Credit and Credit Scores: A short lesson

[PokerFox]

OK, So I have to give a short presentation to my bank about credit and credit scores as part of some team-building crap, who knows.

Anyways, I actually think my topic is useful and something people need to know, so I thought I'd share with a bunch of poker players who keep all their scrilla on Neteller.

There are 3 major credit reporting agencies, TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. The 3 are all regarded as fairly accurate, however, there are discrepancies between the 3. You are entitled to 1 free credit report per year from each agency (obtainable at annualcreditreport.com), therefore, the smart consumer pulls his credit once every 4 months, each time from a different agency.

The big misconception is that checking your credit hurts your score. This is simply not true. There are 2 types of credit inquiries; soft and hard.

A soft inquiry is when you check your credit, such as your free credit report, or an employer pulls it for job purposes. These do NOT affect your credit at all and do not show up on your credit report.

A hard inquiry is when you apply for a credit card, loan, mortgage, etc. These will affect your credit if you are denied and especially if you continue to apply at other financial institutions and continue to get rejected.

The best way to maintain a good credit score is not having any 30+ day late payments, because they stay on your record for 7 years.

The best way to build credit, if you have none, is to get a CD and take out a loan against the CD, paying it off, establishing credit.

Anyone want to know anything about credit?! Manage it well and you'll be paying off that 30 year mortgage in no time.

Fox