So what IS my score?

[badnewsbears]

I'm 22 and have only 1 thing on my credit right now: my student loans. Two months of it (out of 20) went unpaid but it re entered deferment, but the two months still hurt me I think.

I'm trying to build credit so I've been applying to credit cards. I've applied to Amazon, American Express, and Wal-Mart. I've been declined from all three. The most mind boggling was the Wal-Mart refusal: they said my score was 378 when others have clearly stated that it is 540/539.

All of my credit applications come back with the following notes:

HIGH RATIO ACCOUNTS 30+ DAYS PAST DUE TO ACCOUNTS OPENED 3+ MONTHS 
TOO MANY ACCOUNTS 30 OR MORE DAYS PAST DUE IN LAST 12 MONTHS 
ACCOUNTS IN COLLECTION OR 60 DAYS PAST DUE OR ADVERSE PUBLIC RECORDS 
LACK OF RECENTLY ESTABLISHED REVOLVING ACCOUNTS

What the heck do those mean and why are they on there? Like I said the only credit I have to my name is my deferred student loan which has only 2 out of 20 months of late status payments.

There's one thing that might be messing with my credit: about two years ago I mistakenly used the wrong card for two online payments and couldn't afford to pay the 2x35$ fee at the time. I contacted Wells Fargo and told them that I could pay it off when my student refund comes in, but the refund came in a little too late and they reported me to Chex. Chex offered me a deal and only had me pay like $40-something dollars out of the $70 owed and I thought it was a great deal at the time but I think that's causing issues. Could it be?

I signed up to USAA's credit monitoring service and now I'm even more confused! It reports my scores as the following:

Experian: 710

Equifax: 700

TransUnion: 700

I don't know whether to believe it or not. Apparently these scores are PLUS scores, so they are completely useless to me right? This is so frustrating.. I just want to know what my credit score is without jumping through hoops. Why am I getting readings of 540, 539, 710/700/700, and 373?

I did notice one thing odd about my student loan.

Why in the world does it jump from "OK" immediately to 90 then 120? Shouldn't it go 30 > 60 > 90 > 120? =/

Where in the world of the interwebs can I find my actual score? USAA says I have no public information and gives these useless scores.. errrg so frustrated >_<

PS-

[rant]

When I did that overdraft at Wells Fargo I immediately called them the next business day and explained the situation. They were relentless. They didn't care that I offered to pay the two orders in full minus the fees. They didn't care that I had been a member of their bank since '07 (this happened in '11). I talked to several managers and none of them cared. I wasn't disgruntled at all.. I was very kind and understanding (which could have been my downfall haha). It sickens me that they treat people this way even when they are honest..

[/rant]

[llecs]

GECRB, which underwrites Wal-Mart and many others, uses their own proprietary score on applicants. I don't recall the starting point, but it maxes at 520. So definitely don't compare scores from there to elsewhere.

The scores from USAA are PLUS scores as mentioned. They factor in stuff that FICO does not and vice-versa.

If you have a 120-day late reporting then that'll take a heavy toll on your FICO. That can explain for 3 of those 4 negative reason codes provided by whomever you app'd with. It could be misreporting, but it could be doing so in your favor. I definitely wouldn't ask them to add any lates. But I would send them a GW letter asking if they wouldn't mind removing the lates.

The overdraft from WF probably isn't reporting. They only report if you didn't pay it and WF wouldn't report it to your 3 main CRs even if you didn't pay it; they'd hire a collection agency. Now they could report it to Chexsystems but that wouldn't impact your FICO or these recent creditors you applied with. It'll only impact you on future deposit account openings.

[badnewsbears]

Thanks for your response. That makes my situation a lot more understandable.. it's weird that GECRB does its own score system :-\

I'll try sending a GW letter to get those 90/120 lates off of there then.

So by the looks of it my scores are about "average" for someone with little/no credit it seems, right? If 520 is the max and I got a 373, that would be a 70% test score.. so I assume that's "okay"? I guess it's time to get a secured card to build my credit!

[llecs]

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@badnewsbears wrote:

So by the looks of it my scores are about "average" for someone with little/no credit it seems, right? If 520 is the max and I got a 373, that would be a 70% test score.. so I assume that's "okay"? I guess it's time to get a secured card to build my credit!

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I wouldn't infer that because I don't think the GECRB score starts at 0. Even if it did every lender has their own standards. I was getting approved for decent cards like Amex and Discover with FICOs in the mid-700s, but at the same time being denied for GECRB-based cards like JCP...even though some in here have successfully applied with scores around 600. Different strokes for different folks I guess....ETA...a secured CC is a great start. I started with 2.

[HiLine]

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@badnewsbears wrote:

Thanks for your response. That makes my situation a lot more understandable.. it's weird that GECRB does its own score system :-\

I'll try sending a GW letter to get those 90/120 lates off of there then.

So by the looks of it my scores are about "average" for someone with little/no credit it seems, right? If 520 is the max and I got a 373, that would be a 70% test score.. so I assume that's "okay"? I guess it's time to get a secured card to build my credit!

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I don't think that estimate should be relied upon. Even FICO scores for the exact same profile differ significantly, sometimes as much as 10%, and occasionally even more