@creditn00bAt40 wrote:Hi! I'm just starting out here on this forum, and also new to fiscal responsibility in general. I have been reading and learning, and I'm really appreciative to all of you who've taken the time to answer questions, give input and recount your own experiences so that others can learn.
I've been trying to rebuild my credit for about 2 years now, but I've really gotten serious about it the past few months. As my credit has (glacially) slowly improved, the bullet list explanations for adverse actions have evolved. Recently I saw a new reason for denying me credit: presence of consumer finance company loan. I understand that payday loans are bad for your credit file, and I understand why. But is there a way to know whether a particular lender carries that association? My credit utilization is at a very harmful level and I'd like to consolidate, but I'm leery of a personal loan appearing as a CFC loan. I've got a long time to wait before my existing closed payday loans (12 Eq 15 TU 2 EX) age off, and I certainly don't want to add any more.
Thank you!
Personal loans from a bank or credit union will not be scored as a consumer finance account.
Some internet lender loans are scored as CFA's; if you go for that type of loan you should check here first to see if it will be a CFA or not.
I'm tired of seeing my Transunion score sitting pretty much stagnant for about a year now, hovering between 698 and 702. I decided to start disputing stuff. So far I got one of four late payment IIB account removed and no FICO8 change.
This thread made me wonder if the paid off, no missed payments Lending Club loan I closed back in 2017 was affecting anything, so I disputed it as too old. It may hurt my AAoA rating, but I don't care. I'm not looking to get anything with credit any time soon. I'll report back whether the dispute was successful and whether my score changed as soon as I find out.
@Pppoolboy wrote:yep gotta avoid using stuff like "Affirm" BNPL ... I mistakenly did one even though I didn't need to because I thought it woulD HELP my score.. . well I dodged a bullet because it was under a hundred bucks... I paid it off instantly ... it shows up on my experian score under "personal loans" and then the caption states "Since this collection account's original balance was less than $100, it isn't factored into your FICO® Score 8."
can you believe that? A service sold to consumers as a good thing rings up as a "collection account" on credit reports....
that's just a bug with experian's website, it assumes all TL's under $100 are collections, that's not actually reported as a collection on your report
0/6, 2/12, 7/24
@gorgon wrote:I'm tired of seeing my Transunion score sitting pretty much stagnant for about a year now, hovering between 698 and 702. I decided to start disputing stuff. So far I got one of four late payment IIB account removed and no FICO8 change.
This thread made me wonder if the paid off, no missed payments Lending Club loan I closed back in 2017 was affecting anything, so I disputed it as too old. It may hurt my AAoA rating, but I don't care. I'm not looking to get anything with credit any time soon. I'll report back whether the dispute was successful and whether my score changed as soon as I find out.
Disputing accurate information on your reports can have very bad consequences at times. It's strongly advised not to do that.
The presence of CFAs is listed as a reason code, but their affect on scoring is negligible if they actually really affect them at all. (Age metrics carry a lot of weight in scoring, so while not a very bad consequence like the possibility of reaging older derogs, removing an older account in good standing can possibly have negative consequences if it affects those averages to any real extent.)
I've had that reason show up when one of the bureaus didn't have too much else to come up with other than "new accounts" and "inquiries" with scores well into the 800s. I get it from long-ago paid Lending Club and Prosper loans, but there are numerous examples of traditional loan products being flagged as CFAs on these forums. IIRC it was Toyota's manufacturer financing that was getting flagged as a CRA, because apparently if anything screamed high risk subprime lending, it was being charged an astronomical 0% or even 0.9% APR for an auto loan, rather than doing the responsible thing and getting 5-8% through your bank LOL.
@creditn00bAt40 wrote:I've got a long time to wait before my existing closed payday loans (12 Eq 15 TU 2 EX) age off, and I certainly don't want to add any more.
If I'm counting right, I'm down to 15 Eq, 21 TU, and 1 Ex 
I do believe the effect is minimal. That's a reason code that pops up when they can't find anything else negative to say about you. IMO, you're doing pretty well when you see that code.
EQ8 768, TU8 755, EX8 767 as of December 23
@gorgon wrote:I'm tired of seeing my Transunion score sitting pretty much stagnant for about a year now, hovering between 698 and 702. I decided to start disputing stuff. So far I got one of four late payment IIB account removed and no FICO8 change.
This thread made me wonder if the paid off, no missed payments Lending Club loan I closed back in 2017 was affecting anything, so I disputed it as too old. It may hurt my AAoA rating, but I don't care. I'm not looking to get anything with credit any time soon. I'll report back whether the dispute was successful and whether my score changed as soon as I find out.
Got the dispute results back from CK. Transunion refused to remove the account.