What we do know, however, is the type of fraud reported most often in Canada: identity fraud. To pull this off, criminals use phishing scams and other ruses to trick Canadians into revealing personal and financial information. Depending on what they find out, scammers could impersonate you, charge purchases to your credit card, apply for a loan and/or mortgage in your name, drain your bank accounts, and more.
It’s also becoming harder to identify scams. Some fraudsters now use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to create highly convincing audio and video “deepfakes” using Canadians’ voices and faces. AI tools are also helping criminals target exponentially more people at once, making scams harder to avoid.
How to protect your identity
To help you protect yourself against ID theft and fraud, we created a series of how-to articles with practical tips on prevention and what to do if you think your identity may have been stolen.
We’ve also launched a column dedicated to helping you protect specific things and people in your life. Check back monthly for new installments.
Videos about fraud and scams
How fraud and scams affect Canadians
Learn more about the various types of scams targeting Canadians today, and what you can do to protect yourself and recover from ID fraud.
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The credit reporting company said Thursday that the Global Consumer Credit File will make it easier for immigrants to access services like loans and cellphone plans in Canada by providing the additional data.
“It’s really important when newcomers land that they get access to the financial services ecosystem, and without credit history that’s very difficult to do,” said Sue Hutchison, head of Equifax Canada.
“They’re typically looking to, you know, rent an apartment, get a mobile phone, probably a credit card, and all of those things require credit history. So not having it makes it very difficult for newcomers.”
Earning, saving and spending in Canada: A guide for new immigrants
What is Nova Credit? What does it offer?
Equifax isn’t the first to launch such a program in Canada. San Francisco-based Nova Credit, which launched in 2016 to provide global credit score access, expanded into Canada last year in a partnership with Scotiabank.
The company has since expanded with partnerships at RBC, BMO and Rogers Communications Inc., among others.
Nova Credit partners with several credit bureaus, including Equifax, to provide data from more than 20 countries. With Equifax becoming a competitor in the space, Hutchison said conversations are underway around data access going forward.
Foreign credit score sourcing with Equifax
Equifax, which has operations or investment in 24 countries, will have the advantage of being the direct provider of data from its foreign bureaus, said Hutchison.
“It’s going be coming directly from us. So that’s, I think, very attractive to the lenders themselves that they’ll be dealing directly with the credit bureau.”
It’s important to review your credit report and score at least once a year, especially when you’re trying to improve it. You can obtain your credit report and score through Canada’s two credit bureaus, a third-party service or your bank’s website or mobile app, as noted above. Doing so will not affect your score.
Look over the report to see what’s documented and ensure the information is correct. You can remove incorrect information at no charge by filing a dispute directly with the credit bureaus. Errors in your report or instances of identity theft can cause your score to be lower than it should be and addressing these errors could increase it dramatically. Look for things like:
Errors related to personal details such as phone number, reported addresses, birth date and full name
Incorrect accounts due to identity theft
Balances on accounts that have been paid off
Unauthorized purchases due to fraud
It can take time for errors to completely disappear from your credit report, so the sooner you address the issue, the sooner you can start the process of rebuilding your credit.
Even if there are no mistakes, the report provides an overview of your accounts, offering insights into how to enhance your credit and better manage debt.
2. Focus on paying down debt
A history of consistently paying down debts is a good starting point for improving your credit, and it’s something you can immediately take action on. Even if you only have one big bill, it’s important to prioritize paying it down. Paying at least the required miniumum amount, on-time, every time, is crucial for your credit score. And remember that carrying debt is expensive, so you’ll want to try to pay off these debts in full as soon as possible by putting more money towards the outstanding balances.
You can do this by creating a debt repayment plan using either the avalanche or the snowball repayment methods. Avalanche focuses on paying off the debt with the highest interest rate first. By prioritizing high-interest debt, you save money in the long run and can pay off your debts more efficiently. The Snowball method has you pay off the smallest debt first, which can provide quick wins and keep you motivated with each debt that gets knocked out. Each method has its pros and cons, so pick the one that best fits your financial situation.
3. Watch out for credit repair scams
Some companies claim they can fix your credit and solve your debt problems quickly—and you may be tempted to use their services if you have a less-than-perfect credit score. However, you can only rebuild credit—there’s no quick fix.
Credit repair companies may say they will fix your credit by removing negative information from your credit report to boost your credit score—for a costly, up-front fee. These companies often take advantage of the fact that many Canadians don’t know you accurate information cannot be removed from a credit report—even if it’s bad. Be cautious of companies offering credit repair services. It’s likely a scam if a company:
Most parents would take herculean steps to protect their children. But many overlook a relatively simple way to help shore up a child’s financial security: freezing the minor’s credit.
This could be especially important in the wake of a major breach in which the Social Security numbers of myriad Americans might be for sale on the dark web. While locking their credit won’t solve all cybersecurity issues related to stolen Social Security numbers, it’s one extra layer of protection parents can implement.
The credit-locking process involves contacting each of the three major credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — and providing required documentation including the child’s birth certificate, Social Security card, proof of address and parent identification. The bureau then creates a credit report for the child and then locks it, so loans or credit cards can’t be issued using the child’s personal information. The freeze remains in place until the parent, or in some cases, the child, requests that it be lifted, temporarily or permanently.
Parents can take these steps proactively even if there’s nothing to suggest a minor’s credit has been compromised such as unexpected credit card solicitations or bills received in the minor’s name.
It can take some time and effort to lock a child’s credit, but the outlay is minimal compared with what can be a lengthy and emotional credit restoration process. “As an adult, if our credit is stolen, it makes us angry, but we do what needs to be done and we move forward,” said Kim Cole, community engagement manager at Navicore Solutions, nonprofit credit and housing counseling agency. But for children, the emotional impact is much greater, she said. “It can take years to get wind of a problem, and meanwhile the damage can continue to grow.”
Identity theft against children — especially very young ones — often slips under the radar until they are older teens or young adults applying for their first credit card, trying to finance a car or seeking student loans, said Loretta Roney, president and chief executive of InCharge Debt Solutions, a nonprofit provider of credit counseling and other services.
Yet, identity theft for children under age 19 is a growing issue, with this demographic accounting for 3% of all identity theft reports for the first half of 2024, according to Federal Trade Commission data. By comparison, this demographic accounted for 2% of identity fraud reports each year between 2021 and 2023.
Thieves might use a child’s Social Security number, name and address, or date of birth to do things like apply for government benefits, like health care coverage or nutrition assistance, open a bank or credit card account, apply for a loan, sign up for a utility service or rent a place to live, according to the FTC. Locking a child’s credit won’t protect against all of these, but it’s a solid step in the right direction, financial professionals said.
It’s not just strangers committing fraud against children. Cole offers the example of a friend whose uncle had destroyed his credit and started using his niece’s name and Social Security number to open credit cards and max them out. He had the bills sent to his house, and the young woman only discovered the fraud about four years later, when she went to buy a small fixer-upper and realized she had nearly $50,000 of debt in her name and a credit score in the low 500s.
The niece filed a police report, a complaint with the FTC and disputed the items with the credit bureaus, but it took time to resolve. She applied for a secured credit card in the interim, since her score was too low to qualify for a traditional card, and the situation pushed back her home-buying by a few years, ultimately costing her more, Cole said.
Check to see if the child has a credit report
Before locking a child’s credit, it’s good practice to check with each of the three major credit bureaus to see if a report exists. Generally, this will only be the case if someone has fraudulently taken out credit in the minor’s name, or if the child has been named an authorized user on an adult’s credit card.
To check to see if their child has a credit report, parents can mail a letter with their request to each of the credit bureaus. They should be sure to include a copy of the child’s birth certificate, Social Security card or document from the Social Security Administration showing this number and a copy of the parent’s driver’s license or government-issued identification, with current address. Legal guardians may have to give the credit bureaus a copy of documents authenticating their status.
If something amiss pops up on the report, contact the companies where the fraud occurred as well as the three major credit bureaus. Also report the child identity theft to the FTC, including as many details as possible.
If the report comes back clean, the next step is to actually lock the child’s credit.
If needed, freeze a child’s credit
The process for initiating a credit freeze varies slightly depending on the credit bureau and the age of the minor child. Be sure to follow the precise instructions for each credit bureau. For Equifax, in addition to required documentation, parents need to fill out a form online and submit it via postal mail; minors who are 16 or 17 may request their own security freeze by phone or by mail. The websites for Experian and TransUnion provide further details on their respective processes, which includes document requirements and mailing addresses. It can take a few weeks for the bureaus to process these requests.
Keep good records for unlocking later in life
Parents need to keep safe the pin number they are provided when locking their child’s credit so it can be temporarily unlocked as needed, such as when the child turns 18 and wants to apply for a credit card, said Bruce McClary, senior vice president of membership and media relations at the nonprofit National Foundation for Credit Counseling.
The unlocking process isn’t necessarily seamless and can take time. Equifax, for instance, asks for these requests in writing, with required documentation for identity verification purposes. After age 18, Equifax allows for managing the security freeze online.
Educate children early on protection of personal information
Parents should talk to their children about best practices with respect to sharing personal information, McClary said. For instance, they should caution children to be careful about the kinds of information they provide to websites and apps and to keep their Social Security number close to the vest.
Parents may also want to consider credit or identity threat monitoring services or both. Certain providers may offer basic services for free, but family plans that include adults and children and offer a combination of credit and identity theft protection tend to be fee-based. These services — which can run around $24 or more per month — may offer more comprehensive protection, including identity theft insurance and fraud resolution services. Parents should weigh the options carefully to understand the choices and associated costs.
Having a delinquency on your credit report can also make it more challenging to get approved for a credit card as banks see you as a high-risk applicant. Whether you’ve missed a payment or experienced a financial setback that led to your debt going to collections, having a delinquency on your record can significantly impair your credit score and make it very hard to get approved for most credit cards. So, if you do have a delinquency on your report, work to resolve the issue and settle any amounts in collections before applying for new credit.
5. You’ve applied for a lot of credit recently
Applying for several credit cards in a short time can be a red flag. Lenders can view this as a sign of desperation for credit and worry that you’re borrowing more than you can handle, which could affect your ability to make the minimum payments.
In addition, every new credit-card application generates a hard inquiry that will lower your credit score. Hard credit inquiries account for 10% of your credit score so it is important to only apply for new credit products you need, one at a time. If you’re rejected for a credit card, wait between three and six months before reapplying to limit the impact of hard inquiries.
6. You have too much debt
If you already have a lot of debt through loans, mortgages and high credit-card balances, opening a new credit card could be seen as a warning sign to lenders that you are having problems paying down your existing balances. They might flag you at a higher risk of defaulting and reject your application.
When it comes to assessing your creditworthiness, lenders focus not just on the amount of debt you owe, but also look at how much of available credit you’re using. This is known as credit utilization, which makes up 30% of your credit score. Try to keep your utilization under 30% of available credit for maximum positive impact on your score. For example, if you have $10,000 in total credit available to you, try not to carry a balance of more than $3,000 at any given time. This shows lenders you can manage your credit responsibly.
7. There’s an error on your credit file
If you’ve been turned down for a credit card (even if you have an excellent credit score), but have no debt and a clean payment history, it’s worth checking your credit report for errors. Incorrect payment details could be affecting your credit score—and, in turn, your eligibility to get approved for new credit.
You can identify this by reviewing your credit report regularly to see what’s documented and make sure the information is correct. For no charge, you can remove incorrect information by filing a dispute directly with the credit bureau.
8. You don’t meet the age requirements
In Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Prince Edward Island, you must be at least 18 years old to obtain credit. In all other provinces and territories, the minimum age is 19. If you don’t meet these age requirements, your credit card application will automatically be denied, so hold off until you are eligible.
While rent payments do not traditionally affect your credit, a growing number of so-called rent-reporting services are trying to change that.
These services track users’ rent-paying habits and report them to one or more of the big credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — with the aim of helping renters build credit and potentially boost their credit score.
But these services don’t all operate the same way, and some may have less value for renters. There’s one major detail you should consider before signing up, said Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree: Is your payment record going to all three bureaus?
“It’s important for people to understand that you don’t just have one credit score,” he said. “You just don’t know which bureau your lender is going to use to get your information.”
This week, real estate site Zillow Group launched a new rent payment reporting feature. Renters who pay through the site can now opt in to have their on-time rent payments reported to Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus, at no charge to the renter or landlord.
In order for a renter to use the Zillow feature, their landlord must be a user of Zillow Rental Manager and have agreed to receive payments through the firm.
“It aligns with our goal of providing accessibility to building credit in the rental space. It’s a really positive step in that direction,” said Michael Sherman, the vice president of rentals at Zillow Group.
While Zillow is the first real estate marketplace to report rental payment data to a credit bureau, it joins a host of different rent-reporting services already available for consumers.
There are many services renters can look into, including some that are free, such as Piñata, and others that come with service or processing transaction fees, such as Rental Kharma, which charges $8.95 a month after an initial set-up fee of $75.
There are also services geared to landlords that offer rent reporting for tenants, including ClearNow, Esusu and PayYourRent. Landlords usually shoulder the cost of these programs, but there may be processing fees depending on how you make your rent payments.
Nearly 50 million Americans have no usable credit scores, according to a 2022 fact sheet from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s Project REACh, or Roundtable for Economic Access and Change.
Being “credit invisible” can affect your ability to qualify for loans and affect the interest rates and terms you are given when you apply for credit.
When rent payments are included in credit reports, consumers see an average increase of nearly 60 points to their credit score, according to a 2021 TransUnion report.
Other payment reporting programs such as Experian Boost, StellarFi and UltraFICO have aims similar to those of rent-reporting services, but with different kinds of payments. They allow users to build credit based on alternative metrics such as banking activity and payments for streaming services, electric bills and mobile phone plans.
Talk to your landlord before you sign up for a rent-reporting service on your own. They may be open to signing up as a benefit to their tenants.
While “people are creatures of habit and don’t always embrace change,” a credit building feature can help a landlord stand out in a competitive rental market, said Schulz.
“It would be significant added value; building credit is a big deal and if you are somebody who can help people build credit, you may be a little more interesting to them,” he added.
Before you sign up to a rent-reporting service, it’s important to understand which bureau or bureaus the company sends reports to. It may not be worth using a service that sends rent payment reports only to a single bureau.
“If a rent-reporting service only gives your information to one of [the three big bureaus], and the lender that you are getting your auto loan from uses a different credit bureau, the benefits that could and should come with that tool may not end up panning out,” said Schulz.
The ideal is that the rent-reporting company gives the data to Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
“People hear about three credit bureaus, but they don’t understand that your three credit reports are different reports, and different companies report to different bureaus,” said Schulz.
If a low credit score is keeping you from buying a home, you’re not alone. Nearly a quarter of Americans under 35 say that bad credit is preventing them from owning a home, according to CNBC’s Your Money survey conducted by Survey Monkey.
What does it take to buy a home? The minimum score needed can be as low as 500, but will ultimately depend on your lender and what type of mortgage you’re applying for.
“The higher your score the better, of course,” Melinda Opperman, Credit.org‘s chief external affairs officer, tells CNBC Make It.
To qualify for a conventional loan, the most commonly used mortgage loan, you’ll typically need at least a credit score of 620, Experian says. Some lenders may require you to have a score above 660.
Credit scores range from 300 to 850 and measure how well you’re managing your debt. Here are the credit score ranges that qualify as poor, fair, good, very good and exceptional, according to Experian.
Poor: 300 to 579
Fair: 580 to 699
Good: 670 to 739
Very good: 740 to 799
Exceptional: 800 to 850
Lenders use these scores to determine how risky it would be to lend money to you, which is why having a higher score can help you qualify for the best mortgage rates.
“The score is a measure of risk, so the lower your score, the more risk the lender is taking with you,” Opperman says. “The higher your score, the lower the risk, so a lender will charge you less interest the higher your score gets.”
When it comes to mortgages, a higher credit score can save you thousands of dollars in the long run. This is because your credit score directly impacts your mortgage rate, which determines the amount of interest you’ll pay over the life of the loan.
The national average for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is 6.98% as of Sept. 20, according to FICO. Your credit score would need to fall between 760 and 850 to qualify for that rate, per FICO’s website. If it does, your monthly payment on a $300,000 loan would be about $1,992, according to CNBC Make It’s calculations.
On the other hand, the average mortgage rate for credit scores between 620 and 639 is 8.57%. With that higher interest rate, your monthly payment would increase to around $2,322 on the same loan, according to CNBC Make It’s calculations.
That difference can really add up over time.
Over the course of 30 years, someone with a mortgage rate of 8.57% would pay an additional $118,714 in interest, compared with someone with the 6.98% mortgage rate, according to CNBC Make It’s calculations.
CNBC Make It’s mortgage calculator can help you understand how different mortgage rates would impact your potential monthly payments and interest charges.
Don’t panic if your credit score isn’t quite where you want it to be yet.
One option for improving your score before applying for a mortgage is to lower your credit utilization ratio, says Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate.com.
Your credit utilization rate, a measure of how much of your available credit you’re using at a time, plays a big role in how your credit score is calculated. Say you have a $3,000 credit limit and a balance of $600. Your credit utilization rate would be 20%.
Ultimately, you should try to show credit reporting agencies that you can successfully manage various types of credit by consistently keeping your debt low and by paying your bills on time, Rossman tells CNBC Make It.
“Improving your credit score it more of a marathon than a sprint,” he says.
Want to earn more and land your dream job? Join the free CNBC Make It: Your Money virtual event on Oct. 17 at 1 p.m. ET to learn how to level up your interview and negotiating skills, build your ideal career, boost your income and grow your wealth. Register for free today.
The regulations, if enacted, would potentially help tens of millions of people who have medical debt on their credit reports, eliminating information that can depress consumers’ scores and make it harder for many to get a job, rent an apartment, or secure a car loan.
New rules would also represent one of the most significant federal actions to tackle medical debt, a problem that burdens about 100 million people and forces legions to take on extra work, give up their homes, and ration food and other essentials, a KFF Health News-NPR investigation found.
“No one in this country should have to go into debt to get the quality health care they need,” said Vice President Kamala Harris, who announced the new moves along with Rohit Chopra, head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB. The agency will be charged with developing the new rules.
“These measures will improve the credit scores of millions of Americans so that they will better be able to invest in their future,” Harris said.
Enacting new regulations can be a lengthy process. Administration officials said Thursday that the new rules would be developed next year.
Such an aggressive step to restrict credit reporting and debt collection by hospitals and other medical providers will also almost certainly stir industry opposition.
At the same time, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was formed in response to the 2008 financial crisis, is under fire from Republicans, and its future may be jeopardized by a case before the Supreme Court, whose conservative majority has been chipping away at federal regulatory powers.
But the move by the Biden administration drew strong praise from patients’ and consumer groups, many of whom have been pushing for years for the federal government to strengthen protections against medical debt.
“This is an important milestone in our collective efforts and will provide immediate relief to people that have unfairly had their credit impacted simply because they got sick,” said Emily Stewart, executive director of Community Catalyst, a Boston nonprofit that has helped lead national medical debt efforts.
Dana Downey of Pennsylvania speaks at a roundtable on Capitol Hill on Sept. 13, 2023, as health advocates and community members gathered to push the Biden administration to take additional action on medical debt.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Community Catalyst
Credit reporting, a threat designed to induce patients to pay their bills, is the most common collection tactic used by hospitals, a KFF Health News analysis has shown.
“Negative credit reporting is one of the biggest pain points for patients with medical debt,” said Chi Chi Wu, a senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “When we hear from consumers about medical debt, they often talk about the devastating consequences that bad credit from medical debts has had on their financial lives.”
Although a single black mark on a credit score may not have a huge effect for some people, the impact can be devastating for those with large unpaid medical bills. There is growing evidence, for example, that credit scores depressed by medical debt can threaten people’s access to housing and fuel homelessness in many communities.
At the same time, CFPB researchers have found that medical debt — unlike other kinds of debt — does not accurately predict a consumer’s creditworthiness, calling into question how useful it is on a credit report.
The three largest credit agencies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — said they would stop including some medical debt on credit reports as of last year. The excluded debts included paid-off bills and those less than $500.
But the agencies’ voluntary actions left out millions of patients with bigger medical bills on their credit reports. And many consumer and patient advocates called for more action.
The National Consumer Law Center, Community Catalyst, and some 50 other groups in March sent letters to the CFPB and IRS urging stronger federal action to rein in hospital debt collection.
State leaders also have taken steps to expand consumer protections. In June, Colorado enacted a trailblazing bill that prohibits medical debt from being included on residents’ credit reports or factored into their credit scores.
Many groups have urged the federal government to bar tax-exempt hospitals from selling patient debt or denying medical care to people with past-due bills, practices that remain widespread across the U.S., KFF Health News found.
Hospital leaders and representatives of the debt collection industry have warned that such restrictions on the ability of medical providers to get their bills paid may have unintended consequences, such as prompting more hospitals and physicians to require upfront payment before delivering care.
Looser credit requirements could also make it easier for consumers who can’t handle more debt to get loans they might not be able to pay off, others have warned.
“It is unfortunate that the CFPB and the White House are not considering the host of consequences that will result if medical providers are singled out in their billing, compared to other professions or industries,” said Scott Purcell, chief executive of ACA International, the collection industry’s leading trade association.
About this project
“Diagnosis: Debt” is a reporting partnership between KFF Health News and NPR exploring the scale, impact, and causes of medical debt in America.
The series draws on original polling by KFF, court records, federal data on hospital finances, contracts obtained through public records requests, data on international health systems, and a yearlong investigation into the financial assistance and collection policies of more than 500 hospitals across the country.
Additional research was conducted by the Urban Institute, which analyzed credit bureau and other demographic data on poverty, race, and health status for KFF Health News to explore where medical debt is concentrated in the U.S. and what factors are associated with high debt levels.
The JPMorgan Chase Institute analyzed records from a sampling of Chase credit card holders to look at how customers’ balances may be affected by major medical expenses. And the CED Project, a Denver nonprofit, worked with KFF Health News on a survey of its clients to explore links between medical debt and housing instability.
KFF Health News journalists worked with KFF public opinion researchers to design and analyze the “KFF Health Care Debt Survey.” The survey was conducted Feb. 25 through March 20, 2022, online and via telephone, in English and Spanish, among a nationally representative sample of 2,375 U.S. adults, including 1,292 adults with current health care debt and 382 adults who had health care debt in the past five years. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for the full sample and 3 percentage points for those with current debt. For results based on subgroups, the margin of sampling error may be higher.
Reporters from KFF Health News and NPR also conducted hundreds of interviews with patients across the country; spoke with physicians, health industry leaders, consumer advocates, debt lawyers, and researchers; and reviewed scores of studies and surveys about medical debt.
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
Randy had an 850 credit score. According to FICO, the most popular scoring model, that’s as good as it gets.
Still, a line on his credit report said he could lower his utilization rate, so he promptly paid off the remainder of his car loan with one $6,000 payment, and then his score sank 30 points. (Randy has been a target of identity theft and asked to omit his last name for privacy concerns.)
Most people assume that wiping out those auto payments couldn’t hurt, but that’s a mistake.
When it comes to credit scores, there are a few things many borrowers often get wrong, experts say. Here are the top misconceptions and why it’s so hard to set the record straight.
Misconception No. 1: Debt is bad
Your credit score — the three-digit number that determines the interest rate you’ll pay for credit cards, car loans and mortgages — is based on a number of factors but most importantly, it’s a measure of how much you are borrowing and how responsible you are when it comes to making payments.
Having an excellent score doesn’t mean you have zero debt but rather a proven track record of managing a mix of outstanding loans. In fact, consumers with the highest scores owe an average of $150,270, including mortgages, according to a recent LendingTree analysis of 100,000 credit reports.
The borrowers with a credit score of 800 or higher, such as Randy, pay their bills on time, every time, LendingTree found.
To that end, having a four-year auto loan in good standing was working to Randy’s advantage.
“Lenders also want to see that you’ve been responsible for a long time,” said Matt Schulz, LendingTree’s chief credit analyst.
The length of your credit history is another one of the most important factors in a credit score because it gives lenders a better look at your background when it comes to repayments.
Misconception No. 2: All debt is the same
Since Randy had already paid off his mortgage and has no student debt, that auto loan was key to show a diversified mix of accounts.
“Your credit mix should involve more than just having multiple credit cards,” Schulz said. “The ideal credit mix is a blend of installment loans, such as auto loans, student loans and mortgages, with revolving credit, such as bank credit cards.”
“The more different types of loans that you’ve proven you can handle successfully, the better your score will be.”
The total amount of credit and loans you’re using compared to your total credit limit, also known as your utilization rate, is another important aspect of a great credit score.
Only about 1.6% of the 232 million U.S. consumers with a credit score have a perfect 850, according to FICO’s most recent statistics.
Aside from bragging rights, you won’t gain much of an advantage by being in this elite group.
“Typically, lenders do not require individuals to have the highest credit score possible to secure the best loan features,” said Tom Quinn, vice president of FICO Scores. “Instead, they set a high-end cutoff, that is typically in the upper 700’s, where applicants scoring above that cutoff qualify as a good credit score and get the most favorable terms.”
Each lender sets their own credit score thresholds for who they consider the most creditworthy. As long as you fall within these ranges, you are likely to be approved for a loan and qualify for the best rates the issuer has to offer, Schulz added.
“Anything over 800 is gravy,” Schulz said, and “in some cases, the difference between 760 and 800 may not be that significant.”
Most credit card issuers now provide free credit score access to their cardholders, making it easier than ever to check and monitor your score.
TEMECULA, Calif., June 7, 2022 (Newswire.com)
– IDIQ, an industry leader in identity theft protection and credit report monitoring, today announces its acquisition of Credit Swag Ventures, Inc., which does business as Credit & Debt and operates the website https://creditanddebt.org.
The Credit & Debt acquisition allows IDIQ to further extend its financial wellness toolset and financial educational content for members as well as gain a dedicated and seasoned team to focus on third-party opportunities for its members across the financial services landscape. Credit & Debt is a fintech and financial education company that provides guidance for those looking to manage debt, monitor credit, find loans or credit cards and more. They also offer Money Sensei™ – an interactive financial management platform that intelligently analyzes spending habits, helps manage budgets and encourages paying off debts faster – along with educational content and connectivity to best-in-class financial services providers.
“We are excited to announce our second acquisition for 2022. This acquisition, like others, furthers our goal of financial inclusion and provides customers with the tools they need throughout their financial journey,” said Surya Pochareddy, IDIQ executive vice president and head of mergers and acquisitions. “We have an innovative roadmap to further combine the Credit & Debt integrated personal banking data, Money Sensei, and financial partner relationships with our features and customer base.”
Scott Hermann, IDIQ CEO, agreed, saying, “We are thrilled to add Credit & Debt to our suite of member services. This acquisition means Credit & Debt now has additional resources to move forward with an ambitious growth strategy that will benefit consumers looking to positively impact their financial profile.”
With the acquisition, IDIQ also gains the expertise of industry veteran Jeff Mandel, CEO of Credit & Debt. Mandel will continue to lead Credit & Debt and head third-party opportunity efforts as president of IDIQ Monetization. Mandel has more than 30 years in the banking, homeownership services and credit industries and co-founded Credit & Debt in 2019.
“I’m excited Credit & Debt has become a part of IDIQ,” Mandel said. “IDIQ and Credit & Debt have similar missions to empower members to make personal financial decisions that help them reach their financial goals. This acquisition enables us to reach materially more consumers to bring them these essential tools, especially at a time when so many people across the United States need help.”
IDIQ is one of the fastest-growing companies in America, earning two consecutive spots on the prestigious Inc. 5000 List that has also featured Microsoft, Patagonia, Intuit and Under Armour as previous list honorees. In the past year, the company has had significant growth of its active customers on the platform, which has led to record revenue. Additionally, over the last year, the company has hired more than 125 employees to meet increased consumer demand for credit report and identity theft monitoring.
The company also recently announced its acquisition of Resident-Link™, a service for the rental community to allow consumers access to help build and establish their credit through positive rental-payment reporting to major credit bureaus.
About IDIQ: IDIQ® is recognized as one of the fastest-growing industry leaders in identity theft and credit report monitoring. Featuring the IdentityIQ®, MyScoreIQ® and Resident-Link™ brands, the company delivers identity theft protection, credit report information, education and financial inclusion that benefits consumers and businesses. The company features 100% U.S.-based customer service and support. For more information, visit www.IDIQ.com.
