Knowing your credit score
By: WROC-TV
Updated: July 24, 2007
You could be paying thousands of dollars more in finance charges for your credit card, your house, even your car and your credit score could be to blame.
It's a costly problem many people don't even know they have.
A new survey conducted by the Consumer Federation of America shows only 25 percent of Americans know what a good credit score is and most people don't even know their score.
"You may be denied utility service, may even be denied a job. You're looking at paying potentially paying tens of thousands of dollars a year unnecessarily in interest charges," said Stephen Brobeck, Consumer Federation of America.
A good credit score is anything above 700. Anything below 600, means you pay higher finance charges
What lowers credit score? Late payments. In fact, just one late auto payment could lower your credit score by as much as 100-points. Other factors: too much open credit and even your credit card balance.
For more information on how you can get your free annual credit report, click here.
