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Credit Education

  

 

Beacon Score Basics

Your beacon score is a credit scoring system creditors use to help determine whether or not to give you credit. Information about you and your credit experiences, such as your bill-paying history, the number and type of accounts you have, late payments, collection actions, outstanding debt, and the age of your accounts. Using a statistical program, creditors compare this information to the credit performance of consumers with similar profiles.

A credit scoring system awards points for each factor that helps predict who is most likely to repay a debt. A total number of points (a credit score) helps predict how creditworthy you are and how likely it is that you will repay a loan and make the payments when due. So it's important to know what affects it. Beacon scores range from 300 to 900 (a perfect score). The average Canadian adult has a Beacon near 720. Many people think you need to be in the 800's to get great mortgage rates.

That's not the case. Only 11% of Canadians rank above 800, and it's virtually unheard of to see a Beacon near 900. All you really need is 680 or above to get the best mortgage rates. If your score is below 650, you're what lenders call a "B" client (i.e. there's issues with your credit that banks won't like). 1 out of 5 Canadians are in this situation, but don't worry. Your credit can be fixed and there's lots of lenders willing to give mortgages to the credit challenged. Below is an example of how a beacon score is calculated:

Besides the obvious (bankruptcies, judgments, etc.) the top Beacon killers are:

Payments over 30-days late.
Maxing out credit cards (i.e. using over 75-80% of a high credit limit).
If you have a lot of maxed out cards, bring them at least below 50% of the limit (below 30% is best).
Your credit score can increase considerably in as little as a month. In conclusion you should know your credit. Over 70-80% of Canadians have mistakes on their credit report.

Don't wait to check yours. To get a copy of your report, contact the credit reporting agency:
Equifax

This agency may charge you up to $24.00 for your credit report.

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada's website is also very helpful.

 

Industry Terminology

   

"Obstacles can't stop you. Problems can't stop you. Most of all, other people can't stop you. Only you can stop you."  Jeffrey Gitomer