Read these 4 articles below

-than answer the questions below

article 1) Determining what's behind a credit score:

Q: How are personal credit ratings calculated? My credit rating seems to vary from one credit agency to another. I suspect it has to do with differences in how each company values different criteria. How do you calculate your credit score? What can improve my score? What can hurt a score? Do lenders like to see you carry a small balance, or is it better to pay off balances each month? Should I keep one credit card or should I have several accounts with different lenders? C.S., Lakeville, Mass.

A: Banks, mortgage lenders, credit-reporting agencies, and private finance companies are all involved in credit rating and scoring, says Mike Kidwell, vice president and cofounder of Myvesta, a personal- finance website (www.myvesta.org).

Each, he says, assigns numerical values to different criteria about your personal financial situation. The higher your score, the more likely you are to receive credit and lower interest rates.

Ironically, having no credit works against a high score, Mr. Kidwell says. But having too much credit also hurts, since lenders might fret that you'll suddenly max-out all your credit lines and ring up huge bills.

It's also important whom you borrow from. For a high score, "lenders prefer that you use conservative, well-regarded companies," he says, not certain lenders that cater to risky borrowers. To boost your score, Kidwell suggests that you:

* Carry a modest number of cards, say two or three different major bank cards (such as Citibank Visa and Discover), perhaps an oil-company card, and one from a favorite department store.

* Carry small-to-medium balances on your cards, make payments on time, and pay them off in full every now and then.

* Avoid late payments and keep your debt down in relation to your income.

One of the largest scoring companies is Fair, Issac & Co. The company runs a website (www.myfico.com) that explains the basic of credit scoring. It also allows you to obtain your score along with a credit report from the agency Equifax. Price: $12.95.

Kidwell says there are other scoring companies little known to the public. Each, he says, tends to use its own proprietary scoring systems, usually computer generated. Lenders often turn to these companies for the actual scoring process.

Finally, Kidwell suggests you check your credit report at least annually. Use a "consolidated" credit report that pulls data from different agencies. The Myvesta website has a link for obtaining a consolidated report.

article 2) Is improving your credit score worth exposing your bank data?

America's credit bureaus haven't exactly covered themselves in glory when it comes to protecting your private data. So you might well be skeptical about two new credit-enhancing products that require not just credit information but also access to your bank accounts. Experian and credit scoring company FICO introduced UltraFICO last year as a way to elevate credit scores based on how people handle their checking, savings or money market accounts. UltraFICO currently is in a pilot phase and expected to be more widely available this summer. The credit bureau also launched Experian Boost, which allows people to add on-time cellphone and utility payments to their Experian credit reports. The positive bill payment history can add points to certain credit scores, but people have to link their bank accounts so Boost can scan for those payments. Both free products are aimed at people with "thin" credit reports -- which Experian defines as having fewer than five credit accounts -- and UltraFICO may help those with damaged credit, as well. For Boost, people have to sign up for a membership, while UltraFICO would be offered by lenders to applicants who might otherwise be turned down or get higher rates. SHOULD YOU TRUST A CREDIT BUREAU WITH YOUR BANK ACCOUNT? Both products get bank account information from data aggregator Finicity, which promises "bank-level security," including "best in class" third-party security certifications and regular audits by internal and external teams. "All data is encrypted throughout the process from data entry to data transmission to data at rest," says Finicity CEO Steve Smith. "Data at rest" means the bank account information, including login credentials and passwords, that must remain in a database for at least seven years for regulatory reasons. Now, Experian is not the credit bureau that exposed 145 million people's data in a massive breach two years ago. That was Equifax. But in 2015, Experian reported a breach of the same types of information -- names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers -- belonging to more than 15 million T-Mobile customers. And last year, Experian's site exposed the personal identification numbers needed to thaw credit freezes. You don't have a choice about being in a credit bureau database. Information about you and your credit accounts is reported to the bureaus whether you like it or not. With bank accounts, you typically still have the option of choosing who gets access -- and you should choose carefully. EXPERIAN BOOST AND ULTRAFICO AREN'T FOR EVERYONE Boost and UltraFICO offer the tantalizing prospect of instant gratification -- more credit score points, instantly! -- but it remains to be seen how many people will actually benefit. You'll probably want to pass on Boost if your credit is good. Your scores might creep up only a few points, or none at all. The product is aimed at people with bad-to-fair FICO scores of 580 to 669. (The average U.S. score is just over 700, or solidly in the "good" zone on FICO's 300-to-850 scale.) Even then, Experian says only 5 percent to 15 percent of the Boost users who saw any increase had a big enough jump to move them up a whole category (from bad credit to fair, or from fair to good). UltraFICO, meanwhile, targets people with scores from the high 500s to the low 600s. Those most likely to benefit keep a cushion of at least $400 in their bank accounts and never let balances drop below zero. If your bank account is constantly on fumes or dips into the red, you are unlikely to see improvement in your scores. THERE ARE OTHER, BETTER WAYS TO BUILD CREDIT The other big drawback: Both Boost and UltraFICO work only with Experian data and certain scores. (Boost works with FICO 8, FICO 9, VantageScore 3.0 and VantageScore 4 .0; UltraFICO works only with FICO scores.) If your lenders use other scores or other credit bureaus -- and many do -- you're out of luck. By contrast, you typically can build your scores at all three bureaus by: * Being added as an authorized user to someone else's credit card. * Using a credit-builder loan, offered by many credit unions and at least one online lender. * Using a secured credit card, where the credit limit is typically equal to a deposit made with the issuing bank. The goal of giving more people access to affordable credit is certainly a worthy one. But before you hand over more data to a credit bureau, you should be confident you don't have better options -- and that the benefit is worth the risk.

Article 3) Credit report vs. credit score - what's the difference?

Publication: Advance-Titan, , University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh , Oshkosh, WI

If you have questions about credit reports and credit scores, you're not alone. These subjects play a big role in your financial health but can sometimes seem complicated or even overwhelming - but they don't have to be.

Start with these frequently asked questions to learn the basics about credit and begin building a stronger financial future.

How are credit reports different from credit scores?

Your credit report is a complete record of your credit history, while your credit score is a number based on your credit report.

Credit reports include all your credit card and loan details, including dates accounts were opened, the balance and payment history, and any late payments or defaults. Your credit report also lists recent hard credit checks and closed accounts.

What is a credit score?

Your credit score is a number based on information in your credit report that evaluates your creditworthiness. Put simply, it's a rating of how likely you are to repay a loan.

Credit scores range from 300 to 850. The higher the score, the better.

How can I see my credit report?

You can check your credit report for free. The three nationwide credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, are required to provide you with a copy of your credit report once per year - and all you have to do is ask.

A website called annualcreditreport.com is a great way to request your credit report. The website is sponsored by the federal government and allows you to request copies of your report from the credit bureaus all at once, or to stagger your requests throughout the year.

If you'd like to see your credit score, Credit Karma offers the ability to view your score for free.

Some financial institutions also offer the ability to view your credit score and full credit reports for free, as well. Inquire with your financial institution to learn about their offers.

What affects a credit score?

Your credit score is based on:

• Your payment history - if you pay your loans and bills on time.
• How much of your available credit you use - also known as your credit utilization ratio.
• What types of credit you have - such as car loans, student loans and credit cards.
• How long you've had your credit - the age of your credit accounts.
• Recent hard credit checks - such as when you submit a loan application or open new credit.

Your credit score is not based on:

• Your job
• Your income
• Your savings accounts and investments
• Your spouse's credit score

Why is my score important?

Credit scores are used for a variety of reasons, most commonly by lenders when you apply for a loan or credit card.

Lenders look at your score to help determine if they will approve your application and what interest rate you qualify for. Generally, higher credit scores mean more competitive interest rates and more generous terms.

Other institutions may also check your credit to assess how creditworthy you are, including insurance companies, cell phone companies, utility companies and landlords and potential employers.

How do I build credit?

If you're just starting out in your financial life, you might not have much credit history. However, there are many products and services that can help you create a strong foundation and begin building credit.

For example, opening a low-limit card and paying it off every month is a great way to establish your credit history while avoiding fees and interest payments.

If you don't yet qualify for a regular credit card, consider a secured credit card, which is designed especially for building or rebuilding credit. With a secured card, you provide a refundable deposit that ensures you don't spend more than you can repay.

Another popular option for building credit is to get a co-signed loan, such as for a personal loan or student loan. A co-signer guarantees they will pay back the loan if you cannot. A co-signer should be a trusted friend or family member, usually a parent or other close relative.

How can I improve my score?

Good credit habits can improve your score as well as your overall financial health. Increasing your score can take time but stick with it, and you'll see results.

• Pay your bills on time. This includes credit cards, loans, cell phone bills, utility bills - everything!
• Keep your credit utilization below 30%. This means that if you have a credit card with a $1,000 limit, try to keep your card spending under $300.
• Don't close accounts. Length of credit history affects your score, so don't cancel cards or close accounts unless you need to.
• Avoid multiple applications. Your score is affected by every hard credit pull, which happens when you apply for a loan or credit card.

article 4)No Credit Score? No Problem! Just Hand Over More Data. For decades, the arbiters of creditworthiness have been two powerful groups: the Big Three credit bureaus, which keep files on roughly 200 million consumers, andscore creators like FICO, which turn that raw data into a three-digit key to credit cards, car loans, mortgages and more.

But with tens of millions of consumers left out of traditional credit scoring and the pandemic exposing potential problems in the current system, established players and slick start-ups alike are collecting and crunching all manner of other data to determine who ought to get a loan and how much they should pay.

This so-called alternative credit scoring could have profound effects for consumers, many of them minorities or low-income individuals, who can be asked to hand over more intimate personal information like their spending habits and details of their college degree in hopes of getting a loan.

"The box for who gets aconventional credit scoreis pretty small, and that box hasn't been updated in a while," said Silvio Tavares, the chief executive officer of VantageScore, an established credit scorer that is owned by the big bureaus and is working on adding alternative data to its models. "Data is really a big equalizer."

The efforts to better understand potential borrowers increasingly take two forms, which sometimes overlap. The first involves obtaining cash flow and transaction data from users' bank accounts, a practice that lenders including Kabbage have used. The second involves applying artificial intelligence to broad swaths of information which may include items already in your credit report, new details such as the mileage on the used car you're buying or perhaps behavior gleaned from your debit accounts to assess applicants' ability to pay.

Regulators have recently begun discussingbothissues, considering and collecting input from the financial industry and others. Officials at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have warned that artificial intelligence could amplify risks, including by perpetuating biases against certain borrowers, charging some of them too much or simply making inaccurate predictions. The bureau's director, Rohit Chopra, recently said the new algorithms became "black boxes behind brick walls" when left unchecked.

A deeper understanding of potential borrowers' finances is valuable intelligence for lenders. The roughly 45 million people who have a thin or nonexistent credit history more than 15 percent of the country's adult population are a lucrative untapped market.

"FICO is more than 30 years old," said Dave Girouard, chief executive of Upstart, which uses nonfinancial data including the type of job you hold and your level of education to help make credit decisions on personal and auto loans. "It leaves millions of people out in the cold and millions more who pay more for credit than they should."

Upstart's platform is growing rapidly. It has more than 30 lending partners, includingCross River Bank, which made more than 360,000 new loans totaling $3.13 billion in the third quarter, up 244 percent from a year earlier. At least four of those lenders dropped their minimum FICO score requirement altogether.

The company is also something of a regulatory guinea pig: Upstart was the first business to receive a no-action letter from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The letter essentially said the bureau had no plans to take any regulatory action against the company in return for detailed information about its loans and operations.

Though the bureau didn't recreate Upstart's results on its own, it said the company had approved 27 percent more applicants than the traditional model, while the average interest rates they paid were 16 percent lower. For example, "near prime" customers with FICO scores from 620 to 660 were approved about twice as frequently, according to company data. Younger and lower-income applicants also fared better.

Upstart, which also agreed tobe monitored by two advocacy groupsand an independent auditor, takes into account more than 1,000 data points inside and outside a consumer's credit report. It has tweaked its modeling at times it no longer uses the average incoming SAT and ACT scores of a borrower's college but includes the person's college, area of study and employment history. (Nurses rank well, for example, because they're rarely unemployed, Mr. Girouard said.) The amount that borrowers are asking for may also be a factor: If they are seeking more than Upstart's algorithms believe is appropriate, that may work against them.

Other companies work in a similar way, although the methods and data they use vary.

TomoCredit, for example, will issue a Mastercard credit card to applicants even those with no credit score after receiving permission to peer at their financial accounts; it analyzes more than 50,000 data points, such as monthly income and spending patterns, savings accounts and stock portfolios. Within two minutes, consumers are approved for anywhere from $100 to $10,000 in credit, to be paid off weekly. On-time payments help build users' traditional credit files and scores.

Zest AI, a Los Angeles company that already works with banks, auto lenders and credit unions, is also working withFreddie Mac, which recently began using the company's tools to evaluate people who may not fit squarely inside traditional scoring models.

Jay Budzik, Zest AI's chief technology officer, said the company went deep into applicants' credit reports, and might incorporate information from a loan application, such as the mileage or potential resale value of a used car. It can also look at consumers' checking accounts.

"How frequently are they getting close to zero?" Mr. Budzik said. "Those things are helpful in creating an additional data point on a consumer that is not in the credit report."

The same methods can also be applied to those who already have a robust credit history, filling out their profiles in real time. Such information became more valuable during the pandemic because credit scores alone may not have picked up signs of stress when borrowers could pause payments on student loans and mortgages.

It can take months for some information to filter into credit scores, said Kelly Thompson Cochran, deputy director of FinRegLab, a nonprofit that tests new technologies in the financial industry. "This can make it particularly difficult for lenders to predict default risk accurately both for applicants who have recently experienced financial difficulties and for applicants who are rebounding from past income or expense shocks," she said.

Established credit scoring and reporting companies are increasingly offering consumers ways to add additional information. The credit bureau Experian's Boost feature allows consumers to pipe in payments on bills from a services like Netflix, Disney+ and their mobile phone provider. The average customer's FICO 8 score the formula currently used by most lenders rises 13 points, executives said.

And FICO is piloting a new score,UltraFICO, which augments its traditional model by taking into account with users' permission their cash on hand, history of positive balances, and recentness and frequency of banking transactions. FICO estimated the new score can reach 15 million more people.

More information, such as income data or whether you have a 401(k) plan, could be included in future iterations, said FICO's chief executive, Will Lansing. "I think the future of the industry is the consumer taking more control of their data," he said, "and deciding when it will be used and what it will be used for and for what purpose."

Consumer advocates say that's a crucial issue.

While the growing use of transaction data could be a boon to many borrowers, checking and debit accounts contain all sorts of revelatory information, and access to it must remain voluntary, advocates said. Lenders may be looking largely at the broad strokes of your cash flow now, but will they eventually glimpse at where you shop and what types of doctors you visit?

"Credit invisibility is a problem, but some of the solutions or cures can be worse than the disease," said Chi Chi Wu, a staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. "It's a high-wire act to make sure this helps more than it hurts."

After reading the 4 articles

Questions below-

originality for the questions-

Topic-Fico credit score

1) background info on Fico credit score

hook- attention getter on Fico credit scores

2) Describe topic, defining unfamiliar/key terms:

3) thesis- the importance of credit scores to young people knowing what it is ,how it works and ways to improve it.

topic senetences-

4) What it is? include two quotes from the articles above when explaning

6)How does a credit score work? include to two parapharases from the articles above

7)Are there ways to improve a credit score?

8)What is the importance of a credit score for young adults?

9) Conclusion - rephrase the thesis and bring it all together