Imagine
a busy lending office and a loan officer has just ordered a credit
report. He hears the whir of the laser printer and he knows the
pages of the credit report are going to start spitting out in just
a second. There is a moment of tension in the air. He watches the
pages stack up in the collection tray, but he waits to pick them
up until all of the pages are finished printing. He waits because
FICO scores are located at the end of the report. Previously, he
would have probably picked them up as they came off. A FICO above
700 will evoke a smile, then a grin, perhaps a shout and a "victory"
style arm pump in the air. A score below 600 will definitely result
in a frown, a furrowed brow, and concern.
FICO
stands for Fair Isaac & Company, and credit scores are reported
by each of the three major credit bureaus: TRW (Experian), Equifax,
and Trans-Union. The score does not come up exactly the same on
each bureau because each bureau places a slightly different emphasis
on different items. Scores range from 365 to 860.
What
do they mean?
Some
of the things that affect your FICO scores:
