Myths About Your Credit Report – Part 1
Many people have beliefs about their credit report that are just not true. There are also things that are included on your credit report that will not hurt you. The following things that won’t affect you may be found on your credit report:
Myth #1 – Income – Your income does not have anything at all to do with your credit report. As long as you keep all of your financial obligations paid, the amount of money you make is not relevant. You could have an 850 credit score and be unemployed or without any money coming in, and this would not affect your credit score.
Myth #2 – Age (I’m too old) – The credit scoring model does not take into consideration your age when calculating your credit score. This is another question that is asked on a loan application, but it will have no affect on whether you are approved for a loan or not. There are laws that affect whether or not you are old enough to be approved for a credit card or to get a loan. But there are no laws stating you are too old to qualify for the loan, as long as you are credit-worthy you will not be declined for being too old.
Myth #3 – Address – “I lived in too many different places.” Just because your address is on the credit report doesn’t mean that it affects your credit. The credit report does keep a list of the addresses that have been associated with your name and social security number, but this does not mean they are used in the calculation of your credit score.
Myth #4 – Race or Nationality – This is also a question that is asked when you are filling out a credit application, however, it is not used in any of the algorithms when calculating your credit report and credit score.
Myth #5 – Your credit score does not fluctuate at all; once you have a credit score it won’t change for 30 days. This is not a true statement. Your credit score is very fluid and changes frequently. But if you don’t request a credit score update or if the place you have monitoring your credit only updates your score once a month, then your score won’t change. The credit models don’t remember from one time to the next if you have a maxed-out credit card today, yet tomorrow it’s paid off…it only knows what is being told at that very moment in time.
Watch for part 2 of Myths About Your Credit Report.
