Ah, the mysterious world of the FICO� credit score, a number used by most lenders to evaluate creditworthiness.  A difference of just a few points can have a big effect on the mortgage rate a borrower qualifies for, so let's look at some commonly misunderstood truths and myths about credit scores:

This is a myth. 

All three of these agencies generate FICO scores, but chances are that what they will sell you is their own brand of credit score, not your real FICO score.  (It's definitely a "check the fine print" situation.)

Any offer that does not contain the word "FICO" in the name of the score is probably providing something different, even if it references the names of the three main credit reporting agencies.    

Tip:  To access your three FICO scores yourself you'll need to go to MyFICO.com, where you can either purchase them for around $20 each or receive them as part of a paid monthly service. 

This is true. 

This is a myth.

Your credit report lets you review past and current lines of credit, payment history, and amounts owed, but does not provide your credit score.  

This is mostly a myth, according to myFICO.com. 

MyFICO.com states that inquiries from the last 30 days are ignored.  Older inquiries that are grouped within either a 14-day or 45-day period are treated as one inquiry, and therefore could have a small effect.  (The 14 or 45-day time frame depends on whether an old or new version of FICO is being used.)

This is a myth.

Up to 35 percent of your credit score is based on how you use credit.  Showing a good payment history on a reasonable combination of revolving credit and installment loans, such as a couple of credit cards and a car payment, is often better for your credit score than not using credit at all.  

Amazing, but true:  Lenders sometimes balk at offering mortgage loans even to people with excellent credit scores (i.e., over 800) and hefty down payments if they have no recent history of using credit.  This is especially true when it comes to jumbo loans.

Most mortgage professionals advise clients in this situation to make some small credit card purchases and pay them off in full for a few consecutive months before applying for a mortgage. 

This is true.

Closing out a credit card means that your total amount of available credit decreases, so any debt you have now constitutes a greater percentage of your available limit.  Increasing this utilization ratio of debt to available credit can lower your score.

Tip:  The age of your credit lines is another important factor, so if you do close out credit cards, try to close just the newest ones. 

This is also true.

Some people take out new credit cards in order to decrease their ratio of debt to total available credit.  However, a credit score can be dinged by numerous new lines of credit, especially in the short term, and newer accounts carry the least positive weight.

This is often a myth.

It depends on what day of the month your credit card company sends balance information to the credit reporting agency.  If it is before you typically pay your bill, a large charge could show up as a significant usage of your total available credit even if you pay it off entirely as soon as you receive the statement.  

This is true.

Using a lot of available credit on one card means you are closer to maxing it out.  Spreading a balance between two or three cards lowers the ratio of debt to available credit for each card.

This is true. 

This is generally a myth. 

People with high credit scores often have several credit cards with very high limits and very low revolving balances (i.e., under 7 percent) on just one or two, if any. 

This is true.

- U.S. home prices rose 12.2 percent year-to-year in May, according to a July report by CoreLogic. 

- The national average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is around 4.5 percent as of early July, up from around 4 percent during the latter half of June. (Data from BankRate.com.)

- The median market time for all homes in May was 41 days, down from 46 days in April.  In May of 2012 the median market time was 72 days, according to the National Association of REALTORS�.

If you're in the mood for a laugh, check out DogShaming.com, a website where dog owners finally get the last word by posting photos of their dogs "explaining" what they did to get into trouble.  (You can just imagine. :)