What Qualifies As A Good Credit Score,

My partner and I have always been competitive. When we met and started dating in university we compared grades and drinking skills. Now that live together we spar over things more mundane, like who's the better chef, gardener and cellphone-contract negotiator. So when we recently ordered credit reports to aid in our apartment hunt, I was dismayed to learn that Don's credit score was higher than mine.

He, of course, was thrilled to one-up me in a financial matter. Don has had more debt than I have, including a line of credit, a couple of credit cards and a hefty student loan, all of which he has since paid off. In contrast, I've had a couple of credit cards and a smaller student loan, which I have also paid off. Ever the perfectionist, I wondered, what did I do wrong,

18, we verified some personal information and received instant electronic credit reports and scores online. 23.95. (A warning: Be careful not to sign up accidentally for an ongoing report, for which you will be charged monthly. If you don't need to know your score, you can order a free report. To find out how Don could have possibly beat me, I called Nadim Abdo, vice-president of client solutions at Equifax Canada.

I explained that even though our scores were both marked "excellent," Don's was higher than mine. Don's is 846, I told him. And mine, well, it's only 783. I waited. Equifax has a database of about 24 million Canadians. The company tracks how this population pays back all kinds of debt, including credit cards, lines of credit, bank loans and car loans. The banks only started reporting mortgage information to Equifax a couple of years ago - soon that will be included too. A score represents a moment in time and can change based on your behaviour.

Missed or late payments or lots of "maxed out" credit accounts will lower your score. The best way to increase your score is to pay back debts on time and consistently. Which means, of course, you need to first have some debt to repay. Scores typically range from 400 to 900, and good scores are typically 600 and higher; anything over 750 is considered excellent. Mr. Abdo told me.

For an institution like a bank or credit union looking at your credit, anything over 700 is "a no-brainer." Because the makeup of your credit files is a bit different, your scores will also be a bit different, he said. Mr. Abdo also told me that credit scores are only one of several tools that credit agencies use to determine your credit-worthiness. I asked if Don's score could be higher because he's had more debt to pay back, but Mr. Abdo said in our case that shouldn't make a difference.

With that, I thanked Mr. Abdo for his time, feeling relieved that I hadn't really "lost" this one to Don. Of course he still gloats, but our scores helped us impress a landlord who approved our application for the beautiful apartment we'll move into next month, so I'll put up with it for now.

Did you know that you have more than one credit score, Did you know that your income doesn’t affect your credit score at all, If this is news to you, read on as we expose seven common myths about credit scores. In Canada there are two credit reporting agencies, Equifax and TransUnion.

These agencies create credit reports and credit scores for Canadian consumers based on the information that creditors supply to them. Unfortunately, not every creditor reports their information to each of these agencies. A creditor may report to one agency and not the other. Creditors may also only update the credit agencies with your current information once a month—or less often in some cases. Consequently, Equifax and TransUnion may not have exactly the same credit information about you, nor do they use the exact same software to calculate credit scores.

This will mean that each of these agencies will generate a different credit score for you based on the information that they have on record for you and how their software evaluates the information they do have for you. You can get a free credit report each year from both Equifax and TransUnion, but you have to pay to find out your credit score. If you don’t want to pay, but you would like a rough idea of what your credit score is, you can get a general idea with this credit score estimator tool.

A number of organizations are now offering credit scores for free. These include Credit Karma (in exchange, they share your financial information with advertisers) and RBC (the Royal Bank) who is providing their clients with free credit scores. Whenever you apply for credit or open a new bank account, the banker will ask for permission to check your credit.



At this time you can ask them what your credit score is. You can also ask them to tell you the strengths and weaknesses they see on your credit report if you want to improve your credit score. To get your free credit report right now, click here to find out how. Your occupation and your income are not part of the credit scoring formula. Even if you are rich and famous, it doesn’t matter.