Got Credit?Here's what you really have to know about your credit.
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If you've managed to survive the last two years in adowntrodden economy, chances are you might not have gotten offscot-free. You might have added a few wrinkles to your credithistory by making late payments to credit cards or vendors. So howdo you go about fixing your credit score when it comes time to seekfinancing, get a loan or even open new accounts with vendors?
Most homebased business owners' credit is tied to theirpersonal credit, says Mari Gottdiener, a credit report specialist,credit counselor and founder of Outsource Solutions, a creditcounseling business. Your first step should be to get a copy ofyour credit report and see what your current score is. Creditscores are used to predict the risk that a consumer will default ona loan, and are calculated on a scale of 300 to 900, with anythingover 620 considered acceptable. Most scores fall within the 500- to800-point range, according to Gottdiener. "Credit scoringitself takes into account two things; the first is a consumer'spast history in terms of account payment history, amount ofaccounts open and timeliness of payments. The second is a currentsnapshot of financial obligations," she says.
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