Bigg success is life on your own terms. Our focus today is on money, one of the five elements of bigg success.
Specifically, we want to talk about an asset that is particularly valuable now. Yet it doesn’t show up on your Balance Sheet. It’s your credit score.
___
Hear George & Mary-Lynn discuss today's topic on The Bigg Success Show! Click the purple player: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Hear George & Mary-Lynn discuss today's topic on The Bigg Success Show! Click the purple player: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download___
Target credit
This was highlighted in a recent post over at Mashable about Google ads targeting people with high credit scores. People with good credit are positioned to take advantage of these times. Not just with consumer goods, but also with investment opportunities. There are some great deals out there on real estate and businesses.
In addition, people with good credit will get better rates on the money they borrow. So if you have a good credit score, protect it like any other asset.
FICO
FICO was developed by the Fair Isaac Corporation. They have a great piece that explains how your FICO score is determined [PDF]. We’ll summarize it here, but we highly recommend you read their article if you want to know all the details.
Your FICO score can range from 300 to 850. Obviously, higher scores are better. Anything over 720 is considered SuperPrime according to the Mashable post. These are the people Google is targeting in their new ad program.
We’ll look at the five components of your FICO score (along with the weight given to each one for the general population).
Your payment history (35%)
Pay your bills on time. It’s probably no surprise that this is the single biggest factor in determining your score. If you’re not current, work hard to get current and stay there.
The amounts you owe (30%)
We found it interesting that, even if you pay your credit card balance in full every month, you may still show a balance on your credit report. It shows the balance posted on your most recent statement.
One myth they debunk is that you should close accounts so you don’t have too many credit cards. If you’re in good standing with no balance on an account, it doesn’t affect your FICO score.
However, you are better off having fewer cards with a balance. It’s also better to have a small amount outstanding compared to your available credit line.
Be careful not to have too much credit available. It can actually hurt your FICO score. So don’t get, or keep, credit cards you know you’ll never use.
Length of credit history (15%)
Here they look at the age of your accounts in general as well as how long it’s been since you used your account. One tidbit we found interesting:
If you just established credit for the first time, you’ll hurt your FICO score if you open too many accounts too quickly.
New credit (10%)
Here they look at what’s going on now. What credit have you applied for recently? How are you doing on those payments?
This is good news for people coming out of a period of late payments. Just remember, though, it gets a relatively small weighting.
The types of credit you use (10%)
You want a mix of both revolving credit lines and installment debt. For example, a credit card along with a car loan would include both types of credit.
Your credit rating is an important asset. It affects your credit capacity. Your credit capacity may help you fund your next bigg opportunity!
___
| Get the tips and tools you need to be a BIGG success. Subscribe to the Bigg Success Weekly – it’s FREE! |
|---|
___
Thanks for sharing some of your time with us today. Please join us next time when we talk about a higher level of problem-solving. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!
Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes.
Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.
Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00431-070709.mp3
Related posts
Squirrels, Nuts and Business Cycles
(Image by Andres Rueda,CC 2.0)
There is a group that is suffering more than most during these tough economic times. Unfortunately, their agony is not covered much in the major media. They are all around us. Yet we seldom see the turmoil that they are experiencing. They have chosen to largely endure it on their own, not talking about it to anyone.
One of my sisters can shop all day long and never buy anything. She just seems to love being in a shopping arena … she’s a gladiator among shoppers!
Boy, I’m not one of those people. I like to get in and out. I have an aunt who likes to do all-day shopping ventures. It gives me a headache and makes me dizzy.
