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The whole credit score model is 'ridiculous'

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Anonymous
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Re: The whole credit score model is 'ridiculous'

Message 21 of 42
Anonymous
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Re: The whole credit score model is 'ridiculous'

I was hoping that trended data would become a big part of the CRA datasets.  If they were to, especially a rich history of payment data, then a lot of the "ridiculous" aspects of the current and past FICO models would get solved.

 

E.g. gimmicky stuff like ultralow utilization, or all cards at zero except one, or needing to open several extra credit cards.  None of that would be needed by FICO if it had solid TD to draw on.

 

We'll see if that every happens.

Message 22 of 42
Anonymous
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Re: The whole credit score model is 'ridiculous'

One of the problematic things about the article (in my opinion) is the the false dichotomy between FICO and income -- as if prospective lenders don't use both in their decisions.  It's actually a good thing that FICO doesn't include income or assets.  If makes it easier for a lender to clearly separate the three things when it makes decisions.

 

The FICO score lets them assess how a person handles payments and exisiting credit that he does have, and income and assets allow the lender to assess what size of an income stream the person has had.

Message 23 of 42
trusty
Frequent Contributor

Re: The whole credit score model is 'ridiculous'


@iv wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

My primary beef with the current system is that it is still relatively difficult to obtain accurate, complete, credit reports on a timely basis.  I don't feel that paying $30/mo to services like MyFICO is anywhere near reasonable for the average person.  And sitting here waiting for the quarterly dribble of info my $30($90/qtr) provides is pretty pathetic.  I choose to do so, during my rebuilding, but it's absurd that it should cost that much to access this information.  There is no reason why CRA's can't provide access to this information to consumers in real-time, for free.  If not, allow me to opt out of your ability to hold my personal financial information.  It is a priviledge that they have access to this information.  They should start acting like it.  


I strongly agree... real-time, on demand access to both (truly full) reports and scoring should be freely available to all consumers.

 

But we're actually much closer to that now than ever before:

 

Equifax directly supplies daily report pulls for free to everyone (on trustedid.com, sign up for free at equifaxsecurity2017.com). Also appears to offer a lock/unlock service for free.

 

Transunion directly supplies daily report pulls for free to everyone (on trueidentity.com, sign up for the free membership). Also appears to offer a lock/unlock service for free.

 

Experian directly supplies monthly reports with FICO 8 scores for free to everyone (on experian.com, with free signups scattered across a bunch of Experian-owned sites and apps).

 

When you include the many CC lenders that offer FICO 8 TU/EX scores (to customers or even to the general public, like Discover's creditscorecard.com), most needs are actually covered fairly well - this is amazing progress since 2013-2014 or so.

 

The big gaps that we're still missing are:

Daily free Experian reports and free lock/unlock (hopefully they'll start matching EQ/TU on that soon)

Free Equifax FICO 8 scores (oddly unpopular with CC issuers for their free monthly scores)

Free "mortgage" FICO scores (at least there are multiple paid sources now - fairly recently these were impossible without a "real" pull)

 

 


Just a few clarifications, so folks don't get their hopes up:

 

The Equifax free monitoring service is only designed to work for a year. After that, who knows what they'll be offering. Based on experience, they literally change their entire personal solutions offerings every few years.

 

The Experian free monthly service is at usa.experian.com.

Message 24 of 42
Ardecko
Frequent Contributor

Re: The whole credit score model is 'ridiculous'

Your trueidentity update is incorrect. It does provide daily pulls. (Sometimes the website is broken, and it won't update, but that's a different matter.)
2017-09-09 FICO 08: EQ 677, TU 640, EX 705
2020-02-07 FICO 08: TU 789
2020-02-10 FICO 08: EX 752

Gardening, mostly, again until... soon(I need to replace my car)

Message 25 of 42
trusty
Frequent Contributor

Re: The whole credit score model is 'ridiculous'


@Ardecko wrote:
Your trueidentity update is incorrect. It does provide daily pulls. (Sometimes the website is broken, and it won't update, but that's a different matter.)


You are absolutely correct! I just pulled yesterday and today, and can confirm that trueidentity allowed the daily pull.

 

I must have had a browser or script issue, because I didn't see the Refresh Report button until I used my smartphone. It's weird, because I did actually see a refresh button - just only after 30 days - for a few months running. Which led me to infer that the daily option wasn't there.

 

Nevertheless, thanks for clarifying. Good stuff.

Message 26 of 42
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: The whole credit score model is 'ridiculous'

I think the FICO algorithms are correct, too. I, too, am poor and for the last two years have been paying my bills on time. I’ve seen improvements in my scores over time. Now that I understand how credit works, I will definitely be in the 800 club in the next 3 years or so. I like the simulation feature.
Message 27 of 42
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: The whole credit score model is 'ridiculous'

Add credit score based car insurance as even more ridiculous.  They'll charge someone with a DUI and good credit significantly less than someone who has poor or no credit.

Message 28 of 42
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: The whole credit score model is 'ridiculous'

Wait until the Chinese scoring model gets here, will be begging to return to FICO.
Of course it's completely ridiculous. When I lived without a bank or credit paying everything in cash I only bought what I could afford and only paid what I could afford to lose. My reward for my responsibility was Zero credit score, no rewards for spending, and Merchants building credit fees into all their prices.

Ever since I allow myself to borrow, now I get cash back and I'm not losing out by paying cash for everything. But if I wasn't approved for the cards and couldn't get the derogatories off my record, I will be living a lot worse. The system is designed to keep people poor.
Message 29 of 42
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: The whole credit score model is 'ridiculous'

I totally agree! Our reports and scores should be made available for free to us on demand. They should also be locked by default and the consumer able to freeze and unfreeze our reports for no charge as well. It's insane that the fee's the charge to subscribe to their monitoring services when it is something they are already supposed to be doing. I also think some revison should be made in regards to the UTL of credit lines. If we have 12K and even use half of that we shouldn't be dinged unless we carry a balance over a period of time. They don't really seem to be able to capture those of us that use the accounts, let it report and PIF. While I understand the guidelines it still stinks only a percentage of our credit lines can be utlized without causing a score drop.

Message 30 of 42
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