What’s Your Score?

The Score Matters

Credit score is one of the big concerns for home buyers.  The credit score helps to determine the type of loan and how large the loan is.  The score does matter.  Changes on the horizon will help boost many peoples’  credit scores.

Why Millions of Consumers Will See a Credit Score Boost

Millions of consumers should see a bump in their credit scores thanks to changes being implemented by the three major credit-reporting agencies.

Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion will remove certain tax liens and civil judgments from credit reports starting July 1. The move is part of the credit bureaus’ National Consumer Assistance Plan, created to make credit reports more accurate and easier to correct for consumers.

Tax liens and civil judgments that include a name, address, and a birth date or Social Security number will stay on credit reports, but a vast majority of civil judgment data and about half of tax lien data don’t meet this standard, according to the Consumer Data Industry Association. Omitting this data will improve the FICO scores of about 12 million U.S. consumers, according to the company. Of those, 11 million will see an average increase of 20 points, while about 700,000 U.S. consumers will see a bump of about 40 points.

These changes come after regulatory concerns and settlements with more than 30 states over how the three major credit-reporting agencies handle errors on reports.

Know Your Score

You should know your score long before you get ready to start the home buying process.  There are many free sites on the internet that will help determine your score.  Credit Karma, https://www.creditkarma.com/, in usually pretty accurate.  You get easy-to-read credit reports and personalized score insights. Tools & tips to help you understand your score and take next steps are provided. Free credit monitoring that can help you spot potential identity theft is another service Credit Karma provides.