|
Credit Score is a measurement of your credit behavior and your financial situation. It will not determine approval for loans or credit cards but will definitely influence the financial institution’s decision. You may be concerned about your privacy and would like to know if certain data is included and reflected by your credit score. Learn what your credit score doesn’t account for.
The credit score was invented about 40 years ago by Fair Isaac Corporation. A FICO reference on your credit report alludes to that score. It is considered the standard in the financial services industry and is used by all three of the major credit bureaus. FICO scores consider a wide range of information on your credit report, primarily your credit history, your payment history, the number of credit accounts you have and how much you owe.
Personal and Sensitive Information
However, Personal information is not considered or included in your credit score. You can rest assured that sensitive information is protected by law and that by no means is included within your credit score calculation or your credit report for that matter. Data that is not considered includes many personal information protected by several statutes.
Race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation or marital status is not part of the credit score formula. It is against the law in the United States to consider any of this information in credit scoring. Including information on receipts of public assistance, or the exercise of any consumer right under the Consumer Credit Protection Act is also illegal.
Your age is not considered in a FICO score nor is your salary, occupation, job title, employer, and employment date or employment history. Although lenders consider this information, it is not included in your credit score where you personal life is not an issue. Some of this information may be included however in your credit report but will not be used to calculate your credit score.
Financial Information Left Aside
The interest rate being charged on a particular credit card or account or Child/family support obligations or rental agreements won’t be included in your credit score either. All this information can be requested by a lender when you apply for a loan of a significant amount but won’t be part of your credit score as only basic items are components of the credit score formula.
Requests for your credit report are not considered. The score does not count requests you have made for your credit report to check it for errors. It also does not count requests made by lenders to make you a pre-approved credit offer. Any request by a lender for you to review your account with them, called an administrative inquiry, is not included. Requests coming from employers are not counted either.
Basically, any information not found in your credit report will not be considered in your credit score and only certain information from your credit report will be used as variables of the credit score formula (mainly the ones enunciated at the beginning of this article). Also, a popular fallacy is that participating in credit counseling affects your credit score.
|
