department or agency.

Consumer credit file-
A credit bureau record on a given individual. It may include: consumer name, address, Social Security number, credit history, inquiries, collection records, and public records such as bankruptcy filings and tax liens.
Credit bureau

Credit bureau risk score -
A type of credit score based solely on data stored at the major credit bureaus. It offers a snapshot of a consumer's credit risk at a particular point in time, and rates the likelihood that the consumer will repay debts as agreed.

Credit history -
A record of how a consumer has repaid credit obligations in the past.

Credit obligation-
An agreement by which a person is legally bound to pay back borrowed money or used credit.

Credit report-
Information communicated by a credit reporting agency that bears on a consumer's credit standing. Most credit reports include: consumer name, address, credit history, inquiries, collection records, and any public records such as bankruptcy filings and tax liens.

Credit risk -
The likelihood that an individual will pay his or her credit obligations as agreed. Borrowers who are more likely to pay as agreed pose less risk to creditors and lenders.

Credit score-
This term is often used to refer to credit bureau risk scores. It broadly refers to a number generated by a statistical model which is used to objectively evaluate information that pertains to making a credit decision.

Default -
A failure to make a loan or debt payment when due. Usually an account is considered to be “in default” after being delinquent for several consecutive 30-day billing cycles.

Delinquent -
A failure to deliver even the minimum payment on a loan or debt payment on or before the time agreed. Accounts are often referred to as 30, 60, 90 or 120 days delinquent because most lenders have monthly payment cycles.

Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA)- Federal legislation that prohibits discrimination in credit. The ECOA originally was enacted in 1974 as Title VII of the Consumer Credit Protection Act.

Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) - Federal legislation that promotes the accuracy, confidentiality and proper use of information in the files of every “consumer reporting agency”. The FCRA was enacted in 1970.

FICO® scores-
Credit bureau risk scores produced from models developed by Fair Isaac Corporation are commonly known as FICO scores. Fair Isaac credit bureau scores are used by lenders and others to assess the credit risk of prospective borrowers or existing customers, in order to help make credit and marketing decisions. These scores are derived solely from the information available on credit bureau reports.

Inquiry -
An item on a consumer's credit report that shows that someone with a “permissible purpose” (under FCRA rules) has previously requested a copy of the consumer's report. Fair Isaac credit bureau risk scores take into account only inquiries resulting from a consumer's application for credit.

Installment debt -
Debt to be paid at regular times over a specified period. Examples of installment debt include most mortgage and auto loans.

Insurance bureau score-
An insurance rating based solely on credit bureau data stored at the major credit bureaus. It offers a snapshot of an individual's insurance risk at a particular point in time, and helps insurers evaluate new and renewal auto and homeowner insurance policies.

Late payment-
A delinquent payment; a failure to deliver a loan or debt payment on or before the time agreed.

Real Estate CSO-
Founded in March 2010- Offers Credit Solutions to Real Estate Buyers.

Revolving debt -
Debt owed on an account that the borrower can repeatedly use and pay back without having to reapply every time credit is used. Credit cards are the most common type of revolving account.

Score -
See “credit score”.

Scoring model -
A statistical formula that is used, usually with the help of computers, to estimate future performance of prospective borrowers and existing customers. A scoring model calculates scores based on data such as information on a consumer's credit report.