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I recently got my credit score and one was 800, the second was 796 and the third was 786. Are these good scores and why the difference?
Those are very good scores -- only 11% of the people have credit scores of 800 or higher. Nearly 28% have from 750 to 799, 19% have from 700 to 749 and the remaining 42% of the country have scores of less than 700, according to Fair Isaac, the company that develops the scores most lenders use.
It isn't unusual to have some score variations because each credit bureau calculates your score based solely on the information it keeps on you. One credit bureau may not have as much information about you as another or may not be as up to date -- and they don't share information with each other.
It's a good idea to check your credit reports at each of the three major agencies -- Experian, Equifax and TransUnion -- and make sure they aren't missing anything that could boost your score. You could contact each of the credit bureaus separately to order your credit reports, or you could pay Fair Isaac $38.85 and get a FICO score report that shows all three of your credit reports and the resulting scores, along with tips for improving your score.
Besides making it easier to get credit, keeping a top-notch rating can help save you money, too. Borrowers who can boost their scores from 600 to 630 can lower the average mortgage rate on a $300,000 loan from 8.531% to 7.301%; jumping up to 700 can drop the rate to 5.613%, and getting a score as high as yours -- from 720 to 850 -- can earn an average interest rate of 5.488%. To check your possible savings, plug your numbers into MyFico's loan calculator.
For more information about boosting your score, visit Fair Isaac's consumer Web site, MyFico, which is filled with helpful tips, especially the What's In Your Score and Improving Your Score sections.
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