C o n f u c i a n asked:


….Or does the score vary on which company retrieves the score? For example, on 11/10 I found out my 3 scores through a Transunion service. Experian score was 668.

Then on 12/10 I signed up for a credit monitoring service (free trial) with Bank of America and my Experian score dropped to 645.

Then today I signed up for credit score analyzer with Discover for $8 a month. I am going to stick with this service. They only use Experian but they are the most difficult. And my score today was 659.

Is this type of fluctuation normal? Look at how my score dropped with Transunion from 713 on 11/10 to 672 on 12/10…seems odd.

11/10: http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m254/nathan_211/Credit/creditscoresnov102009.png

12/10: http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m254/nathan_211/Credit/663avgcreditscoreswithBAC.png

I did just get a foreclosed home and was low on cash so I opened a Home Depot store card in November with a $5,000 limit and I used up over 50% of my limit ($2800/$5000). This was urgent so I had to do it!! I will be making a $2,000 payment next month…I suppose this could have brought my score from 713 to 672 but that seems like a big drop in a couple weeks!

Tamara

burn_to_blue asked:


Should people subscribe to credit monitoring and fraud protecion services? Or are such companies just capitalizing on paranoia?

Darryl

thatblissguy asked:


I know that the calculations used by lenders for a mortgage differ from Fair Isaac (FICO). I have TrueCredit (by TransUnion) triple credit monitoring which gives me unlimited access to all three of my credit reports (TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian) AND my FICO scores. I am preparing myself for a refinance and I want to see how I am scoring with the mortgage calculation, since I have improved my scores significantly over the past year when I got my sub-prime mortgage. My one year prepay penalty is coming up in late December and I want to be fully prepared before I start shopping. Also, what ABSOLUTE MINIMUM credit scores do I need, (FICO) and (Mortgage Lender), to be considered for a Prime rate (<7.5%). Thanks for your help, the people that contribute are greatly appreciated and I'm honored for your time and efforts! Keep up the good work!!!
So I just figured out recently that TransUnion's TrueCredit scoring use FACO and not a true FICO. I went to each bureau seperately and got my FICO and heres what I found, its astounding:
TU EXP EQ
FACO: 637* 596 607
FICO: 637* 660 678

*TransUnion only offers this scoring

I was going off this FACO calculation for over a year! Come to find out I have pretty good credit, and the things I have done to improve it had paid off substantially more than I thought in the past! My Mortgage score was MUCH higher than my FICO when I was applying for my first mortgage. So I now feel that my MORTGAGE SCORE should be in the 700s? Does anyone agree with that? That a middle score of 660 FICO would be at least 700 in Mortgage credit scoring?

Beth

nirvanas_love_01 asked:


a couple weeks ago My husband and i pulled a trimerge at our mortgage lender. My husbands scores were 592 618 644. Today I enrolled in credit monitoring and his scores were 611 627 628. How accurate are these scores if the lender would pul them again? DO the scores vary depending on who pulls them or will the scores he pulls be the same on our credit monitoring report?
a couple weeks ago My husband and i pulled a trimerge at our mortgage lender. My husbands scores were 592 618 644. Today I enrolled in credit monitoring and his scores were 611 627 628. How accurate are these scores if the lender would pul them again? DO the scores vary depending on who pulls them or will the scores he pulls be the same on our credit monitoring report? I know they vary from each reporting bureau I want to know if they vary depending on what type of company pulls the report

Ricky

Bill Pratt asked:




Freecreditreport offers online credit reporting resources to consumers worldwide and belongs to the ConsumerInfo family. The company is a leading provider of online consumer credit reports, credit information and monitoring services as well as credit scores.

The company has served 3.1 members thus far and delivered more than 20 million credit reports. The indispensable services and befits offered by Freecreditreport has taken the company to newer heights as the membership count continues to rise.

Consumers can now wield control over their credit by taking advantages of the services offered by this company. The first step involves getting access to their free credit report and credit score. Customers can try these services completely free of cost with the 7 day free trial offer.

The features and benefits also include:
Daily monitoring of Experian, Equifax and TransUnion credit reports
Email reports of any kind of changes and risks of identity thefts to any of the three credit reports
$50,000 Triple Advantage Guarantee feature offered the company

The paid membership comes with access to unlimited Experian credit reports and credit scores.

Monitoring and analyzing the customer’s credit score can result in substantial savings as these credit scores are taken into consideration by lenders for the “credit worthiness” of customers in order to facilitate processing of loan application, credit card application and other lines of credit. This credit score in turn helps in determining whether the applicant qualifies for a credit or not as well as the interest rate applicable on the given credit.

These credit scores are extracted from the credit reports which have a propensity to change on a daily basis. It therefore becomes imperative to monitor your credit reports as this could directly affect the credit scores.

Freecreditreport takes care of all these intricacies for its customers/members while obviating the any associated risks in terms of unauthorized activity or potential discrepancies. Customers also get to guard their identity, as Freecreditreport monitors the customer’s Experian, Equifax and TransUnion credit report on a daily basis.

It is important for the customer to note here that higher credit scores equate to lower interest rates on new loans, thereby resulting in substantial savings.

Joe

Roger Passman asked:




In my work I speak to many people that have unrealistic, almost grandiose, ideas about repairing their credit. My response to the person whose expectations exceed the limits of the possible is to send them to someone else. One of the factors contributing to damaged credit in the first instance is that attention is not paid to the possible allowing grandiose ideas to stand in the way of sound financial planning.

When working to repair one’s credit there are three factors that must be considered. First, is the item you would like removed from your credit report legitimate? If it is it will generally stay a part of your report until time takes care of the item. Secondly, how old is the item you would like removed? The further away from the present the item is the less it impacts your FICO score. Finally, what has your credit history been in the past 12 to 18 months? If potential creditors see a pattern of on time payments and sound financial practices, it is more likely that they will offer additional or new credit even if your score remains somewhat damaged.

Credit repair consists of two important stages, both of which mirror the concerns mentioned above. The first stage is to work to remove inaccurate or mistaken information from one’s credit report that have an adverse impact on one’s credit score. Some items may look bad but have little effect on one’s overall score. A tax lien, for example, that has been discharged may continue to appear on one’s credit report for up to ten-years and, under some circumstances, even longer. But that discharged lien has a low impact on one’s overall score and may not be worth the effort to try and remove it. A pattern of late payments, on the other hand, may have a high impact on one’s score and may well be worth the effort to remove or re-age if removal is impossible.

The second stage in credit repair is to make sure that from the moment one begins to actively repair one’s credit that no additional adverse be recorded on the credit report. Not only does that defeat the purpose of the credit repair effort, it sends up red flags for the credit bureaus to not take your repair efforts seriously. That is the last thing one wants when working to restore one’s credit score to acceptable numbers. This stage requires a change in lifestyle, as one must relearn sound fiscal habits that will assure no additional adverse information be recorded by the credit bureaus.

Effective credit repair seeks to eliminate inaccurate, mistaken and unverifiable adverse information from one’s credit report. It cannot remove items that are legitimate, verifiable and true. To claim otherwise is unethical and may even be illegal.

Victor

Eldorado asked:


Every site I go to so far it wants you to sign up for a monitoring fee or wants you to buy three credit scores and reports. I don’t want a score and report smothered in BS.

Alicia

Sergeant Vince Carter, USMC asked:


Damn it, I call this morning to cancel a credit monitoring service because I switched to another. The rep on the other line speaks choppy english, I can barely understand her, she’s going on and on, finally I just stop her and say “I just called to cancel, am I canceled”? She says yes, so I hang up.

Jesus H Christ, when someone calls to cancel, let them cancel.

Corey

kao asked:


I have a credit monitoring subscription with true credit. I can see all 3 agencies all the time. I can update the reports every 24 hours. I know their addresses. I know how to report inaccuracies.

The problem is: the person on the other end?? What is it about data entry at these agencies just not getting it right? I send info to them which needs correcting and they either input information incorrectly, have wrong spelling, omissions, additions…it just seems that they can never get the corrections right. And all 3 agencies never have the same info. I find Trans Union to be the best, and easiest to deal with, but WHY do Experian and Equifax even exist? They don’t ever seem to have it together.

Anyone have an intelligent approach that might get their attention to focus on the detail that I am trying to fix? Is there ever going to be any chance at consistency? Thanks.

Tina

Kristi Ambrose asked:




A lot of people think that money is the most important asset when it comes to buying things either online or offline. But popular to contrary belief, credit cards are one of the most important conveniences to have. I just ran into this problem the other day when I was buying a laptop online. I had the money in my Pay Pal account but the company wouldn’t take the card I had even though it’s a MasterCard, it’s still a third party card. All I kept thinking was “I wish I had a credit card right now!” It would have made my life so much easier at that point! Eventually I got it figured out but looking back now it makes me wish I had one.

Credit cards are the easiest things to apply for online. And, it doesn’t matter if you have bad credit, no credit, low credit or great credit. There is a card made for everyone. The main thing you have to do, when finding the perfect card for yourself is to look around. Try going to some of these so-called “credit card compare sites.” These sites usually allow you to look up different credit cards such as credit card brands, credit cards by type and credit cards by bank. This will allow you to find exactly what your looking for as well as compare other credit cards. Maybe card A has a really good APR but maybe card B has no payments for 12 months and you can receive cash back. These are the type of things you are going to want to look for when researching different cards.

For the credit card application they are going to ask you a few personal questions such as how much you make per month, how much you make per year, Social Security number, and even your mothers maiden name. Don’t be afraid to enter in this information, this information is only asked for two reasons. The first reason is to make sure that the person filling out the card is really you, for security reasons. The second reason is because they need to know your credit card history, or your debt history for that matter.

Applying online is also really nice because they will let you know within a few minutes if you have been accepted or rejected. If you are rejected, they will send you a little email explaining why they rejected you. For the most part it’s something that you can easily fix. In other situations if you applied for a regular card and have bad or low credit, then they will probably tell you this isn’t the right card for you. And, that’s okay. Just go and find a good “low credit” or “bad credit” card such as:

Continental Finance, MasterCard
Continental Finance Gold, MasterCard
Horizon. Gold Credit Card
Ultra VX Visa
New Millennium Bank Secured Gold Visa or MasterCard

These cards are some of the top cards to try or look into if you have bad or low credit. Depending on what you are searching for I can bet you will find the best card for you, as well as your budget and any “extras” your looking for such as cash back, 0% APR, or travel/air rewards. If you would like more information on credit card applications or credit cards in general you can visit the following sites:

Visa Credit Cards
Bad Credit Offers
Credit Card Guide
Compare Cards

I wish you luck in finding the perfect card for your lifestyle and I only hope that you don’t run into the same conundrum that I did yesterday! Do yourself a favor, make sure you have at least one credit card on hand to use for emergencies or for really important purchases. They really can save you a lot of aggravation and time as well.

Theresa