newbie here.....have some questions

[Suede_Pumps]

Hello everybody! I'm hoping someone can help me with this dilemma I'm having. Excuse me for the long post.

I'm a little confused about how the credit score system works and why my score dropped 135 points in two years. I pulled my CR in 12' and there wasn't really much on it, or maybe I just didn't understand it. To my knowledge I have a student loan of $2500 that has been open since 08'-09', but I keep deferring it because I'm trying to go back to school and thank God this is the year it will happen. I also have a sprint phone bill that has been open since 11' and that gets paid on time mostly (haha)....on a negative note I do have a $1700 old tmobile bill that has gone to collections, but I don't want to pay it because tmobile was pretty shady in telling me why it had gotten that high. I also have $1400 hospital bill.... That's as far as past history.

Now I'm trying to get a decent car, so I got in with a credit union and tried to open a loan with them but I was denied . When I asked what my score was they told me 553! But when I opened my account with sprint they sent me a letter saying my score was 688. How did my score drop 135 points? When I looked at my CR the hospital bill wasn't there and neither was the tmobile account...it just showed my student loan. I'm scared to go to an actuall dealership and they pull my credit again and I get denied...doesn't that lower your score again? Me thinking that the reason I didn't get theloan was because I didn't have enoug revovlivng credit, I opened a credit card with my job which is a clothing store. It initially told me that they needed further review, but when my boss checked the system she said the credt card app was processed so I should be looking for something in the mail, I guess. Idk I guess I'm confused about where do I start to get my credit back up to the 600's and better, and why it dropped so much. Also, will I still be able to get a car loan? Its a necessity that I get one or I can't get to school or work and I need to do both.

Any advice?

[InvincibleSummer3]

Hello, and welcome to the forums!

First things first - I would recommend getting a copy fo your actual reports and seeing exactly what's being reported. You can go to annualcreditreport.com to do this. Don't bother with getting the scores (they'll ask you if you want to purchase them), as they are FAKOs. More on what that means in a second. Yes, credit inquiries from lenders can harm your score, but pulling your own information will not cause any changes.

This is a great post that will give you the basic rundown on how your credit score is calculated. Totally worth a read:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Your-Guide-to-Credit-Scoring/m-p/718550#M1168...

When you opened the account with Sprint, did they tell you where they got that credit score? And where did the Credit Union get the score they gave you?

[Suede_Pumps]

Thanks invincible for responding!
I believe that Sprint pulled experian score, but I never thought to ask the credit union. (oops) I was just so discouraged that they denied me....well they didn't fully deny, they just said I need a cosigner which I dont have.

the car I was looking at was a nissan altima coupe, so i figured if nissan pulled my score for financing, my score would be lowered. I definitely will check out the other post though. Thanks so much I'm really trying to understand lol

[InvincibleSummer3]

An inquiry isn't necessarily a huge ding - certainly not the kind of drop you saw.  Inquiries only account for 10% of your score. Your utilization & payment history are a much bigger chunk.

The thread will also give you the rundown on FAKO scores vs. FICO scores. I was just hoping to make sure that this was indeed a FICO score, and if so were the two scores you got from the same bureau, etc. To make things even more confusing, there are different "flavors" of FICO scores. If two lenders are using Transunion, but one is using an older version, then often you can get disparate results, even from the same reporting agency.

The quickest way to bring up a score fast is to look at your utilization. Do you have more than the one revolving account? Not having "good" credit (i.e. no lates, no overlimit, no closed accounts) can sometimes ding your score. Your deferred student loan probably isn't doing much, although check the reports to make sure. The two collections are probably damaging, and the more recent they are the more problematic they'll be. Also - is your Sprint tradeline showing lates? That can also be one of the reasons for the drop. You'll want to make sure you pay on time, every time. One 30 day late can hurt.

Post if you have questions. And hang in there - maybe, depending on what your reports say, there's a way to get this score up fairly quickly.

[CashOnDelivery]

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@Suede_Pumps wrote:
Hello everybody! I'm hoping someone can help me with this dilemma I'm having. Excuse me for the long post.

I'm a little confused about how the credit score system works and why my score dropped 135 points in two years. I pulled my CR in 12' and there wasn't really much on it, or maybe I just didn't understand it. To my knowledge I have a student loan of $2500 that has been open since 08'-09', but I keep deferring it because I'm trying to go back to school and thank God this is the year it will happen. I also have a sprint phone bill that has been open since 11' and that gets paid on time mostly (haha)....on a negative note I do have a $1700 old tmobile bill that has gone to collections, but I don't want to pay it because tmobile was pretty shady in telling me why it had gotten that high. I also have $1400 hospital bill.... That's as far as past history.

Now I'm trying to get a decent car, so I got in with a credit union and tried to open a loan with them but I was denied . When I asked what my score was they told me 553! But when I opened my account with sprint they sent me a letter saying my score was 688. How did my score drop 135 points? When I looked at my CR the hospital bill wasn't there and neither was the tmobile account...it just showed my student loan. I'm scared to go to an actuall dealership and they pull my credit again and I get denied...doesn't that lower your score again? Me thinking that the reason I didn't get theloan was because I didn't have enoug revovlivng credit, I opened a credit card with my job which is a clothing store. It initially told me that they needed further review, but when my boss checked the system she said the credt card app was processed so I should be looking for something in the mail, I guess. Idk I guess I'm confused about where do I start to get my credit back up to the 600's and better, and why it dropped so much. Also, will I still be able to get a car loan? Its a necessity that I get one or I can't get to school or work and I need to do both.

Any advice?

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If the T-Mobile is in collections, do a DV with the CA. Sometimes CA's have a hard time proving the debt with the amount. You can also ask for documentation on such as last billing statement anything to justify the amount. You type in "DV Letter" in the search field to help you with that.

Also, I highlighted part of your post to get a better understanding of your situation. So you opened Sprint in 11' and at that time your score was 688. You checked your CR in 12' and didn't see the collections. You recently applied for a loan (13') and was denied and you found out your score is 553. If that is the case, your collections were reporting between the last time you checked your CR in 12' and when you were denied a loan.

[Suede_Pumps]

Hey Cash,

I will definitely look into that dv letter for sure. Let me clarify on when I checked my CR. I checked it around oct-nov 12' and applied for the loan in late mid-late december 12', but they didn't get back to me until the new year so I guess that is when everything kicked in.

Thanks so much for the advice!