Welcome
to Calgary Mortgages.com
Your Credit Score and Credit
File
To
obtain a copy of your credit report, WITH credit score, online, CLICK
HERE.
Whether applying for a loan, renting an apartment,
having your automobile insurance premiums determined, and especially
when applying for a home mortgage, a 3 digit number can impact your
finances by hundreds, and often thousands of dollars PER YEAR.
This
3 digit number is known as your Beacon Score, FICO Score, or Credit
Score - and is found on your credit file (see Credit
File Article) at one, and usually all, of Canada's credit bureaux.
What
factors contribute to a good credit score?
Firstly,
HAVING credit (see Horizon card info below), and having credit for
a length of time - the longer, the better.
Additionally,
being responsible with your credit, that is, NEVER missing or being
late with your payments; each time that a person is late on a payment,
it is recorded on your credit file and remains there for 6 or 7 YEARS.
Beng
responsible with your credit also means not maxing out your credit
cards - balances outstanding on credit cards should NEVER exceed 75
% of the credit limit, and should preferably be less than 50 % of
the credit limit. Keep in mind that payments that are made on credit
cards are not immediately reflected on your credit file. So, even
if a payment is made on July 26, but the credit card statement is
issued on August 5, then the balance isn't reflected on the credit
bureaux until September.
Being
responsible also means NOT applying for credit needlessly, nor excessively.
This is one of the key advantages of using a Calgary Mortgages
mortgage broker. Besides helping obtain the best mortgage possible,
a Calgary Mortgages mortgage broker only accesses your credit
bureau file ONCE, even if your credit file is submitted to multiple
lenders. This is far, far better for your credit score than having
your credit bureau file accessed by multiple lenders individually.
A
person should obtain and review their own credit file at least once
a year to ensure accuracy (see Credit
Bureaux Article) and to check for identity theft (see Identity
Theft Article). As it can commonly take up to 3 months or more
to correct inaccuracies on credit bureau file, it is strongly recommended
that a person review their credit file well in advance of actually
needing to apply for credit.
A
person can obtain a copy of their credit report, WITHOUT the credit
score, at no charge by mail, which usually takes about 4 weeks.
To
obtain a copy of your credit report, WITH credit score, online, CLICK
HERE.
John Smith Mortgage
is Canada's
preferred mortgage broker. |
