A Guide to Convince Someone You Love to Check Their Credit Score

Happy Valentine’s, Palentine’s, and/or Galentine’s Day! Whatever you’re celebrating, we hope you get to spend some time with the people you care about the most. What better way to show that you care than by helping someone else improve their financial well-being?

Your credit score is a three-digit number between 300 and 900 and is an important indicator of your overall credit health. It’s used by banks and lenders to determine your creditworthiness and the higher your score is – the better.

This is precisely why checking both your credit score and credit report is so important. But what happens when someone you love doesn’t know their credit score, or worse, is too afraid to check it? It’s something we see all the time at Borrowell. That’s why we’ve put together a step-by-step guide to convince someone you love, whether it be your mother, best friend, or grandmother, to check their credit score and credit report. You can thank us later.

Step 1: Explain the benefits

You know how important it is to check your credit score and credit report. But does your loved one?

Knowing their credit score can:

• Help them save money. A good credit score can give them access to better credit cards, better and insurance rates, and better interest rates on products like. 

• Help them improve their credit score. Borrowell data shows that those who check and monitor their credit score improve it the most over time.

• Help keep their identity safe. We’ve introduced free access to their Equifax credit report,

   so they can see their credit history and inquiries all in one place.

Walk your loved one through each of these points to demonstrate how knowing their score can help them in the long run. If they’re looking to learn a little bit more about credit scores, have them check out our free 7-week email course as a helpful resource. 

Step 2: Help them understand what goes into a credit score

OK, so your loved one now understands the importance of their credit score (yay!). But do they know what goes into it? Here’s a quick breakdown of all the moving parts that make up a credit score.

• Payment history

• Credit utilization

• Age of credit history: How long have they been building their credit history?

• Credit inquiries: Are they looking for new credit?

• Credit mix

• Public records/derogatory marks: It’s important for them to check if they have any.

Getting your loved one to understand each of these six factors will help them monitor their credit score and understand exactly what needs to be done to improve it. 

Step 3: Explain the importance of their credit report

Great, your loved one now knows why they should check their score and what goes into it. But it’s also important for them to check their credit report and understand the information they’ll see on it.

A credit report will show them their monthly utilization, any inquiries made about their credit, trades and accounts, and their account history. If they need a bit of help understanding how to read their credit report, check out our guide to reading a credit report.

Step 4: It’s time! Check that credit score and credit report

Yay! You’ve done it! It’s time to check your loved one’s credit score. Make sure that they know you’ll support them (no matter what) and you’ll be there to help them improve their credit score if needed. 

Get Your Free Credit Score And Credit Report 

Have the best Valentine’s Day ever! Love, Borrowell.