Credit Score Breakdown

Credit Score Breakdown

I went to a credit repair company sales pitch today. One of the things I learned was the breakdown of how your FICO score is calculated.

The breakdown of your credit score (FICO score):

1. Payment History: 35%
   
2. Amount Owed: 30%
   
3. Length of History: 15%
   
4. Inquiries/New Debt: 10%
   
5. Types of Credit: 10%
   

Buying Your Credit Scores

You can get your credit report for free at annualcreditreport.com. But it doesn't include your FICO score. There are a lot of places on the Internet where you can buy your credit report with a score, but they generally aren't FICO scores, they are just estimates. Only FICO (Fair Issacs Company) provides the real scores that almost all lenders use.

But you can buy your actual FICO score at myfico.com, which is owned by Fair Issacs. It costs about $48. With a little searching I found some discount codes which got the price down to $38. The code I used was CPPSAVINGS (8/14/08). If that doesn't work, search around the net, or check out this forum which looks like it stays up to date.

You can also have a mortgage broker pull the credit for you, but that will cause a "hard hit" which decreases your scores. (A "soft hit" is when you pull your own credit, like with myfico, or when someone pulls your credit without you authorizing them, such as credit card companies who want to send you pre-approved offers.)