Hi all, newbie here!! Have been doin a LOT of reading here and could really use help and info. Here goes...DW and I are applying for a construction loan the first week of March '08. We are getting prepared now! We are enrolled in Scorewatch from EQ, have some kind of daily monitoring trom TU, and another product for monitoring EX. We pull reports and scores daily to watch scores go up as we are currently paying off all our cc's that were at 98% util...they are now at 50-75% util. and scores have gone up 12-26 pts this month. Okay, from reading here, we are going to cancel the TU & EX monthly products and use myfico and keep EQ....is this right? Our scores currently are (me) TU 669, EX 664, EQ 661...DW TU 626, EX 594, EQ 620. We need middle scores above 640 to qualify....720+ for best rate..I have met the qualification of 640 DW is on the way! We were told both had to meet middle score of 640 then our interest rate would be based off of the middle score of the 3 highest!!! Heres the dilema....we have a short amount of time to get the middle score of the 3 highest above 720. We have a BK discharged in 03 and clean credit since...except a blip in DW's credit with a medical collection that showed up last month, which we paid immediatly...didn't know it was there, we moved and bill was sent to collections.
What is the best way to get my scores to 720+ in a short amount of time...We have many accts that show bk on them and collections that show CO or BK we have been disputing randomly and a few have dissapeared, but it seems that our acct's are locked while disputing is in progress..scores didn't move for 45+ days on EQ & EX ..so we are afraid to do that again as time is closing in on us! Sorry this is soooo long, but I will be ever so grateful for advice..Thank you
What is the best way to get my scores to 720+ in a short amount of time...We have many accts that show bk on them and collections that show CO or BK we have been disputing randomly and a few have dissapeared, but it seems that our acct's are locked while disputing is in progress..scores didn't move for 45+ days on EQ & EX ..so we are afraid to do that again as time is closing in on us! Sorry this is soooo long, but I will be ever so grateful for advice..Thank you
Hi, Poohbear--welcome aboard! Are you on Firefox? If you tried to do paragraphs, and they went away, there is a click box at the bottom left of the text box called "Automatically convert carriage returns to HTML line breaks." This preserves your paragraphs. You can click the edit button on your own post, and then click that paragraphing button and reinsert the paragraphs, which will make it easier for us to sort out your post. 
Anyway, I'll take on the score and monitoring part:
The TU and EX products are useful to monitor your REPORTS, not your scores, especially if they allow you to pull your reports daily for all three reports. I use TrueCredit (the TU) product, because it lets me time my payments to show the lowest possible util, and it lets me know when it's a good time to cough up the $$$ for new FICO's. So if they both show all three reports, I would keep one. TC has been know to ban subscribers for what they perceive as attempts to tamper with their scores, so EX might be the way to go (again, if it tracks all three reports and allows daily pulls.)
Anyway, once you know what's on your FICO's, you'll know where you need to go. First strategy: throw every last penny you can at your CC's and get all of them under 50% at a minimum. Then keep paying to get half showing under 10% and the rest (at least half) paid off. Make your payments before the CCC reports, which is generally when the statement drops. I'm leaving the rest for others! Good luck.
Anyway, I'll take on the score and monitoring part:
Your EQ Scorewatch gives you a FICO score, as does Scorewatch from FICO. Look at the report and see if there is the silly gold seal of FICO authenticity --if so, it's a legit score. I think that any other scores that you are seeing are junk --we call them FAKO's. 99.9% chance that your mortgage lender is going to pull FICO scores. Unless the scores you listed came from the FICO site, grit you teeth and pull scores for both of you from here on this site. First Google FICO discount code --you should be able to get at least 10% off, and sometimes 15 - 25%. You need a baseline set of scores. If you've paid for your EQ score recently, that should be OK on that one, so go ahead and buy the FICO EX's and TU's.
@Poohbear wrote:
DW and I are applying for a construction loan the first week of March '08. We are getting prepared now! We are enrolled in Scorewatch from EQ, have some kind of daily monitoring trom TU, and another product for monitoring EX. We pull reports and scores daily to watch scores go up as we are currently paying off all our cc's that were at 98% util...they are now at 50-75% util. and scores have gone up 12-26 pts this month. Okay, from reading here, we are going to cancel the TU & EX monthly products and use myfico and keep EQ....is this right? Our scores currently are (me) TU 669, EX 664, EQ 661...DW TU 626, EX 594, EQ 620. We need middle scores above 640 to qualify....720+ for best rate..I have met the qualification of 640 DW is on the way! We were told both had to meet middle score of 640 then our interest rate would be based off of the middle score of the 3 highest!!!
The TU and EX products are useful to monitor your REPORTS, not your scores, especially if they allow you to pull your reports daily for all three reports. I use TrueCredit (the TU) product, because it lets me time my payments to show the lowest possible util, and it lets me know when it's a good time to cough up the $$$ for new FICO's. So if they both show all three reports, I would keep one. TC has been know to ban subscribers for what they perceive as attempts to tamper with their scores, so EX might be the way to go (again, if it tracks all three reports and allows daily pulls.)
Anyway, once you know what's on your FICO's, you'll know where you need to go. First strategy: throw every last penny you can at your CC's and get all of them under 50% at a minimum. Then keep paying to get half showing under 10% and the rest (at least half) paid off. Make your payments before the CCC reports, which is generally when the statement drops. I'm leaving the rest for others! Good luck.
You can get on the forums with either Internet Explorer or with Firefox. FF doesn't have the fancy things here, but they do have spell check!
@Poohbear wrote:
Thanks hauling!!! firefox? I am a computer idiot, sorry.
Good job finding transunioncs --I should have mentioned that they are the one other source of FICO's.
Anywho..just pulled from myfico...they show my EX 631 (ouch), EQ 661, and TU was froze? so went to transunioncs.com and got 649 (ouch), DW at myfico is EX 636,EQ 620 and TU froze, again went to TUCS.com and she had a 626.So, these are our new FICO's I like the FAKOs better!!
I don't know enough about how your other baddies are hurting your scores, so I won't try to guess (others might, though!) But paying util helps a lot.
If we pay down all cc's to under 10% util over the next 2 mo's what is the likelyhood of achieving high 600's or low 700's?
How do I find out when our ccc's bill in order to make the cut off and "play the game"..did I miss this somewhere how to do this? Sorry, I have read soooo much I am confused, I really need to boost these scores ASAP!
Here's how you time your payments: look on your TrueCredit report (I assume that's what you have from TU) and click "printable report." You don't have to print it, although it's a good idea to save them somewhere. Anyway, for each account, it will show the date that each account last reported. EQ will only show mm/yyyy, but EX and TU report mm/dd/yyyy. Compare those dates to your CC statements. Most do report on the statement date, and they report the statement balance. I have read that HSBC reports at the end of the month, and some seem to report whatever they want to, whenever they want to.
Anyway, once you know your reporting date, pay online from each card's site 4-5 days before it's due to report again. That way, YOU are in control of the util that reports. Most statements vary by several days each month --for instance, one month it will be on the 5th, and then the 7th, and then the 4th and so on, so that's why it's good to pay early.
Sorry, I've got to leave clean-up for others. All the uglies on my reports were put there by me! But in general, do not dispute from annual yada yada if you can help it --it gives them 45 days instead of 30 to respond. If you can't access your TU, you might not have a choice. Will they mail you a report? I think that as long as you have a report number, you can dispute.
I tried to dispute TU and was sent to annualcreditreport.com....I ran away quickly!! How can I dispute all 3 CRA's and get them to act quickly, they are valid collections...but, they contain errors, such as dates closed and amounts and some are duplicated!!
You're welcome!
Thanks in advance for any help.
Thanks, Timothy! See, this is why I try not to answer dispute questions. 
BTW, I should have mention that the creditors can report all day long, but the CRA's vary on when they get around to posting. For 3-4 months in a row, on my reports, EX posted within 24 hours of an update, TU 2-3 days later, and EQ up to a week.
Now, for the last two TL updates, EQ has gone first, then TU two days later, and EX still hasn't updated. That's a long time for the tryptophan effect from the Thanksgiving turkey!
So the moral is to be sure that all three bureaus show the updated balances on your TrueCredit reports before paying for your FICO scores. Your scores reflect what's on the reports, not what OUGHT to be on the reports. I've wasted a bit more money than I would like by forgetting this...
BTW, I should have mention that the creditors can report all day long, but the CRA's vary on when they get around to posting. For 3-4 months in a row, on my reports, EX posted within 24 hours of an update, TU 2-3 days later, and EQ up to a week.
Now, for the last two TL updates, EQ has gone first, then TU two days later, and EX still hasn't updated. That's a long time for the tryptophan effect from the Thanksgiving turkey!
So the moral is to be sure that all three bureaus show the updated balances on your TrueCredit reports before paying for your FICO scores. Your scores reflect what's on the reports, not what OUGHT to be on the reports. I've wasted a bit more money than I would like by forgetting this...
I have spent a small fortune over the last several months on CRA fees to pull reports and scores, how can I get my scores & reports daily from myfico & transunioncs.com w/o paying for them? I currently have unlimited access to reports & scores from each CRA for a monthly fee. Now that I know that 2 are FAKOs and useless I want to cancel them.
Does myfico have a product for daily monitoring of scores & updates? How can I get TU to unlock for myfico.....they said it was released...but, I still can't get a report? GEEZ
If I have learned anything about this credit mess I put myself in years ago it would be to educate my children on the importance of a credit score!!! I tell them....High A C T scores and high credit scores and you will have an easier road in life!!! Why didn't anyone ever tell me this as a young person?! We must educate our children, people. Sorry...my mind wandered a little.
Thanks everyone!!
Sorry, no such thing as affordable frequent FICO pulls. FICO has to pay the CRA's every time they generate a score, so they can't come up with a doable package.
Improvement in your credit means improvement of your credit reports. Score change is a result of report change, so that's what you need to focus on.
If you go with TrueCredit or a similar service with the ability to pull daily, you won't have to do frequent score pulls, although curiosity sure works against this. If you have done something major like pay down/ off five CC's, or gotten collections removed, you will know from TC when all have updated on all three reports. And then if you have to know, you can pull your FICO's. Also ScoreWatch will (usually) alert you to an EQ score change, so if anything completely unexpected comes up, you should get a heads-up.
My kids are 24, 22, and 20, and all they hear me drone is that money and credit are great servants, but terrible masters. With their permission, I have pulled all 3 scores for all 3 kids, and they know where they are, where they want to be, and how to get there. Parenting never ends, your target audience just gets taller than you!
Improvement in your credit means improvement of your credit reports. Score change is a result of report change, so that's what you need to focus on.
If you go with TrueCredit or a similar service with the ability to pull daily, you won't have to do frequent score pulls, although curiosity sure works against this. If you have done something major like pay down/ off five CC's, or gotten collections removed, you will know from TC when all have updated on all three reports. And then if you have to know, you can pull your FICO's. Also ScoreWatch will (usually) alert you to an EQ score change, so if anything completely unexpected comes up, you should get a heads-up.
My kids are 24, 22, and 20, and all they hear me drone is that money and credit are great servants, but terrible masters. With their permission, I have pulled all 3 scores for all 3 kids, and they know where they are, where they want to be, and how to get there. Parenting never ends, your target audience just gets taller than you!