Credit Reports Continued

Fair Isaac (FICA or FICO) is above the applicants credit report and trade information, and is the over all rating of the applicants’ credit as determined by many financial factors devised by the Fair Isaac Corporation. Generally scores exceeding 630 to 640 are considered by banks as worthy of loans. The lowest scores are in the low 400's and the highest scores close to 850 (Very few). Scores between 600 and 700 are very common and considered very good. Most tenant applicants will fall between these scores (550 and 675). Scores below 575 are considered a risk, and usually warrant further documentation or higher security deposits if the landlord proceeds.

This is a comprehensive list of the information considered by Fair, Isaac scoring models in calculating a FICO score at one of the major credit reporting agencies. This information was released 6/8/2000 and was taken directly from the Fair Isaac web site.  

Past payment history
Account payment information on specific types of accounts (credit cards, retail accounts, installment loans, finance company accounts, mortgage, etc.)

Amount of credit owing
Amount owing on accounts

Length of time credit established
Time since accounts opened

Search for and acquisition of new credit
Number of recently opened accounts, and proportion of accounts that are recently opened, by type of account

Types of credit established
Number of (presence, prevalence, and recent information on) various types of accounts (credit cards, retail accounts, installment loans, mortgage, consumer finance accounts, etc.)

 Click here for more information on understanding FICO scores (released by Fair Isaac 6/8/2000)