By: Benedict Smythe
Submitted: 2008-08-07 15:08:46 | Word Count: 568
A good credit score is your key to the best deals during this uncertain financial climate. A decent credit score can win you the best rates for financial loans and can place you on that job that you have been wanting.
You can negotiate for bargains for almost any deal when you have a good credit score. A FICO score of at least 700 is considered a good one. For example, a 760 FICO score may translate to a very competitive 6.11 interest rate on a 30 year fixed three hundred thousand dollar home loan. Compare it to a deal if you have a score of 620, banks will give the same loan for 7.42 .
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A very good credit score will provide you leverage to get what you need and want.
What a Good Score can Bring
When you have a score of 700 up creditors and lender consider you as a low risk borrower. Here are some of the perks that your good FICO can give you:
• Job Offers Companies see a good credit score as a reflection of one’s overall character. A credit report may be pulled by employers as part of their screening process. It is not a favorable picture therefore when an Ivy League graduate goes out of the real world with a messy student debt. According to studies, financial stress affects the productivity of employees.
• Lower Interest Rates this is true for credit cards, home loans, and auto loans. A 30 point raise in your credit score can save you a lot of money on those finance charges
• Insurance Auto and home insurers evaluate an applicant’s credit score to study the risk of issuing a policy at a certain monthly premium. Trending has shown that people with good credit score tend to make lesser claim over the years. This can be attributed to good financial habits leading to more careful driving or paying house bills on time.
• Utility Service Credit scores may affect how utility companies can consider waiving some of those deposits to avail of their service. Even cable and phone companies consider a good credit score as a lower risk for their business.
Using your Credit Score to Your Advantage
You deserve to utilize a good credit score to your benefit. If a card company calls you to offer a balance transfer for a lower interest rate, evaluate the offer first and see what the total picture is. If you know you have a good credit score, negotiate for the best deal that you can get.
Be savvy when dealing with credit card companies or other lenders who may be doing business with a lot of bad credit histories. A business will be more than willing to gain or retain their good client.
If you are shopping for the best rates, do not look for too long or too often. In some way, this will hurt your credit score since multiple companies will be pulling your report even if you’re just looking for one loan.
Safeguards have been devised such that multiple inquiries for home loans and auto loans will just be considered as a single inquiry if done in a fourteen day span.
Maintaining a good credit score can be a tough task. A single decision error can drop you credit score by the tens or hundreds. To avoid that be careful with your dealings and read every fine print in any contract before signing.
