California Credit Law Blog

What you need to know about credit scores is covered in the Wall Street Journal published 9/9/09. The article points out that there are really many credit scores besides the best known--FICO--and your credit score may not accurately reflect your financial condition. 30% of FICO scores are based on credit utilization, 35% on paying bills on time, 10% on your type of debt, 10% relates to the number of new accounts, and 10% the length of time you have had credit. Positive accounts stay on your credit reports indefinitely and closed accounts stay on 7 years, which is the same as derogatory accounts. Once you achieve a score in the mid-700s, you are likely to get as good an interest rate as someone in the 800s.