Consolidating student loans is one of the most effective ways to improve your FICO score dramatically. A FICO score is perhaps the most important factor in shaping your financial future. Just a few additional points on a FICO score can literally save tens of thousands of dollars over a lifetime by locking in low interest rates on houses, cars, and other items purchased with credit.
How FICO scores are determined
A FICO score is derived from a complex algorithm that weighs different aspects of your past and present financial situation in order to predict how good of a credit risk you are likely to be in the future. Each factor is weighted differently depending on importance with 35% of the score based on payment history, 30% based on the amount of debt owed, length of history contributing 10%, new credit 10%, and types of credit 10%.
How student loan consolidation directly improves your FICO score
Because the second heaviest weighted factor (30%) is based on the amount of debt owed, reducing this amount can make a drastic impact on your credit score. Lenders also look at debt to income ratio when determining the amount of credit...