What Doesn't Affect Your FICO Score

Maybe you're wondering what FICO even stands for.  Well, it stands for Fair Isaac Corporation which is really just a nice way saying an abbreviation for the guys who came up with it.  Bill Fair and Earl Isaac, who were the founders and the fist ones to offer a credit-risk model with a score.  

So what doesn't affect your FICO score?  

• Race
• Gender
• Religion
• Marital status
• Age
• Where you live
• Salary
• Occupation
• Employer
• Employment history
• child/family support obligations

A number of these things may show up on your credit report, and in fact I would say the majority of them show up there, they have no actual score implications.  And while that is something to be mindful of when you are reviewing your credit report, you actually want to make sure that any of this information that shows up on your credit report is valid and belongs to you.  I have had a number of people who have had some of this information incorrectly listed on their reports and it has played a roll in them having information inaccurately reported on their credit report which has then affected their credit score.  

Now, if you do find information reported incorrectly on your credit reports, such as wrong address, past employers or something of that nature, you do want to try to dispute this information and have it corrected.  This can be a very tedious process.  I suggest contacting your local credit union to get the number for a non-profit company that can actually assist in the process, as opposed to contacting and trying to deal with a credit reporting agency directly.  You can 100% go through the agencies yourself, however it can be difficult to get that information corrected in a timely manner on your own and I have found even with a go-between it can still be a long and drawn out process.