Understanding Your Credit
Knowledge Is Power When It Comes to Credit
Your credit score is more than just a number—it’s a snapshot of your financial habits and history. It influences whether you get approved for loans, what interest rates you receive, and even how much you pay for insurance. At First Choice Auditors, we help you understand your credit profile so you can make more informed decisions and avoid costly mistakes.
What Makes Up Your Credit Score?
Credit scores are typically calculated based on five core factors:
-
Payment History (35%)
-
Credit Utilization (30%)
-
Length of Credit History (15%)
-
New Credit Inquiries (10%)
-
Credit Mix (10%)
When your credit card balances are high relative to your credit limit, your score may suffer. And when minimum payments are missed, the damage can increase quickly. But the good news is that it can be reversed.
How Credit Card Relief Impacts Your Score
Entering a structured relief program can have mixed short-term impacts on your score, depending on your credit profile. However, for many of our clients, the ability to stop digging deeper into credit card debt outweighs the short-term impact.
Over time, successfully managing your relief plan can:
-
Reduce your credit utilization
-
Show consistent, on-time payments
-
Improve your debt-to-income ratio
These are all positive signals to credit bureaus.
Rebuilding After High Balances
Credit improvement isn’t just about paying down debt—it’s also about building new habits. That’s why we include guidance and education as part of our program.
We help you:
-
Set realistic budget goals
-
Monitor your credit score monthly
-
Understand which habits to build (and break)
Your State, Your Score
Each state has different average credit scores and trends. For example:
-
Florida: Higher-than-average credit card utilization
-
Michigan: Stronger credit recovery post-COVID
-
North Carolina: Growing awareness of credit score impacts
First Choice Auditors is a not a lender, loan broker, creditor, credit services organization, or debt collector. First Choice Auditors does not assume or pay any debts; receive, hold or control funds belonging to consumers; make any claims regarding improvement of a consumer’s credit scores; or provide bankruptcy, legal, accounting or tax advice. Please contact a tax professional to discuss the tax consequences of debt relief, and a bankruptcy attorney for more information on bankruptcy. Programs are not available in all states. Prior to enrolling, it is essential to read and understand all of your program terms, conditions, and materials. Programs vary depending on a consumer’s debt load and individual circumstances. Not all debts are eligible for enrollment. . We do not guarantee that your debts will be lowered by a specific amount or percentage or that you will be debt-free within a specific amount of time. Program fees are calculated based on a percentage of your total enrolled debt with the program and charged proportionally per enrolled debt. Our fees are not collected until negotiations have been arranged, it is approved by the debtor, and at least one payment has been made.The use of Debt Relief services will likely adversely affect your creditworthiness, and the outstanding amounts of your enrolled debts may increase due to the accrual of fees and interest. It may also result in you being subject to collections or being sued by creditors or collectors. Please contact us for more information.