Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine - Keeping A Tally - online service provides free credit report - Brief ArticleThousands of lenders know your credit score, but it's probably a mystery to you. E-Loan (www.eloan.com), an online lending company, will now tell you your score in confidence within minutes, and at no cost.
Creditors use the score as a quick gauge of how big a credit risk you are. Key factors: whether you pay your bills on time, the size of the loan you're requesting relative to your collateral, and how much you owe other lenders. The three-digit score, compiled by Fair, Isaac & Co., ranges from 300 to 900, with 80% to 85% of consumers falling between 600 and 800 (A score of 620 or higher is considered desirable.)
Critics say the raw score alone could be misleading, but E-Loan includes explanatory information on its site.
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