What is ‘good’ credit?

March is Credit Education Month, and understanding your credit is a crucial part of financial literacy, especially when it comes time to buy a home.

To start with the basics, credit is validated by a credit score, and the lower your score, the bigger risk you appear to mortgage lenders. You should know what your credit score is sitting at, and you can get a free report at either Equifax or Transunion.  A good credit score is 760 or higher, which puts you in range to get a mortgage, although some lenders have special programs for those under that number (best to talk to a mortgage broker to be sure). If you’re sitting at less than 760, you should be taking steps to improve your credit.

A number of factors come into play when your credit score is tallied:

• Your payment history: this involves when you pay your bills, any late or missed payments, and debts that may have been sent to a collection agency. It’s important to keep in mind that the later your payments, the bigger the impact on your credit score, so ensure you pay bills on time.
• Available credit: to figure this out, you simply add up the credit limits of all your credit products (credit cards, lines of credits, loans), then define how much of your available credit you actually use. Using a large percentage of your available credit, makes you seem like a bigger risk to a lender. Some experts say keeping 80-90% of your credit available, is the best practice.
• The lifespan of credit: this takes into account how long you’ve had each credit product, the longer you’ve had an account open and been using it, the better your credit score is because you’ve had time to build credit. Your credit score might be lower if you have new credit cards, or close older accounts.
• The number of inquiries: every time your credit report is requested, it’s counted as an inquiry, and numerous inquiries will count against your credit score. Because your credit report will usually only be requested when you are applying for credit products, be careful about how many debts you have.
• Types of credit: your credit score can be affected if you only have one type of credit product, such as one credit card. Different types of credit will actually serve to benefit you: credit card, auto loans, lines of credit, etc.

It’s best practice to check your credit report each year, this will also give you an idea of how things are going year-to-year. Both Equifax and Transunion have monitoring programs you can sign up for that will alert you when changes are made to your credit score. If you’re interested in how to file complaints or errors, check the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada website.

And be sure to check our blog for other home buying tips, and if you’re already in the pre-approval phase, check out our currently available homes.