New rules will force more disclosure of your credit score

Written by |
Advertisement

Beginning this summer, financial institutions will be required to disclose your credit score whenever they make an adverse decision such as turning down your loan application or putting you into a higher interest rate loan.

Years ago, there was one credit card issuer that gave each customer their credit score on a monthly basis as an added-value kind of thing. They just gave it away! The issuer was paying for it anyway, so they figured why not share it with you on your monthly statement? Unfortunately, when they were sold to a giant bank, that practice was instantly discontinued!

It’s my belief that giving people this info instead of making it a giant mystery will help people set goals to improve their credit standing. Improving your credit score is really quite easy. There are only 2 truly essential things you have to know:

  • Pay every bill on time every month. This alone accounts for 35% of your credit score.
  • Don’t use too much of your available credit. Aim to use only 30% or less at a time. If you use more than 50% of your available credit, that demolishes your score. Credit utilization accounts for 30% of your credit score.

So together, these 2 tips equate to 65% of your score. (The remaining 35% of stuff is not nearly as significant. Just concentrate on these 2 things I’ve mentioned above.)

And thank goodness the light of day is about to shine on what the banking gods thought we should never know about and should never see!

Advertisement
  • Show Comments Hide Comments