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What Is A Bad Equifax Credit Score? So, what makes a bad Equifax Credit Score, then? While the credit reports from all three credit bureaus contain basically the same information, each bureau presents it in a slightly different manner. This means that even if you have already looked at your TransUnion and Experian reports, you might still have some trouble interpreting an Equifax credit bureau report without having certain instructions handy. Luckily the organization has made moves, in recent years, to make its web-based reports readable and user-friendly. So, to determine whether you have a Good or Bad Equifax report, you’ll have to order your report by going to Equifax’s website. In the score summary, Equifax/Beacon, is above the applicant’s credit and trade information and is the overall rating of the applicant's credit. Up to four factors are disclosed and are displayed in order based on their relative impact on the final score. 
A bad Equifax score is one that’s below 575. Anything below that is generally considered a risk, and will usually warrant further documentation or a higher security deposit if the landlord proceeds.
It will say something like: Scorecard: BEACON 96 Score: 676 Reasons: Serious delinquency, and public record or collection filed Amount owed on delinquent accounts Proportion of balances to credit limits is too high on bank revolving or other revolving Time since delinquency is too recent or unknown Note that ‘No Hit’ means that the consumer has never had a credit history, whatsoever, and nobody has even inquired upon their credit history. If you get a bad Equifax score, you’ll have to see if you can dispute any part of the credit report. You should verify that all information is correct. Thoroughly read through your information, which will consist of your current and previous addresses, birth date, employment history, Social Security number and any statements or alerts that have been added to your report. Check that everything is correct and no errors got mixed with the data. Any information you get can be disputed, if it’s incorrect. Scroll though the next section to view all of the credit accounts you have. They will be divided into mortgage, installment, revolving lines of credit and other. Make sure that the number of open accounts is correct and that your closed accounts are marked as closed. Then check your balances and credit limits for accuracy on applicable loans. Now, unless you find definite incorrect things in the report, don’t dispute the facts. You’ll only damage your report further. Next, you will get a list of all of the organizations that have viewed your credit file in the past year. Pay special attention to the "Inquiries That Display to Companies" since these are the ones visible to potential lenders checking your file. All of these inquiries should have been made with your permission. If you see one that you didn't authorize, write to the company and ask to have it taken off your file. The contact information will be in your report. Check out the "Collections" section. If you don't see that item, it means you don't have any collection activity on your report. If you do have some information on file, that means you didn't pay a bill on time and your creditor referred you to a collection agency. And, finally, look at "Public Records". Here will be any judgments, bankruptcies, liens or garnishments. Make sure that the information matches your court records. Here is where you can change something. "Dispute File Information" is if you need to correct anything. You should only report information that is factually incorrect. If something is true but you would like it removed from your report, you will have to deal with the creditor in question directly. Get Your 3 Free Credit Scores For $0 |
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