Credit Score Guide - Lexington Law: Making Credit Repair Easy and Effective

Credit Cards: Most, if not all, prime credit cards are entirely out of reach to consumers with bad credit. The few credit cards that are available to them (known as "sub-prime" cards) typically require exorbitant setup fees or recurring monthly fees, offer very low credit lines, often require cash security deposits, and in most cases do not even report your positive credit activity to the credit bureaus.

Automobile Financing: If you are making payments on a car, you are probably paying between $2,000 and $5,000 more just for having bad credit. This added interest shows up every month in a higher payment.

$20,000 car loan paid over 5 years

CREDIT STATUS	RATE	PAYMENT	BAD CREDIT COST
Prime	7.5%	$400.75	$0.00
Sub-Prime	10.5%	$420.87	$1,207.20
Shafted	15%	$475.78	$4,501.80

Home Mortgage: Bad credit in auto financing can really hurt, but it is nothing compared to the cost of bad credit when a home is involved. A typical home can cost between $90,000 and $250,000 more in interest if you are buying the home with bad credit.

$200,000 mortgage paid over 30 years

CREDIT STATUS	RATE	PAYMENT	BAD CREDIT COST
Prime	6%	$1,200.00	$0.00
Sub-Prime	8%	$1,467.00	$96,120.00
Shafted	11%	$1,904.00	$253,440.00

As you can see, a low score can cost you hundreds of dollars per month. Which is why it is so important to obtain and maintain as high a score as possible.

Click here to download a PDF version of this Guide

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(Your results may vary)

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