How Creditors Measure Your Credit Rating
Creditors will measure your credit rating based on the following three main things.
The three "C's" show creditors your:
- "Capacity" or income to pay the debt
- "Collateral" or assets to secure the obligation
- "Character" shows your compliance to repay the debt
1. Capacity
The very first question is whether you have sufficient income to repay the debt. Creditors will definitely check to see if your income exceeds your expenses so that you ca comfortably pay the debt. A creditor will then want to know:
- Your income - from all sources
- Your fixed expenses
- Your other debts
The amount remaining from your total net income, after deducting your fixed monthly expenses and other debts, is your capacity. If your net income is $3,000 a month and your total living expenses is $2,500, then your credit capacity is an amount that requires no more than $500 in monthly payments.
If you now pay $400 a month for other credit obligations, then your remaining capacity is a $100 a month, and a creditor should extend you that amount of credit.
There are three techniques that will allow you to maximize your income:
- Increase your income
- Decrease your expenses (easier to do than the first one)
- Reduce your other debts
2. Collateral
A lender or creditor can be secured or unsecured. Secured lenders hold a lien against specific assets, such as real estate, an automobile, or boat. If you fail to pay, the secured lender can sell the pledged asset to recover debt owed. Secured lenders seldom loan more than the auction value of the collateral.
Secured credit, is an almost guaranteed way to rebuild your credit. Even with poor credit, a lender may advance your credit if you ca secure the credit with a lien against some valuable asset. Many creditors extend credit entirely on the strength of the pledged assets.
Other credit considerations are either ignored or carry comparatively little weight in the credit decision.
What can you use as a collateral to secure your debts and rebuild your credit? You may be appreciably wealthier than you think. Add the value of your various assets (property that you own) and subtract any existing mortgages or lies against those assets. The difference is your equity or net worth in the asset.
This is what you have available to secure a loan. Do not overlook any asset:
- Home
- Investment real estate
- Stocks, bonds, mutual funds,
- Automobile
- Boats, planes, recreational vehicles
- Notes and mortgages due you
- Art, jewelry, antiques
- Pensions, IRAs, and Keoghs
- Royalty income
- Income from trusts
You may have other assets to pledge. The point is that collateral gives you a borrowing power approximately equal to your equity in your assets. Regardless of your credit history, if you have collateral worth a solid $100,000, you should be able to borrow close to that amount.
3. Character
Creditors next consider your character. How important this is depends upon the type of credit, and who your creditors are. Asset based lenders rely chiefly on collateral, and they are less concerned with your character than are unsecured creditors who can only rely on your prior reliability for honoring your obligations.
When creditors check your character, they basically look at how you satisfied your past obligations. Meaning they want to know:
- How many credit defaults have you had?
- What was the reason for the defaults?
- How recent are they?
- Do you own your own home?
- If you rent, for how long have you rented the same apartment or house?
- Do you have a checking account?
- Do you have a savings account with regular deposits?
- Do you have a payroll savings plan at work?
- Do you have a telephone in your own name?
- Do you have a criminal record?
- Have you filed bankruptcy?
Positive answers to these nine questions will often offset an otherwise negative credit report. Basically your credit character boils down to your credit history in the past. In the eyes of creditors, if your past credit character is good, there is no reason to believe why your future won't look promising.
About The Author
Copyright. http://www.deleteuglycredit.com
Omar M. Omar is the owner of http://www.deleteuglycredit.com. The website is dedicated to provide credit consumers with information about their credit right and how to dispute inaccurate information on their credit report. Omar M. Omar is also the author Of "The Credit Repair Bible" book.
You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, in your Newsletter, on your website, or in your E-Book, as long as the author's Resource Box is included with the article.
MORE RESOURCES:
 RTE.ie | Citigroup Posts $2.5 Billion Loss on Write-Downs New York Times, United States - By LOUISE STORY Hobbled by the credit crisis at home, Citigroup has limped through nine months in the red, reporting a $2.5 billion quarterly loss on Friday ... Credit Costs Weigh on Citigroup Citigroup credit default swaps narrow 15 bps-Phoenix Credit Costs Weigh on Citigroup |
 BBC News | Ackermann says credit crisis end in sight Financial Times, UK - Josef Ackermann, Deutsche Bank’s chief executive, on Thursday said the credit crunch was at “the beginning of the end” as banks and regulators have taken ... 2nd UPDATE: JPMorgan 2Q Net Down 53% On Credit Woes, Markdowns JP Morgan: The Legacy of the Credit Crunch Why No Outrage? |
Studying up on credit scores Chicago Tribune, United States - In matters of money, a credit score assesses your financial responsibility. And just as with taking your first practice test, your score may be low when you ... Given a Shovel, Digging Deeper Into Debt |
Dollar Rebounds From Record Versus Euro as Credit Turmoil Eases Bloomberg - The US currency also rose versus the yen on signs US investment banks will withstand credit-market losses and the Federal Reserve and the Treasury proposed ... |
 BBC News | Credit crisis: Merrill Lynch to sell Bloomberg stake and keep HQ after Tehran Times, Iran - The loss was due to write-downs of $9.4bn on the value of mortgage holdings, credit-related derivatives and instruments guaranteed by crisis-hit monoline ... Merrill Drops After $4.65 Billion Second-Quarter Loss (Update2) Quarterly loss at Citi smaller than expected, but Merrill disappoints BlackRock shares soar on earnings, Merrill stake move |
$10m W/Bank Credit: Boom time for small-scale mining The Punch, Nigeria - This was the scenario, which the World Bank set out to help Nigeria change in 2005 when it granted the country $120m credit under the Sustainable Management ... |
Mortgage sales pressure fuelling credit crisis: ACTU ABC Online, Australia - The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has accused banks of fuelling the credit crisis by forcing staff to push mortgages onto people who cannot ... Banks 'pushing' families into debt Banks lean on staff to push loans |
No deals for debits at the pump Detroit Free Press, United States - I would have paid the same price if I used a credit card. Bring the Benjamins and you'd get that super-low price -- OK, low by today's standards -- of ... Gas stations turning to using 'gift |
Teton County development plagued by credit crunch Fox 12 Boise, ID - Developer Bill Reid said a nationwide credit crunch prevented him from winning more financing for the 1350-acre Huntsman Springs project. ... |
Deals and takeovers are being done despite the credit crisis Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom - So, tapping the credit market for a cool £10bn to finance the acquisition of companies such as Alliance Boots or J Sainsbury is simply out of the question ... |
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