The Fair Isaac Corporation, or FICO, issues your credit score. Your credit score can range from 300 to 850, in some cases the score can go as high as 900. With your credit score, the higher your credit score is the better your credit. For example, a credit score of 850 means you can get a loan to buy anything you want at the best interest rates and a credit score of 300 means you have such bad credit that you are not going to qualify for a loan even at a high interest . Of course, just because you have good credit does not mean that you are always going to qualify for a loan because you also have to think about debt to income ratios, if you have too much debt no matter how good your credit score is you will still get turned down.

One thing that you will need to do on a regular basis, whether it is once a year or once every three months, is to check your credit score. You should also check your credit score a few months before you make any major purchases. The reason for this is that knowing what your credit score is can give you an idea of what kind of a loan you can qualify for, but it can also protect your credit score. How it can protect your credit score is it will prevent lenders from pulling your credit score unnecessarily. Whenever lenders pull your credit report it can damage your credit score, so you should only allow your credit reports to be pulled once you have decided to apply for the credit that you need.

All three of your credit reports from the three major credit bureaus are going to contain a credit score. What you need to watch out for is that you can have a good credit score with one credit bureau and a bad credit score with another. The reason for this is that different lenders report to different credit bureaus, so all three credit bureaus may not be reporting the same information. Your FICO credit score, which is the one that lenders use, is a combination of all three of your individual credit scores. There are only two ways that you can check your FICO credit score. The first way is to have a lender pull your credit reports and give you your FICO score. The other way is to pay a small fee to receive your FICO credit score.

Here is a breakdown of what the different credit scores mean.

• Excellent or Very Good Credit - this involves a credit score of 700 or higher. Some lenders will offer you special interest rates or other discounts if you have a certain credit score. The only drawback is that some loan officers neglect to share this information with the customers.
• Good credit - this involves a credit score from 680 to 699. A credit score is going to allow you to qualify for a normal loan, which means you won't get the lowest interest arte, but you will not get the highest interest rate either.
• Fair credit - this involves a credit score from 620 to 679. With this credit score, you are not going to be denied a loan because of bad credit, but the loans you do qualify for are not going to have the best terms. If your credit score is sitting in this range, you want to do everything that you can to increase your credit score.
• Low credit - this involves a credit score from 580 to 619. This is the point before bad credit. However when getting a loan at this point it is going to be on the lenders terms, which usually means high interest rates. Lenders love people with this type of credit because it means a bigger commission for them and the sad thing is that you will end up taking the "bad" loan because you won't qualify for much else. Do not let your credit score fall into the bad credit category, do everything that you can to increase your credit score.
• Bad credit - this is a credit score from 500 to 580. It is at this point that this is where trouble can start. Most people can still get a loan at this point, but it is not going to be a loan that you are going to like. The best thing that you can do is to take the bad loan because it could be just what you need to improve your credit score. You should also look into seeing what else you can do to improve your credit.
• Really bad credit - your credit score at this point is going to be anything that is 499 or below. This is the point where you will need to seek some help for bad credit. At this point, not much can be done for loans, you might be able to qualify for one, but the terms of that loan are going to be horrible. Rather than accepting these horrible conditions what you should do is work on repairing your bad credit and then coming back to apply for a loan.

In addition to knowing about the different ranges of credit scores, you are also going to need to learn about the factors that go into determining your credit score. There are only five factors that are involved in determining your credit score; these five factors are what separate people with excellent credit from people with bad credit. Here is a closer look at the five factors that determine your credit score:

• Past delinquency - if you have late payments on your credit report they are going to negatively affect your credit score. The reason for this is that if you made late payments in the past there is a higher chance that you will make late payments in the future, thus making you a greater credit risk.
• How you have used credit - if you are the type of person to max out your credit cards or even just keep them close to the limit you are going to be viewed as a greater credit risk because lenders will view you as somebody who simply spends money. You want to show that you can use credit wisely by staying well below your credit limit. This can affect your score even if you pay your balance off in full each month because the credit score can be determined on any given day and if you have a high balance, it will count against you.
• Age of credit file - the longer you have had credit for the less risky you are considered. In credit scores age is a factor because the older you are the longer you have had to obtain credit.
• How often you ask for credit - this is also based on how long of a period you have asked for credit in. The shorter the period the worse it looks. If you ask for car loans, credit cards, or any other type of credit a lot over a short period, it is counted against you in your credit score, even if you are approved for those loans. Think twice before applying for those store credit cards just to help you save 10%.

•     Mix of credit - if you only have a secured credit card you are going to be considered a higher risk than somebody who has installment loans and revolving loans. Installment loans are where you get a lump sum of money and make regular payments until the balance is gone. A revolving loan is where you make regular payments and free up money for you to access with each payment. An example of an installment loan is a car loan and an example of a revolving loan would be a credit card.

You want to know what your credit score is because it can help you to improve your creditworthiness. However, knowing your credit score is also going to help you negotiate the best possible terms when working with a lender. The reason for this is that if you know that you have excellent credit you should be qualifying for the best rates out there, but what usually happens is you do not find out what your credit score is until after you have started the qualifying process.

While you can request a free credit report from all three credit bureaus once a year, this does not include your FICO credit score. To get that you will have to pay a fee, what this fee will be can vary so be sure to shop around first to get the best deal. On the other hand, if you are going to be making a major purchase, such as a house, you can talk to your mortgage broker about pulling your credit report for