Credit scores. Love them, hate them, don't understand why your score is lower that you thought? As a lender sometimes I am amazed at how high a person's score is even with a few dings on their report. Other times, a simple late payment or medical collection can submarine someone's score by 100 points. Let's try to make sense out of some of the most common questions.

WHY DON'T THEY JUST TELL US THE RULES? Each credit reporting agency has their own score and they want to claim that their score is the best. If they tell you the rules then you can manipulate your score. So we are all playing the game without knowing what the rules are.

HOW CAN I CHECK MY CREDIT REPORT? You can obtain your credit report once a year from annualcreditreport.com.

DO CREDIT REPAIR SERVICES ACTUALLY WORK? I have had several clients successfully raise their score using Credit 360 consulting services. This is a month to month service that you can stop at any time.

HOW CAN I IMPROVE MY CREDIT SCORE? Pay your bills on time and don't let your credit card balances exceed 30% of the high credit limit.

WHERE CAN I FIND GOOD INFORMATION ABOUT CREDIT? My favorite site is CreditKarma.com. Free credit reports, free monitoring, and free information to help you.

WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON MISTAKES THAT PEOPLE MAKE ON THEIR CREDIT REPORT? The most common mistake that people make is medical collections. I am a reasonably intelligent person, but have no idea how to understand medical billing. The best advice is to pay the bill and wait for the eventual refund of over-payment. The other common mistake is missing a credit card payment because you thought the account was paid off. I have an automatic payment setup for each one of my credit card accounts. At the end of each month I pay the balance owed and if I have missed anything the automatic payment will pick it up.

Your credit score is becoming more important each day and will affect your life in ways that you have not considered. Join some type of credit monitoring service and protect yourself

.Joe LaVallie
The Integrity Team
Mortgage Banker
HomeStreet Bank
22001 66th Ave W
Mountlake Terrace WA 98043
NMLS ID#111363
joe.lavallie@homestreet.com
425-678-7604 Direct
1-800-761-7788 ext 7604
206-743-4722 Cell
Fax 206-512-1911
To Apply Online http://www.homestreet.com/jlavallie