What is a credit score?

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Vikki Frank
Executive Director, Credit Builders Alliance
www.creditbuildersalliance.org  
202-730-9390

Credit Builders Alliance is a non-profit organization creating innovative solutions to help non-traditional financial and asset building institutions serving low and moderate income individuals build client credit and financial access in order to grow their businesses and/or personal assets.

Vikki Frank is honored and proud to lead Credit Builders Alliance - an innovative social enterprise nonprofit creating new solutions for underbanked families in the U.S. to build credit and assets. Vikki is an economic development specialist with 15 years experience creating solutions for international, national and community-based organizations throughout the Americas and Africa. Vikki comes to CBA from the Department of Treasury's CDFI Fund where she helped under write federal funding for Community Development Financial Institutions and strengthen Native CDFIs through training and technical assistance. Prior, Vikki worked to build the capacity of nonprofits and to advance financial education, IDAs, and asset building in underserved communities through site visits, group training and presentations. She has worked with over 200 community-based organizations. She is recognized nationally for her expertise in adapting mainstream asset-building strategies to diverse population. Vikki has been an active member of the Assets Alliance and also co-investigator with the Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis at the University of Southern California to expand university participation in asset building and IDAs. Vikki Frank holds an undergraduate degree from McGill University and a policy degree from Columbia University.

What is a credit score?

In this video, Vikki Frank, Kandance Beamon, and Linda Stroman, financial education providers describe several key areas to address regarding debt reduction and elimination. This video is designed to deliver basic financial information to assist individuals and families to be able to identify goals and process strategies for their specific financial needs. The topics included in this video cover are: self-evaluation of debt load, budgeting strategies, understanding the effects on your credit and scores, why savings is important, how to develop a debt elimination plan, and the importance of financial education and how financial counseling may be useful.

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Transcripts

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""2444444$hVXXm"22@g*20_@"__LXX"$Hi, my name is Vikki Frank and I am the Executive Director of Credit Builders Alliance. We are a new non-profit that supports community based organizations throughout the country, supporting their customers and consumers on building credit. This is part of the video on 'How to get out of debt' and in this segment, we will talk about what are credit scores and credit reports, how to access and obtain your credit reports and credit scores and what information is in credit reports and credit scores.

Host: What is a Credit score?

Vikki Frank: When most of us think of a score, we think of a Psycho score. Psycho was created by a company called Sarah Isaac (ph) and they are the credit scores used by most lenders in this country. Psycho scores range from 350-800 with a score above 650 generally, being considered a good score. However, Psycho is not the only score out there. In fact, there are thousands of scores, but what makes scores a score? A score is a snapshot of your creditworthiness at a time.

It is a numerical number that comes out of a complex mathematical out result and I know that most of us would really like to understand what that out rhythm is. So, I like to think about it as a diet. I do not know how my body responds to carbs or proteins but I know if I have the behavior change in which I am exercising regularly, eating healthy and not eating too much, then I am going to probably lose weight or maintain a healthy lifestyle and a good weight and it is the same thing with a credit score. I know that if I maintain good financial behaviors in terms of paying back my bills on time, not going into more debt than I can afford to pay off and generally, managing my money well then I can build and maintain a good credit score over the long run. (2VWX[_ahi%&:;?

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