Archive for April, 2009
There are lots of different credit scores offered on the web. If you are starting a credit repair program you may want to benchmark your scores. So you are likely to go online, pick out a website and pay the price. Unfortunately, the odds are that the scores you purchase will have no resemblance to the scores a lender will use to underwrite a loan.
The Real Scores
There is only one website where you can purchase the same scores lenders use; this is MyFico.com, the website for Fair Isaac Corp the developer of the FICO scoring model. As a credit repair consultant it is a matter of daily consternation to me that the same credit bureaus that sell these important FICO scores directly to lenders will not sell FICO scores to consumers.
The Wrong Scores
You can purchase credit scores from Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, but they are not FICO scores, and therefore of no real credit repair value. These credit bureau scores are of their own creation and exist solely for the purpose of cashing in on the ignorance of consumers. I cannot imagine any scenario where there would be no moral culpability on the part of the bureaus.
No Practical Application
I have heard it said that although these bureau scores are not the same as FICO scores they are a way for consumers to track changes in their reports. This is not so. The bureau scores just don’t behave the same way. In other words, changes in your credit affect your FICO scores differently that they do the bureau scores. These bureau scores have no practical application, for credit repair or otherwise.
The Equifax Exception
For the record, Equifax offers the only credit repair friendly credit score. In fact, they do offer a FICO score. They currently use a previous generation of the software, and they only apply it to their own data, but it will generate a close approximation of your real score and generally behaves the same and could be used to monitor credit repair progress.
Measuring Credit Repair Progress
Unfortunately, this one credit bureau nod to integrity does not provide an optimal credit repair solution. You should know that many lenders, and all mortgage lenders, purchase all three FICO scores and use the middle of the three scores. An accurate measure of your credit repair status requires all three scores.
Ask Your Lender for Your Reports
Given that lenders are able to purchase FICO score from the credit bureaus, you may have a roundabout way of getting your hands on a real tri-merged report with all three FICO scores. If you recently applied for a mortgage you may consider contacting your lender and asking for a copy of your report. Tri-merged mortgage credit reports are usually quite detailed and ideal for credit repair purposes.
Bend the Rules Just a Bit
By the book, lenders are not supposed to provide copies of reports directly to consumers. This is standard boiler plate language included in lender agreements with their report provider. The Fair Credit Reporting Act includes an information sharing clause; in the case of credit denial consumers are entitled to a copy of their reports, but this is a hassle compared with calling your lender and asking for the small favor.
Credit Repair and Your Reports
If you want your credit scores to establish a starting point for your credit repair effort I should say a bit more. If you go to MyFico.com to purchase your credit scores they will come complete with your three credit reports. Unfortunately, as if happens, even though Fair Isaac is the only source for your scores, they do a terrible job on the credit reports.
Fair Isaac Report Problems
MyFico.com credit reports are edited to the point of being useless for credit repair purposes. This is especially true if you intend to investigate all the information that should be available on your reports. Fair Isaac reports are highly sterilized, and in many cases actually exclude your account numbers, which you may need for your credit repair effort. So, for credit repair purposes you should get your reports from the credit bureaus. Phew!
Making Do
If it all seems crazy and unfair remember that the credit bureaus have the credit data, and Fair Isaac owns the credit scoring software. Everyone wants to make money and until they figure out a better way to work together we just have to make do as best as we can. Good luck!
Copyright © 2008 Ian Webber. All Content. All Rights Reserved.
By: Ian Webber
About the Author:
Ian Webber is an expert in consumer law and credit repair. Ian is a graduate of the London School of Economics and The University of Chicago where he earned his LLM. Ian consults with one of the leading online credit repair services and is currently based in Florida.
Marianne Shimanuki
Most Americans want to believe that the current credit reporting system that we use works; that people “earn” their bad credit scores and that there is nothing that can be done to fix it other than wait out the seven (7) years. This is simply not the case. Studies have proven that the current credit scoring system is flawed. This is why the Fair Credit Reporting Act and other consumer protection legislation give you the ability to do something about it. They give you the legal right to know and challenge items on your credit score.
So if it’s free and easy to check your credit score, why aren’t more people doing it? It certainly can’t be because they don’t understand the importance of having a good credit score. After all, it doesn’t take an Einstein to recognize the benefits of a good credit score when it can be the difference between paying $3,500/month and $3,000/month for the same exact house.
More likely, the reason we don’t repair our credit is a mix of apathy and lack of understanding of the credit reporting system. Too many people assume that the credit reporting system is some kind of official or governmental system with an extensive system of checks and balances in place to ensure the safekeeping of credit history. The reality is that it this couldn’t be further from the truth of how it really works.
The credit bureaus which control the credit reporting system are not official government organizations. In fact, they are massive for-profit corporations that collect personal information from your creditors and then make money by selling this information (about you!) in the form of your credit reports.
So now you are asking yourself, how do these corporations make sure that this information is correct? If a creditor reports something that is wrong, how do the credit bureaus ensure it doesn’t end up on your credit reports? What’s stopping false claims?
The answer to all three questions is: they don’t. Your creditors report information, the credit bureaus record it in their databases, and for the majority of Americans, the story ends there.
No one at the credit bureaus or in the government is going to make sure your credit reports are accurate. There is absolutely nothing in it for them to perform any such checks. The way that the credit system is organized is that there is only one person who will ever bother to check up on your credit reports – YOU. You are the part of this entire system that is missing.
Making sure that your credit score is where it should be is your biggest responsibility as an American and repairing your credit reports is something that you and only you can initiate. It is your legal right to dispute any questionable negative items on your credit reports and the sooner you start this process, the better off you’ll be. You can work to repair your credit on your own or you can enlist the help of a credit repair law firm.
Whether you attempt to repair your credit by yourself or with the help of a credit repair expert, by taking an active role in our credit reporting system, you will be able to ensure that your credit score is as good as it can be. Not only that, but by making sure that your score is correct, you’ll have a leg-up on the millions of other Americans who still have un-corrected credit scores!
For more information on your credit score, safe resources to check and dispute your credit history, and much more please visit the Home Finance Journal.
By: Tom Conrad
About the Author:
Tom Conrad is a home finance guru, specializing in foreclosure and mortgage loan help. He writes a mortgage loan and foreclosure help blog at HomeFinanceJournal.com.
Tillie Guiden
The highest possible credit score in the United States is 850, with the average score being in the mid-600s. Increase your credit score by paying bills on time with advice from a financial adviser in this free video on credit reports.
Maya
You have to know a fact: Any business can call your credit report without your permission. That is a fact and is also an indisputable fact. You may be wondering how that can lower your credit score. BTW, do you know what your credit score is?
Although credit reports need not be mysterious and scary,unfortunately for many of us they are. Credit reports are records of our financial history. As any with human being, our finances need not be linearly growing. Sometimes there’re ups and sometimes there’re downs.
Until we know whether the credit report truly reflects our financial history or not, we cannot be sure of what other person’s impression on our financial history. That is the reason for checking our own credit report and doing it often. Errors can’t be escaped. However, for someone else errors we should not loose our freedom. Invariably, invalid items do show up sometimes which need to be corrected without fail.
Facts remain facts and they need to be logical as well. The fact is the more people ask for your credit score, the less your credit score can be. It is not directly proportional as the credit score depends on the type of inquiry. The pleasant fact is it does not always reduce your credit score. It all depends on the types of inquiry one does and the time frame. Less the time, more the number of hard inquiries, less your credit score can be.
Creditors to protect their money can check your credit score. They check the credit report with a “soft” inquiry, which does not count against you. As you know this type of soft inquiry happens when you check your credit or when credit card pre-screen you while offering their credit card to you.
The problem arrives with the other kinds of inquiries only and can be labeled as “hard” inquiries. These happen when you actively apply or seek for a line of credit such as a loan or new credit card for yourself. At individual level, we won’t be happy to loan to a person who is already in debt and taking more loans. The same logic applies to the companies also. As the number of the inquiries jump during a period, it attracts their attention and creditors don’t like to see a lot of hard inquiries in a short period of time. Too many inquiries, in a short frame of time, it tells to them that you are actively seeking more credit than what you can repay. Credit can be obtained easily, but income cannot be improved so easily. Owing to these two facts, the creditors reduce your credit score, in other words, they ask you to pay more interest for the loan or refuse to provide the loan depends on your credit score. It’s no wonder some card holders are unpleased.
Be really concerned as it is your credit score. Without your knowledge or consent, problems start when businesses use hard inquiries. It’s acceptable for employers to check your credit in this way. It does not mean that every business such as rental car agencies can also pull your credit report if you reserve a car using a debit card rather than a credit card. How do you feel if you know that for some one assurance you are loosing your credit score? It is not a good reason because you paid through your debit card instead of credit card. Dispute these kind of hard inquiries without fail in the same way you dispute other wrongly charged items in your credit reports.
Without your consent, under some circumstances your credit report can be subject to hard inquiries. These include reviewing any open account to ensure that your credit is still good enough to qualify for said account, credit transactions and collections; any business transaction that you initiate; underwriting insurance; and determining your eligibility for government benefits which are dependent upon your financial situation.
You have to learn how to improve your credit score before it is too late. ImproveBadCreditScore.com is one of our sites that teaches you how to do that in the shortest time possible.You will have the satisfaction of righting the wrongs and saving your financial future. Once you set everything in place, you don’t have to worry anymore.
By: Bassam Saeed
About the Author:
Discover how to improve your bad credit score in no time! Visit www.improvebadcreditscore.com to learn more. Top credit expert and the best credit repair tips!
Duane Hanis
The three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion collect data from your lenders about your history of borrowing and paying back credit. The information is then being compiled into your credit reports. The company like FICO will then takes the information from your credits and applied a trade-secret formula to produce one score ranging from 300 to 850 based on your credit history. The more excellent of your credit history, the higher credit score you will get.
Top tier scores are range from 760 to 850. People who fall into the top tier scores are expected to get the lower interest rates as they are categorized as the lowest risk group by the lenders and this group has more choices to select their favorite loan package with more attractive offers. In general, a score about 500 to520 is the lowest acceptance level for many lenders to approve any loan or mortgage application. If your credit score is fall in this low acceptance range, you can be expected to be quoted significantly higher interest rates and may be offered with fewer varieties of loan offers. Any score below 500 has very low chances to be approved for any credit unless you go for secured loan.
Example below will give you a better picture on how the credit score will affect the interest rates of credit:
760 to 850 tier: Interest rate = 5.78%
700 to 759 tier: Interest rate = 6.00%
660 to 699 tier: Interest rate = 6.30%
620 to 659 tier: Interest rate = 7.10%
580 to 619 tier: Interest rate = 8.58%
500 to 579 tier: Interest rate = 9.50%
Let assume if you credit score is top tier (760 to 850) and you care being approved for $100,000 mortgage with 30 years term; the total interest for this $100,000 mortgage over 30 years is $110,772. Whereas, if your credit score is at bottom tier (500 to 579), the same $100,000 mortgage, the total interest over 30 years will be $202,709. You are paying about $92,000 extra interest just because your credit score is at bottom tier as compare to if you credit score is at top tier. That’s why you need to get the highest possible credit score so that you can save more money in term of interest for any credit you apply for.
Even your credit score is not as bad as fall into the bottom tier, as long as your credit score is not in the top tier, it worth for you to work it out to improve your credit score so that your credit score is fall into the 760 to 850 range so that you have more options to get the best offers whenever you need to apply for a credit.
Summary
Lenders measure your credit history based on credit score, the higher credit score the lower risk as seen by the lenders and you are at a better position to get better credit offers. Hence, it worth for you to improve your credit score if you r score is not fall into the top tier range.
By: Cornie Herring
About the Author:
Cornie Herring is an finance author of http://www.debt-consolidation-1stop.info, an informative website that provides FREE information and guides on credit scores, debt consolidation & bankruptcy alternatives. You can find useful information and resources to reduce and eliminate your debt issues at her website.
Otto Mehring
Is it better to pay off your credit card statement in full each month or should you leave a small balance each month, like $5? I’ve heard conflicting things. For example, paying each bill in full is better for your credit score versus leaving a $5 dollar balance. I’ve heard leaving a (small) balance is supposed to show that you know how to pay off a debt and help your credit score even more. I don’t know what to believe. Your thoughts?
Harland Liljenquist
Getting your credit score is important when buying a house. See why in this free video on real estate and bank loans.
Ali Surratt
http://www.ncacreditrepair.com Erase bad credit, improve credit score with the best credit report repair company. Improve your credit rating right now 1.888.282.1011
Candelaria Ariel






