topic Re: Quick question.......I'm new at this. in General Credit Topics

Quick question.......I'm new at this.

memevertical — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 23:29:11 GMT

Hi everyone, I have a few questions, and hopefully your answers will take me in the right direction.

1.- I just learned that my scores are TU: 664 EX:688 EQ:620, is it normal that Equifax is so much lower than the other two?

2.- I have a car loan of $9000 that I got 3 months ago, but its only reflected on the Equifax side, is it up to the lender who to report to? Or should I give them a call and ask them to report to all three?

3.- I only have $2100 out of $2500 used in credit cards and the car loan I mentioned, I plan to pay-off $1200 towards my credit cards to help the scores go up, what else could I do to help my credit?

4.- What's the best way to monitor your credit scores? I signed up today on a website for a 7 day trial, and I plan on paying it monthly but I don't know which one its considered the best one out there.

Thanks everyone for your help.

Re: Quick question.......I'm new at this.

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 02:32:28 GMT

@memevertical wrote:
Hi everyone, I have a few questions, and hopefully your answers will take me in the right direction.

1.- I just learned that my scores are TU: 664 EX:688 EQ:620, is it normal that Equifax is so much lower than the other two?

2.- I have a car loan of $9000 that I got 3 months ago, but its only reflected on the Equifax side, is it up to the lender who to report to? Or should I give them a call and ask them to report to all three?

3.- I only have $2100 out of $2500 used in credit cards and the car loan I mentioned, I plan to pay-off $1200 towards my credit cards to help the scores go up, what else could I do to help my credit?

4.- What's the best way to monitor your credit scores? I signed up today on a website for a 7 day trial, and I plan on paying it monthly but I don't know which one its considered the best one out there.

Thanks everyone for your help.

1. My EXP score is much lower than my others. The content of your reports is usually different causing the score differences. Also I am curious as to where you got your scores. Consumers can no longer get their Experian scores. The only way to actually get your Experian score is for a lender to pull your credit and tell you or there is a credit union somewhere that can give it to you. Most likely the scores you are showing are what we call FAKO's and have no relation to your actual FICO scores.

2. I have an auto loan that ONLY reports to TU. It is up to the creditor to report. They choose who they report to. It can be 1, 2 or all three. However if they dont report to them it wont be there. The CRA's dont report what each other have for you only what is reported by creditors. You can try calling your auto loan company and asking them to report to all three but its not likely they have to pay to report.

3. Utilization is big on Revolving accounts (credit cards) it is not as big a factor on installment loan (autos and mortgage). For FICO scoring purposes pay off cards first but sometimes from a money saving standpoint you may be better paying on the auto depending on your interest rates. But the less you owe on credit cards the higher your score will be.

4. This is a personal preference. I prefer MyFico to monitor because I get FICO scores. However some websites allow you to pull reports daily while giving you FAKO scores. MyFico only tells you when something changes but doesnt give you a full report. So you have to choose reports daily or regularly or getting Real scores or you could buy both. I prefer MyFico. I pulled my report and just keep track of changes.

Hope this all helps a little.

Re: Quick question.......I'm new at this.

memevertical — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 02:49:58 GMT

Wow!! Thanks for your reply...... it made some things very clear now.

Regarding your question, I got my scores at FreeScore.com. So if those are not FICO scores, what are they? just Fake numbers?

Which myFico service do u use?

Thanks again!!!!

Re: Quick question.......I'm new at this.

RobertEG — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 03:11:13 GMT

Your % util of revolving credit is now 84%. That is hurting a lot. Utililization is the second most important component of your score, and revolving utilzation is the bulk of that.

You will show the quickest score increase by getting your revolving % util at least under 40%, and preferably in the 10% range.

Re: Quick question.......I'm new at this.

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 03:21:32 GMT

The numbers are necessarily fake. They are based on some scoring algorithm however it is not the one used by lenders so for all practical purposes yes they are fake. I use score watch. I signed up for a 1 year membership. When you do they give you a full copy of your Equifax report complete with your actual FICO score. This report is great. It gives you all of the good and the bad about your report. It gives all accounts and current info for them. The report tells you what you need to do to increase your score. It then gives you 1 more score power report to use whenever you want to. Then it has a settings area. You go into settings and pick which alerts you want to receive. I get alerts when I get new inquiries, new accounts post, balances change on accounts, when my score changes etc. Now when you get an alert on an account it only shows the info for that account. You dont get a new report just an account update. But you can always go back and look at the first report you pulled for reference. If your score changes and you have it set right it will tell you when your score changes and what factors contributed to that score change. Once you subscribe it also gives you the option to buy Transunion and Equifax score power reports whenever you want but it only monitors EQ. I love the service. If you decide to use it you need to make sure under the settings tab you do the score setting correctly.

It will say something like Alert me whenever my score reaches xxx? It will have a box you put in the score you want to be alerted to. For example if you had a 609 and wanted to know when it gets to 620 just enter 620. You will ONLY get the score change alert if you go over 620. Howver if you have the 609 and put in the score 609. It will notify you if your score moves from the 609 whether it is up or down. That is how I set mine. When I get a score change alert I go in and change it to my current score. That way I know anytime it changes. Again this is personal preference. This service has worked well for me. The combination of that service and the great help from this site has helped me change my score dramatically.

Good Luck

Re: Quick question.......I'm new at this.

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 15:10:27 GMT

@memevertical wrote:
Hi everyone, I have a few questions, and hopefully your answers will take me in the right direction.

1.- I just learned that my scores are TU: 664 EX:688 EQ:620, is it normal that Equifax is so much lower than the other two?

2.- I have a car loan of $9000 that I got 3 months ago, but its only reflected on the Equifax side, is it up to the lender who to report to? Or should I give them a call and ask them to report to all three?

3.- I only have $2100 out of $2500 used in credit cards and the car loan I mentioned, I plan to pay-off $1200 towards my credit cards to help the scores go up, what else could I do to help my credit?

4.- What's the best way to monitor your credit scores? I signed up today on a website for a 7 day trial, and I plan on paying it monthly but I don't know which one its considered the best one out there.

Thanks everyone for your help.

Your scores are not true FICO scores. FICO scores may be higher or lower, it is hard to say.

You can get them at myFICO or Equifax.com or Transunioncs.com. EX FICO is no longer available to the consumer.

Not every lender reports to every CRA. There is no requirement for them to do that. That is one of the reasons for a score difference.

Your revolving utilization is pretty high. That in itself counts 30% toward your score. You should get it down to at least 10%. Use half of your CC and keep the others at a 0 balance. PIF each month before the statement posts to aviod interest charges. Only allow 9% or less to post to your CR.

The best website for monitoring depends on what it is you are looking for.

Re: Quick question.......I'm new at this.

memevertical — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:39:21 GMT

Thanks for the info.

I'm going to apply for a home loan in about 6 months and want to get my credit in good standing, and I just thought that getting my scores up was the goal, but reading trhough this forum I found put that thats not the only thing lenders look, the actual report has a lot to do.

What is it about my report that could affect me? Mine is really simple, 3 credit cards and 1 car loan. Not a single late payment. What do you think I should monitor more, my scores or the actual report?

Thanks again for your time.

Re: Quick question.......I'm new at this.

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 17:10:40 GMT

It is not just what is on your CR, the lender can go back and look at your entire credit file, back to the day you started. They can do this, I don't know that they will.

With that said, if you have anything from the past that could come back to haunt you, like an unpaid judgment, disclose it now.

Don't apply for anything before having your CR pulled for the loan, don't dispute anything on your CR.

You have no current negatives?

Re: Quick question.......I'm new at this.

memevertical — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 17:22:02 GMT

No, but its because my credit history is only 2 years old.

one Credit Card that I have is Joint with my wife, and her history is longer, but mine is just 2 years, I got my SSN and Residence 2 years ago.

Is this bad?

Re: Quick question.......I'm new at this.

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:05:06 GMT

In terms of history, it is very short.

As long as what you have reporting is all good, then you should have a decent score.

Is there any other CC accounts, older than 2 years, that your wife could add you on, that reports to the CRAs?

Re: Quick question.......I'm new at this.

memevertical — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:32:54 GMT

Well, she's had a Paypal credit account for around 3 years......do you think her adding me to that one would help?

Re: Quick question.......I'm new at this.

memevertical — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:45:42 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
The numbers are necessarily fake. They are based on some scoring algorithm however it is not the one used by lenders so for all practical purposes yes they are fake. I use score watch. I signed up for a 1 year membership. When you do they give you a full copy of your Equifax report complete with your actual FICO score. This report is great. It gives you all of the good and the bad about your report. It gives all accounts and current info for them. The report tells you what you need to do to increase your score. It then gives you 1 more score power report to use whenever you want to. Then it has a settings area. You go into settings and pick which alerts you want to receive. I get alerts when I get new inquiries, new accounts post, balances change on accounts, when my score changes etc. Now when you get an alert on an account it only shows the info for that account. You dont get a new report just an account update. But you can always go back and look at the first report you pulled for reference. If your score changes and you have it set right it will tell you when your score changes and what factors contributed to that score change. Once you subscribe it also gives you the option to buy Transunion and Equifax score power reports whenever you want but it only monitors EQ. I love the service. If you decide to use it you need to make sure under the settings tab you do the score setting correctly.

It will say something like Alert me whenever my score reaches xxx? It will have a box you put in the score you want to be alerted to. For example if you had a 609 and wanted to know when it gets to 620 just enter 620. You will ONLY get the score change alert if you go over 620. Howver if you have the 609 and put in the score 609. It will notify you if your score moves from the 609 whether it is up or down. That is how I set mine. When I get a score change alert I go in and change it to my current score. That way I know anytime it changes. Again this is personal preference. This service has worked well for me. The combination of that service and the great help from this site has helped me change my score dramatically.

Good Luck

I checked Score watch, and it only works for Equifax.......should knowing only my Equifax be enough? Is it better to know also TransUnion? Is there a service that gives you those 2 scores?

Re: Quick question.......I'm new at this.

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 13:42:50 GMT

You said that the lenders can go back and look at the entire credit file. What do you mean by this they can go beyond that what is being reported in a CR. I have always wondered if there is someone or something out there that keeps tabs on everyones credit files from the start of life.

Thanks Before hand,

Re: Quick question.......I'm new at this.

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 20:33:35 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
You said that the lenders can go back and look at the entire credit file. What do you mean by this they can go beyond that what is being reported in a CR. I have always wondered if there is someone or something out there that keeps tabs on everyones credit files from the start of life.
Thanks Before hand,

Everyone has a credit file, which is different and separate from you credit report. Negative items cannot be reported beyond 7 - 7.5 years on your CR. Once they are removed they are maintained in a credit file.

When you apply for a mortgage or insurance which is more than $150,000 or have an annual income of $75,000 or more, the creditor can see your entire credit file. It is a right they have. Whether they exercise that or not is up to them.

Re: Quick question.......I'm new at this.

RobertEG — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 02:25:19 GMT

I concur with Guiness. The relevant statute is FCRA 605(b).

This grants a total exemption to all of the CRA restrictions of FCRA 605(A) barring inclusion of derogs in your credit file from any credit report they issue, providing the party requesting the CR specifices that the inquiry is to be used in connection with the a credit tansaction or underwritng of life insurance which involves, or is expected to involve, a principal amount of $150,000 or more (most mortgage loans), or is in connection with an employment investrigation that can reasonably be expected to invlove an income of $75,000 or more.

I dont know if most mortgage companies invoke this right to your full credit history, but they are entitled to it if they so request.

So, gone from your current credit report does not necassarioly mean it is gone from your reportable credit history.

Re: Quick question......I'm new at this.

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:07:01 GMT

It is only showing in the Equifax and that is why you score is lower than the others. I had the same problem but with Transunion; once I paid off my car loan my credit score jumped right up to match the others, actually they are less than 20 points difference. If you have the credit agencies list your loan your score with them will probably drop as well. Might be better off leaving it as it is.