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36 things credit card firms know about you

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If you weren’t aware, credit card companies use rating firms Equifax, TransUnion and Experian to see how risky you are when they think about lending to you.

These firms rate you as to how bad you might be, and how likely (or unlikely) you are to pay back the debt.

They do this using 36 different things they know about you.

Here are 36 things they use in order of risk priority, e.g. the worse you are at the top of the table, the higher the interest or likelihood of being refused a loan:

  1. Amount owed on accounts is too high
  2. Level of delinquency on accounts
  3. Too few bank revolving accounts (not TransUnion)
  4. Too many bank or national revolving accounts (not TransUnion)
  5. Too many accounts with balances
  6. Too many consumer finance company accounts
  7. Account payment history is too new to rate
  8. Too many recent inquiries last 12 months
  9. Too many accounts recently opened
  10. Proportion of balances to credit limits is too high on bank revolving or other revolving accounts
  11. Amount owed on revolving accounts is too high
  12. Length of time revolving accounts have been established
  13. Time since delinquency is too recent or unknown
  14. Length of time accounts have been established
  15. Lack of recent bank revolving information
  16. Lack of recent revolving account information
  17. No recent non-mortgage balance information
  18. Number of accounts with delinquency
  19. Date of last inquiry too recent (TransUnion only)
  20. Too few accounts currently paid as agreed (#27 with TransUnion)
  21. Length of time since derogatory public record or collection is too short
  22. Amount past due on accounts
  23. Serious delinquency, derogatory public record or collection filed
  24. Number of bank or national revolving accounts with balances (not TransUnion)
  25. No recent revolving balances
  26. Number of revolving accounts (not TransUnion)
  27. Number of established accounts
  28. No recent bankcard balances (not Equifax)
  29. Time since most recent account opening too short
  30. Too few accounts with recent payment information (not TransUnion)
  31. Lack of recent installment loan information (#4 for TransUnion)
  32. Proportion of loan balances to loan amounts is too high (#3 for TransUnion)
  33. Amount owed on delinquent accounts (#31 for TransUnion)
  34. Serious delinquency and public record or collection filed
  35. Serious delinquency
  36. Derogatory public record or collection filed

Hat-tip to Bargaineering.



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Chris Skinner Author Avatar

Chris M Skinner

Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...

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