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RealMoney101www.hesaa.org291.TheanswerisgAlloftheabove.Mortgagelendersandcreditcardissuersmayusecreditscorestohelpdeterminewhetheryoucanqualiyorcreditandwhatinterestrateyoullpay.Insomestateshomeinsurersmayusecreditscorestohelpgaugeyourrisklevelasapotentialcustomerandtoaccuratelypricethatriskinyourpremium.Cellphonecompaniesmayusecreditscorestohelpdeterminewhichplanyoumaybeeligibleorandwhetheranysecurityde-positisrequired.Electricutilitiesmayusecreditscoresastheyevaluatewhetherornottorequireasecuritydepositandtheamountosuchdeposit.Landlordsmayusecreditinormationandscorestohelpdeterminetheamountothedepositthatmayberequiredoraparticularproperty.2.TheanswerisdMorethan5000.Onatypicalautoloanromabankaborrowerwithalowscorewouldlikelybechargedahigherinterestrateandlikelypayatleast5000more.3.TheanswerisdRiskofnotrepayingaloan.Thereareotheractorsthatmayinfuencethisriskbutitistheriskitselthatacreditscoretriestomeasure.4.TheanswersarebMissedpaymentscHighbalancesoncreditcardsandfPersonalbankruptcy.Thegreat-ertheseverityornumberomissedpaymentstheloweronesscore.Generallythehigheronesbalanceisinrela-tiontoacardscreditlimittheloweronesscore.Andapersonalbankruptcysignicantlyharmsonescreditscoreandcanremainononescreditrecordoruptotenyears.5.TheanswerisaThosewhohaveborrowedmoney.Creditscoresarelargelybasedonaborrowersrecordoloanpay-ments.6.TheanswerisbThreemaincreditbureaus.Theycollectinormationonthecredituseomorethan200millionAmeri-cansandmakeitavailableincreditreports.FICOandVan-tageScorehavedevelopedthemostwidelyusedscoringsystemsorusingcreditreportstocomputecreditscores.7.TheanswerisdAlloftheabove.Whatsmostimportanttounderstandisthattherearetwogeneraltypesocreditscoresgenericscoresandlender-specicscores.Genericscoresareavailabletoallconsumersthroughthecreditbu-reausthroughFICOandthroughsomeindependentweb-sites.Theygiveconsumersanideaotheirgeneralcreditriskandthuswhethertheyshouldbeabletoobtaincreditandatwhatinterestrate.Lender-specicscoreswhichmayormaynotbeavailabletoaconsumerborrowerarecom-putedbyindividuallenderswhoalsousetheminmakingdecisionswhethertoextendcreditandatwhatinterestrate.Likemanyindividuallenderssomeinsurersalsocom-puteandusetheirowncreditscoresorriskassessment.8.TheanswerisbNo.Genericscoresvarydependingonthespeciccreditreportandscoringmodelusedaswellasthepointintimewhenthescoreiscomputed.Itislikelyorex-amplethationeobtainedgenericcreditscoresromseveraldierentsourcesthescoreswouldalldieratleastsomewhat.9.TheansweriseItdependsonthescoringsystem.Higherscoresarebetterundervirtuallyallscoringsys-tems.ScoresusingtheFICOandVantageScore3.0scaleswhichrangerom300to850areusuallyconsideredgooditheyareover700.ScoresromearlierVantage-Scoremodelswhichrangerom501to990areusuallyconsideredgooditheyreover800.Butthemostimpor-tantpointisthatwhenonegetsascoreoneshouldlooktoseewhereitallsonthescaleothatscoringsystem.10.TheanswerisbSometimes.ThethreecreditbureausFICOandvariouswebsitessellindividualscoresusuallyorlessthan20each.Someotheirwebsitesalsooerreescoresotenaspartotrialperiodsoree-basedmonth-lymonitoringservices.OtherwebsitesincludingCredit.comCreditKarma.comCreditSesame.comandQuizzle.comoerconsumersreecreditscoresaspartoserviceswithoutees.Somecreditcardissuersandcreditunionsmakereecreditscoresavailabletoselectcustomersandsomewebsitesallowconsumerstoroughlyestimatetheirscorebyansweringquestionsabouttheircredituse.DebtManagement