Today, we’re going to talk a little about credit scores, and the role they play in building your financial future. Make no mistake, your credit score is an important aspect of your overall credit picture, and you should definitely take proactive steps to make sure it’s as accurate and as strong as possible.
That said, we also want to talk about how there’s more to your credit than just a number on a page. This might sound strange to hear from a financing company. Typically, financing companies are singularly obsessed with that magic number, right? Well, perhaps. But PayFina isn’t a typical financing company.
But before we get into all that, let’s start with some basics.
Why is a Credit Score Important?
Your credit score pulls together several items from your credit history to generate a value for how likely you are to successfully pay off future credit lines. Scores generally range from 300 to 850, with higher scores indicating excellent credit. Your credit score will impact your ability to obtain financing, as well as the cost of the financing that is available to you. Here is a rough guide to what each score range says about your creditworthiness:
- 781 – 850: Excellent
- 661 – 780: Good
- 601 – 660: Fair
- 501 – 600: Poor
- Less than 600: Bad
Beyond just accessing credit, your score can also affect your ability to rent a home, apply for a mortgage, or even get a job. While it’s not the only factor, it’s certainly important to do what you can to keep this number healthy.
How Can I Manage My Financial Future?
One of the best ways to manage your credit score is to regularly check your credit report. You can get a free copy of your report once a year by visiting annualcreditreport.com. Here, you can see your credit data that has been reported to all three major credit bureaus — Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. Your credit score is determined by several key pieces of information in these reports, namely:
- Payment history
- Credit utilization
- Derogatory marks
- Age of credit history
- Total accounts
- Recent credit inquiries
We’ll talk more about financial future strategies to improve your credit score in a future blog, but for now it’s important to keep these key categories in mind. By making your payments on time, not maxing out your credit cards, and building up long-standing accounts, you’ll be able to improve all of these categories over time, which will in turn raise your credit score.
You’ll also want to carefully review your report for fraud or errors. If you see anything out of place, be sure to report it right away. Clearing fraudulent or inaccurate accounts off of your credit report can make a major impact on your overall credit score.
More Than Just a Number
Now that we’ve reviewed the importance of your credit score, it’s time to take a step back and put everything into perspective. Yes, the number on your credit report is important, but you are more than just your credit score. Your credit score only tells a part of the story — and for many people, it can be misleading. Age of accounts, for example, is a good indicator of creditworthiness, but if you’re young or just getting started with credit, you might not have had the opportunity to build that number up. Credit utilization can also tell an incomplete story — two people can have the same amount of credit card debt, but if one person has more credit cards, their overall utilization will appear lower.
The bottom line is that forward-thinking financing companies know that there’s much more to a person’s credit story than just a number. And companies that go through the extra effort to get a more complete understanding of each individual’s unique credit profile will be able to offer better and more accurate financing terms to their customers.
That’s why PayFina doesn’t rely solely on credit scores to make an approve/decline decision. We have created a world-class technology platform that uses this traditional bureau data alongside alternative data sources to build a clearer understanding of each individual borrower’s ability to pay. As a result, PayFina is able to offer higher approval rates and better financing terms. In addition to that, PayFina also provides customers with a suite of Financial Wellness tools that they can use to build, maintain, and improve their credit going forward.
You’re not just a number, and PayFina is at the forefront of using this belief to change the way financing is done. It’s one of the reasons PayFina exists — which you can read all about in the story of PayFina’s founding.
Are you a merchant looking to get started with PayFina? Enroll your business today!
