the perfect score

Willowbrook, IL -
Perfect. Flawless. Infallible.

There are many ways to describe excellence, but few actually achieve it.

For Greg Blachut, however, it only took one test. Blachut became one of only 177 students nationwide to score a perfect 36 on the June ACT test.

Thinking he would take it again in the fall, Blachut did not even spend time studying in advance. For him it was just round one, until practice made perfect ― literally.

"Realistically I knew I would do pretty well, but I didn't know I could get a perfect score the first time," Blachut said.

In fact, the results came when he was out of town, and when his younger sister called to tell him the news, he thought she misread it.

Now a senior at Hinsdale South High School, Blachut is well on his way to pursuing a career in chemical engineering. While considering the University of Illinois next year, he also is applying to the engineering program at Stanford University.

Those throughout the Hinsdale South community are celebrating Blachut's accomplishment.

"There were only 46 in the state of Illinois out of 136,000 who took the test to get a perfect score," said Principal Claudia Geocaris. "We are absolutely thrilled to have one of them in our high school, and we are so proud of Greg."

Blachut is actively involved both in and out of the classroom. A member of the math team, he also takes part in the Business Professionals of America Organization. For the last two years, he has won state for C++ programming, and placed ninth at Nationals in Orlando in 2005. He also is a member of the cross country team.

Out of all of his activities, however, his favorite is the Scholastic Bowl. Since his sophomore year, Scholastic Bowl has provided him with irreplaceable friendships.

With a perfect score on the ACT, Blachut looks forward to spending more time with those friends and enjoying his senior year.

Bausch & Lomb has achieved a perfect score for the fifth consecutive year in the annual Corporate Equality Index (CEI), a nationwide business ranking sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.

The CEI rates companies on how they treat gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. The criteria include domestic-partner benefits that go beyond health insurance, such as retirement benefits and leave policies, and supportive guidelines and wellness benefits for transgender employees.



"Achieving equality for all employees is an ongoing process, not a single action or initiative," said Clayton Osborne, vice president, Human Resources, Bausch & Lomb. "We are committed to diversity and equality here at Bausch & Lomb, and we have made good progress. We need to continue our efforts aimed at embracing and valuing all of our employees, including gay, lesbian and transgender staff. There is an indisputable link between having highly engaged employees who are culturally competent and achieving outstanding business results."

Bausch & Lomb was one of 193 businesses, out of 517, that received the 100 percent ranking.

Bausch & Lomb is the eye health company dedicated to perfecting vision and enhancing life for consumers around the world. Its core businesses include soft and rigid gas permeable contact lenses and lens care products, and ophthalmic surgical and pharmaceutical products. The Bausch & Lomb name is one of the best known and most respected healthcare brands in the world. Founded in 1853, Bausch & Lomb is headquartered in Rochester, N.Y., and employs approximately 13,000 people worldwide. Its products are available in more than 100 countries. More information about Bausch & Lomb can be found at
Your credit score is one of the largest factors used to approve or turn down your mortgage loan, car loan, credit card request, homeowners or car insurance request and even employment.

True, some employers now are using credit scores as part of their hiring process.
Major insurance companies began using credit score to approve or turn down applicants requesting insurance. Car loans and credit cards use credit score as a key factor to turn you down or approve you.

They even select an interest rate according to your credit score. The better your credit score, the lower your interest rate, and the worse your credit score, the higher your interest rate. The difference on a mortgage loan could be a 5 percent higher interest rate, which on a $100,000 loan is an extra $357 per month because of your credit score.

What is a credit score?

In technical terms, it's a score computed by a model to evaluate all the credit information available in a single credit agency. There are three credit agencies in the US and each one uses a different scoring model to determine your score. Therefore, you have three credit scores. Each one uses all its credit information to predict your level of risk. In short, it determines a "good" payer from "bad" payer.

What is average?

Credit scores run from 300 to 850. It's good to have a high score, and thus, a lower score is worse.

What affects my credit score?


Thirty-five percent of your score is based upon your past payment history.
How many times and how often a delinquency is noted on an account within the last 24 months is a primary indicator of risk and thus weighs the most. However, late payments (more than 30 days late) are not an automatic "score-killer." An overall good credit picture can outweigh one or two instances of late credit card payments. Also, a perfect payment history doesn't mean a perfect score since this represents only 35 percent of your total score. A 60-day late payment made a month ago will hurt your score more than a 90-day late payment five years ago. The "rumor" is that the most weight is placed on your last two years of payment history, excluding bankruptcy and foreclosures.


Thirty percent of your score is based upon your outstanding debt utilization.
Having credit accounts and owing money on them does not mean you are a high-risk borrower. However, owing a great deal of money in relationship to high credit limits is a sign that a person is possibly overextended and a higher risk for the near future.

Your credit score takes into account:

1. The amount owed on all accounts

2. The different types of accounts, meaning bank, finance company, etc.

3. Whether you are showing a balance on your accounts.

4. How many accounts have balances

5. How much of the total credit limit is being used on "revolving credit" accounts

6. How much of the total credit limit still is owed compared with the original loan amount.

This is a tricky category as you would think having one account (credit card) at its high credit limit of, for example $5,000 is better than five credit cards with a $1,000 balance yet each having a $5,000 high credit limit. Think again. Five credit cards with a low limit like this example are viewed as managing credit responsibly and increases your credit score.


Fifteen percent of your credit score is based upon your history of credit establishment.
A longer (age wise) credit history will increase your score. However, a short credit history still can produce a good credit score, depending on how the rest of the credit report looks. Any credit more than 10 years is viewed as "long" credit history. Your score takes into effect how long since you opened your oldest credit account, along with the average age of all your accounts showing on your credit report. Your score also takes into account how long it has been since you used certain accounts.


Ten percent of your score is based on the type of credit being used.
The credit agency model scans your credit report for the type of account on your report. It will determine the mix of your credit cards, retail accounts, installment loans and finance company accounts along with mortgage loans being used. You do not need to have one of each. However, too many finance company loans will impact your score negatively more heavily than a bankcard, gas card or auto loan. The belief is if the majority of your credit being currently used is in finance company loans then you don't qualify for bank loans and are a higher risk. Although this has a relatively low impact on your overall score, the No. 1 trap in this category usually is the "90 days same as cash" or "12 months same as cash."


Ten percent of your score is based on inquiries and pursuit of new credit.
This is a tough one to explain in a short paragraph. Based upon your total credit history, it views recent credit inquiries or the pursuit of new credit. New credit is not bad, yet too much new credit or pursuit of new credit is viewed as a greater risk. Statistics show too much new credit, too fast, leads to delinquencies.

What does a lender look for?

720 and higher: Awesome. Best rates and terms, meaning conventional rates. Limited documentation required.


680-719: Excellent score. You are a desirable borrower.

660-679: OK credit. Don't look for many exceptions.

621-649: Borderline. OK if you have some other compensating factors.

620 and lower or no score: Try to fix up your credit. Some exceptions may be possible under certain circumstances.
How do you define "too much" credit, and what about inquiries? All good questions and discussed in next week's article.