What Won't Affect My Credit Score?

What Might a Lender Ask Me?

There are some things a lender might ask you that aren't on the list we went over in the last chapter. You may be wondering why a lender might ask you these things and that because they are asking, it may be a factor impacting your credit score. While these factors don't have an affect on your credit score, they may be a factor in your credit approval.

• Your Job - The point of a credit score is to provide an impartial rating of your risk as an investment. If your occupation were to play a part in credit score it would likely lead to income based discrimination. 
  
• Employment Length - While being able to maintain a job looks good on a resume, it has no affect on credit score.
• Income and Savings - While more wealth may in some cases make you a safer investment, a system in which wealthier people can take out better loans solely because of their wealth would create an unequal system for customers.

That said, a creditor may want to know these things to ensure that you can afford the purchase and the required payment.  If you have an 800 credit score but want to take a loan that will require payments that exceed your income, its still a risk that the creditor will not want to make.

Although you now know what will and won't affect your credit score, mistakes happen. In the next chapter we'll go over what would happen if that were the case.

Next Chapter: How Do I Manage My Credit Score?

All Chapters:

[Chapter 1]: What Are Reporting Agencies?

[Chapter 2]: What Determines My Credit Score?

[Chapter 3]: What Can Hurt My Credit Score?

[Chapter 4]: What Won't Affect My Credit Score?

[Chapter 5]: How Do I Manage My Credit Score?