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Having Credit History Counts Even More Than Bad Credit

You can only go as far as your credit will take you. Be careful before you decide to delete/remove all of those derogatories on your credit report.

• Why not remove all the “negatives”? It depends on your current credit report information. If your current credit report situation is that you have only bad, negative remarks showing within the last 2 years on your report - and you have just deleted those derogatories, then you have just removed the only credit history you have. Your recent payment history within the last 2 years will carry much more weight than what happened five years ago.
• No credit history is worse than bad credit history.
• And keep in mind that some of those derogatories, like “late pays” at least are an indicator that you are willing to make your payments.

FICO Credit scores are based on five factors: 35% of the score is based on payment history (yes this includes your derogatories), 30% on the amount owed, 15% on how long you have had credit, 10% percent on new credit being sought, and 10% on the types of credit you have.

With today’s society placing credit history and credit scores at such a high value, it is now very necessary for all of us to become educated about our credit. If we don’t start educating ourselves now about our personal credit, then we are causing a big expense to our personal future.

Today, our personal credit affects almost all aspects of our daily life. Just the everyday simple act of applying for a job, getting phone, cable, or utility services, buying a car, looking for car insurance, trying to get a mortgage loan or rent an apartment. The rates you get are all essentially dependent on your credit score.

Just be careful. If you “fix” the wrong thing on your credit report, you can end up lowering your credit score. Of course some things do need to be corrected, but some things need to just be left alone. So how are we supposed to know? Understanding your credit is complicated. Find a reliable person who has experience in reading and evaluating your credit report (not just any credit repair company), who then can give you a personal credit strategy to follow.

Good luck.

Barbara Partaka
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