Fannie Mae Foundation Summary

The Fannie Mae Foundation created a guide, titled Knowing and Understanding Your Credit, to inform people on how to maintain good credit and move them closer to their dream of owning their own home. This guide covered the topics of building and maintaining a good credit as well as figuring out what kind of credit you have. Credit reports are records of how you paid off your debt and loans. It shows how much debt you have, if you’ve made loan payments on time, or if you’ve paid back the loans at all. A typical credit report includes identifying information (i.e. name, address, cell phone number, birth date, etc.), credit information (i.e. payment history on loans, credit card balances, etc), public record information (i.e. lawsuits, bankruptcy records, etc.),
If there are errors, call the agency about the mistake. If they don’t fix the mistake, you could be denied a loan. You’re able to order your credit report from any major credit reporting agencies like Experian or Equifax. Why should you care about your credit?
The guide emphasized the importance of good credit and how it can affect your future purchases. If you have bad credit, you may be denied a loan or be required to pay a higher interest rate than someone with good credit. Having good credit gives the lenders the confidence you will pay them back in full and on time. But what happens if you have bad credit?
If you have bad credit, you are still able to improve your score. The Fannie Mae guide suggests not only paying your bills on time every month, but take additional steps as well. These include, but are not limited to, paying off credit cards every month, only applying for the credit you need, reminding yourself that credit cards are loans and that you will need to repay them, and try paying more than the minimum due each month. What if you don’t have a credit history,