Caravan Credit Services representative Kevin Rafter came to Prairie View University last Tuesday, to assist students with helpful options to repair credit scores. Caravan Credit Services assist students and others with information on how to establish credit, interpret credit scores, and raise credit scores. Rafter, the national account representative, is an alumnus from PVAMU. After graduating Rafter was employed by Caravan Credit and has since been coming back to the university to tell students his personal stories about how he destroyed then repaired his credit just by being more knowledgeable about what credit scores are. Credit scores in the United States are “a number that represents the creditworthiness of a person, the likelihood that a person will pay his or her debt back to banks or other lenders.” Banks and credit card companies use credit scores to evaluate the potential risk of lending money to a particular person. The best known and most widely used credit score model in the United States is the FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation) score. 720-750 credit scores are considered “prime borrower.” A person will have no problem getting a loan for a house or vehicle. However, anything below a 659 is called a “shafted score.”
This labels a person as a very high-risk borrower by most lenders; basically it shows that the applicant has a terrible recorded history of paying on time, or not paying at all. A score this low can affect personal life as well as work. Some companies look at credit scores in order to hire the best candidate.
Rafter stated, “In order to be cautious about your credit score as a college student, try to maximize your credit cards to only one, with a $ 1,000 limit.” Many students are not cautious about their credit scores while in college. Usually the reason is because they are not educated on how to interpret credit scores or do not understand what they mean. Rafter also said, “Any lease a person signs for over a year gains credit, and any lease that’s only six months or shorter will cause you to lose points on your credit score.” Signing for over a year improves scores, notifying lenders that you are reliable to pay your debt. Caravan Credit Services also assists in bankruptcies, foreclosures, child support, identity thefts, settlements, and evictions. No contract is needed, and there is no money down to start improving your credit score.