Credit Score Range

The credit score range is a number between 300 and 850 that determines everything from whether you qualify for a mortgage to whether you get a job. Here are seven areas where your credit score range comes into play:

1. Qualifying for a mortgage – If you have a credit score range above 620, you qualify for a regular mortgage. Below 620 and you are pushed into a subprime mortgage. If your score is above 720, you should be able to qualify for the best rates available.

2. Leasing an apartment – Landlords run your credit when they are deciding whether to lease you an apartment or house. That’s because it is very expensive to evict a tenant. They look at other factors besides your score such as past rental history, but you should know where you fall on the credit score range before filling out a lease application.

3. Getting your utilities turned on – The electric company is interested in whether you pay your credit card bills because that is a good indicator of whether you’ll pay them. If you have a score in the low credit score range, be prepared to pay a hefty deposit to get your utilities turned on at a new place.

4. Obtaining a cell phone – It seems like everyone has a BlueTooth attached to their ears today. But if your score falls into the low credit score range, you can say goodbye to any kind of phone unless you have a co-signer. People can rack up huge bills calling and texting their friends, so the cell phone companies want to make sure that you can pay your bills.

5. Getting life or home insurance – This one is odd. There seems to be an inverse relationship between bad credit and good risk for insurance companies. Nobody is sure why it exists, but insurance companies are starting to pull credit reports to determine if you qualify for their products and at what rates. People who have bad credit sometimes pay 150% more than people with good credit on their car insurance.

6. Starting a business – Many people who start a business need small business loans or personal lines of credit. In this depressed economy, more people want to start their own business rather than risk taking a job with a company. But, if you have a number in the low credit score range, you could have problems getting the loan to start your business.

7. Okay, so you’ve decided that the financing is not there to start a business, so you hit the classifieds looking for a job. But, after you go on several interviews that you thought went well, you still haven’t landed a position. It may be that the economy is tough right now. But it could also be that your low credit score is dragging you down. Employers are increasingly looking at credit scores to determine whether individuals would make responsible employees.

So, there you have seven examples of how high and low credit score ranges can affect your life.