With it already being almost May and the transition into 2014 having finally ceased, you might be considering a move. Since real estate prices are up over 13% from last year in metro Atlanta, some of you may finally feel like you can sell for a price that makes sense. And based on real estate analyst predictions for the next year, it may benefit you to check out our previous post to find out what it could cost you if you choose to wait.
But, whether you are contemplating such a move or not, it should always be part of your annual routine to thoroughly check your credit. There are three reputable ways to go about doing this;
- Go to www.annualcreditreport.com where you are entitled to get one free report per year from each of the three credit reporting agencies.
- If you want your credit scores in addition to the actual reports, you can go to http://www.equifax.com/credit-bureau-report/. For $39 you can get reports and scores from all three credit bureaus. The score given is an “Equifax Credit Score”, which is based on a scale of 280-850 and would be closest to your FICO score.
- Or to can get your Equifax Credit Report with your FICO credit score, go to http://www.equifax.com/credit-score/ . This will give you your Equifax credit report and FICO credit score.
It is a great idea to periodically check your scores to make sure they are as good as they can be. When you pull your own scores, it does not count as an inquiry against you- so your score won’t get hurt. A word of caution is that the three credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and Trans-Union, started their own score called the Vantage Score. They market this through many different sites offering free credit scores like www.freecreditscore.com. The problem with this is that none of the lenders use the Vantage Score, they use the FICO Score. Fico has a scale from 350-850 and Vantage is from 450-950, so your Vantage Score will always appear better than the ones lender utilize. So make sure you are pulling from the sites we highlighted above. If you are even contemplating making a move, we recommend that you get your credit reports ASAP while you have some time to work on maximizing your scores. Please let us know if we can answer any questions or help guide you in the right direction.