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        <Name>The Ins and Outs of your Credit Score</Name>
        <Summary>What is your credit score, how is it determined, and what isthe criteria for "good" credit?</Summary>
        <Description>&lt;p class="body" style="MARGIN: auto 0in"&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"&gt;What is your credit score and how does it affect your credit? As Canadians, we have two major credit reporting agencies that allow us to obtain our credit scores. These scores reflect our current financial situations, a snap-shot if you will, of our debts, credit lines, payment history, etc. The Credit reporting agencies typically use FICO scores, whereas creditors may use a different scoring system. The score you achieve from different banks and lenders range, but have similar qualities. They may place different weights on each quality, but they are all relatively similar, though some lenders can be more lax than others.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p /&gt;&lt;p class="body" style="MARGIN: auto 0in"&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"&gt;Although major creditors and banks have their own criteria and scoring systems, for a good idea of what your credit rating, or your &amp;ldquo;credit-worthiness&amp;rdquo;, take a look at your credit report from a credit bureau. This assessment is based on a system introduced by the Fair Isaac Corp., who introduced FICO scores almost 2 decades ago. &lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;FICO scores range from 300 (bad) to 850 (good). Each lender has a different idea of what a good score is and depending on the amount and type of loan you want, a &amp;ldquo;good&amp;rdquo; score varies greatly. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p /&gt;&lt;p class="body" style="MARGIN: auto 0in"&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"&gt;In terms of the FICO scores, typically if you are over 700 you are in good shape. However this does not mean that if you are at 650 you will not receive a good loan rate; you must simply find a more lenient lender. Some lenders are more lax on their definition of a good score than others, and you must research those lenders before applying. According to bankrate.com&amp;rsquo;s Dana Dratch, in her article&lt;a href="http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/debt/debtmanageguide/good-bad1.asp?caret=37" target="_blank"&gt; &amp;ldquo;What, exactly, is &amp;lsquo;good&amp;rsquo; credit?&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt; creditors look at the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"&gt;following when determining your credit score:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p /&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"&gt;&lt;font color="#000000"&gt;&lt;span lang="EN-CA" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-list: Ignore"&gt;a)&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;span lang="EN-CA" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"&gt;Payment history &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"&gt;&lt;font color="#000000"&gt;&lt;span lang="EN-CA" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-list: Ignore"&gt;b)&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;span lang="EN-CA" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"&gt;Percentage of available credit you're using &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"&gt;&lt;font color="#000000"&gt;&lt;span lang="EN-CA" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-list: Ignore"&gt;c)&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;span lang="EN-CA" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"&gt;Length of your credit history &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"&gt;&lt;font color="#000000"&gt;&lt;span lang="EN-CA" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-list: Ignore"&gt;d)&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;span lang="EN-CA" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"&gt;Your recent efforts to get more credit &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"&gt;&lt;font color="#000000"&gt;&lt;span lang="EN-CA" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-list: Ignore"&gt;e)&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;span lang="EN-CA" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"&gt;Mix of credit types you use&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="body" style="MARGIN: auto 0in"&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"&gt;For more information about credit scores, take a look at Dratch&amp;rsquo;s article &lt;a href="http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/debt/debtmanageguide/good-bad1.asp?caret=37" target="_blank"&gt;&amp;ldquo;What, exactly, is &amp;lsquo;good&amp;rsquo; credit?&amp;rdquo;&lt;/a&gt; at bankrate.com.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</Description>
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                  <Title>What, exactly is 'Good' Credit?</Title>

                  <Synopsis>Resource explaining what your credit score means, and what good credit is.</Synopsis>

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