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Score Power^® — Yours for only $15.50

Those in the know can save big! Lenders, employers, car dealers — they all can know your FICO^® score, and so can you. FICO^® is the score lenders use most to qualify you for credit. And it often determines both the credit amount and the interest rate you receive. With Score Power, you can know what lenders will see about your credit. You will also receive information on what your score means and how it may impact your life. With Score Power, you'll receive:

• Instant online access to your FICO^® credit score and Equifax Credit Report™^†
• An explanation of what your score means, comparison with national averages, and a graph of how lenders view you
• Interactive Score Simulator to show you how certain actions may change your score
• Specific tips for understanding your score

Know the Score: Understanding your FICO^® credit score

In order to remain in control of your financial health, it's important for you to not only know your FICO^® credit score but to also understand it and its implications on your everyday life. Upcoming changes to the Equifax Member Center will provide you a better understanding of and more interaction with your score. Clearer, easier-to-read score summaries and an enhanced education center can help you quickly comprehend your FICO^® score — and see just how it affects the interest rates you're likely to receive!

You can monitor your score even more closely with new improvements soon to be implemented in the Member Center. By setting score bands or a target score with Score Watch™, Equifax alerts you of changes to your FICO^® score that could impact your average interest rate on a mortgage, auto loan, or home equity loan. You can also choose to be alerted when your score reaches, rises above, or falls below a certain target score.

What exactly is a FICO^® score? In the 1980s, Fair Isaac Corporation devised a mathematical model to predict the credit risk of consumers based on data contained in their credit files. Today, the Fair Isaac system of scoring — known as FICO^® scoring — is the scoring model most widely used by lenders. In 2001, Equifax and Fair Isaac gave consumers access — for the first time — to their FICO^® credit score. Ninety percent of all lenders use FICO^® scores and Equifax is the only credit reporting agency to offer FICO^® scores directly to its customers.

FICO^® scores ranges from 300 to 850, but the majority of scores fall within the 600s and 700s. Higher scores indicate a lower credit risk. This means that you pose less of a risk to the lender who will, in turn, be more likely to offer you favorable interest rates.

As the information contained in your credit files changes over time, so might any new score based on your data. Your FICO^® score from a month ago may not be the same score a lender would get from a credit reporting company today. A number of factors can affect your credit score including:

• payment history
• public records
• the length of your credit history
• any new accounts you may have opened
• inquiries into your credit file
• how many accounts you have in use

Tip of the Month: Equifax Credit Report Control™ —
How to Lock and Unlock your Equifax Credit File

If you have added Equifax Credit Report Control™ (our newest security feature) to your Equifax Credit Watch™ monitoring product, locking and unlocking your Equifax credit file is easy.

Simply log into the Member Center and select “View Lock/Unlock Status.” Your credit file remains unlocked until you lock it by clicking the red “Lock Now” button. You can unlock your file for a specific period of time or for a particular company. To unlock your Equifax credit file temporarily, click the “Temporary Unlock” tab. Here you can choose to determine a period of time (up to a year) in which it will remain unlocked. To grant access to your Equifax credit file to a specific company, click the “Specific Company Unlock” tab. You can now generate up to 10, 4-digit one-time use PINs to distribute to the companies of your choice. These PINs are active for 6 months or until they are used.

If you'd like to control who has access to your Equifax credit file, simply choose from the links below.

Add Equifax Credit Report Control™ to my current Equifax Credit Watch™ Subscription

Don't have an Equifax Credit Watch™ subscription?

Interactive Tool: Calculate your Refinance Interest Savings

How much interest can you save if you refinance your mortgage? This calculator helps you find out! Enter the specifics about your current mortgage, along with your current appraised value, new loan term, rate and closing costs. This will determine how much interest refinancing can save you. In addition, it will calculate the number of months to break even on closing costs with your reduced monthly payment. Simply click the “View Report” button for a detailed look at the results.

Identity Theft Alerts: Could the Check in the Mail Be a Scam?

People from across the country are contacting the Better Business Bureau about notices they received in the mail claiming they have won a substantial amount of money from a foreign lottery. Enclosed with the solicitation letter is a legitimate looking check for thousands of dollars to “help pay” fees involved with claiming the money. The lucky lottery “winner” is instructed to contact their “agent” before cashing the check, to activate their account. Then they are asked to deposit the check and send the money by wire transfer immediately to the so-called lottery company in order to receive the remainder of their winnings, which they are told range anywhere from $405,501 to $675,000.

Everything goes smoothly at first. The banking institution listed on the check is a real bank, and the account number and routing number on the check are real. The “winner” is able to deposit the check in their bank account without a glitch. However, a serious problem arises weeks later when the lottery “winner” is notified by their bank that the check is counterfeit, and the victim is told they must repay the bank the thousands of dollars they withdrew against the bad check.

While there are numerous variations to this scam, they all have one common goal — to get the targeted victim to cash the check and wire the money to the scam artist. Whether you are offered payment for something you're selling or being paid to do work from your home, if you are asked to cash a check and then wire money back, it is a scam!

The BBB along with the National Consumers League suggest that consumers keep the following in mind:

• There is no reason for someone who is giving you money to ask you to wire money back;
• Just because you can withdraw the money from the bank does not mean the check is good, even if it is a cashier's check;

If a stranger wants to pay you for something, insist on a cashier's check for the exact amount, preferably from a local bank or one with a branch in your area.

Always check with the Better Business Bureau at http://www.bbb.org before spending your money.

© 2008 by the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. Arlington, VA.