Inconsistency, frustration and no clear answers

[danev2]

I signed up for the service from truecredit.com from TU. $11.95 per month, Gives me real time credit reports, plus alert from changes or updates to my credit reports etc, etc. Give me three scores as well. 625/599/574-TU/EX/EQ the three CRA's. Now I'm thinking I'm not doing so badly, scores jump nearly 75 points since beginning of February. I had disputed things, corrected things, and generally everything on the reports was correct. for better or for worse.

Now today I talked to my mortgage person, had some false hopes that maybe I might qualify for a FHA or something for a mortgage. NOPE!

But what she informed me about my score was what gave me cause for concern. She pulled a three CRA report from Kroll Factual data; and my scores from that are nowhere near what the truecredit website reports. the numbers she got were 617/555/558 for TU/EQ/EX.
WHY?

Now looking at the two reports Kroll and truecredit, item by item, they appear to be identical. The order of the different tradelines differ, the total data of all my previous mortgages, credit cards, student loans etc is all the same.

Why the different numbers?
I have not yet contacted Transunion, that offers this truecredit "product" planning on doing that tomorrow first thing, my blood pressure and frustration was just too high to talk to anyone, nicely.

Speaking of frustration... This is an aside, but I wonder if others are in the same situation as me.

We've heard the term marginalized, mostly in political terms, but what about financial terms... I feel marginalized, and it's the full source of my frustration.

Up until last January. I had alot of credit card debt, a so-so credit score. At the end of 2007 my fortunes majorly improved. I got a job that paid 50%; more than my previous job of 10 years. I had a home, paid the mortgage on time, except for a few rough patches, paid all my bills on time, except for a few rough patches.. there were times when things were late, but they were paid.

I sold my house in January, even in this lousy market, and walked away with good cash, why? because I built sweat equity, and didn't cash out it's appreciation. I paid off all my bills. I have zero debt now. none. and cash for a down payment on a new house.
Yet I cannot qualify for a mortgage again. even with down payment money in the bank, a better job. and zero debt.

The reason?, my scores are too low. the mistakes I made during that ten years, are severely penalizing me now.

Thats frustration..
thanks
Dane V
Chandler, AZ

[nosxih]

My truecredit scores are always higher than MyFico scores. they are calculated differently and the mortgage companies take the FICO scores. You get so called FAKO scores from TrueCredit. I use TC to pull reports to check on updates and changes but discount the scores they show there.

Use MyFico scores occasionally to get your true FICO scores.
Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

danev2, welcome to the forums. The scores that you get from TC are FAKOs. The only place that you can get true FICO scores are at myfico!!!!

I have TC also but only use it to monitor my CR.

Late payments hurt for the first 2 years. You can send GW letters to try & get them deleted.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=generalcredit&message.id=2661

What CC do you have?  Post them with the CL and UTIL.  A high UTIL will hurt your scores.

FICO like to see some CC with a Bal $0  and all under 10%   You usually see score start going up when your UTIL drops to 50%   30% and under 10%

CC counts for 35% of your scores! How many CCs do you have?  Never close a CC account!

I want to thank you for the way that you posted. It was easy to read!!

Message Edited by HappyDays on 04-22-2008 11:15 PM

[danev2]

Sorry for the delay in replying, I can't do this fun stuff at work. so I have to wait till I get home.

I'll give you a quick update, on my call to Transunion to talk to them about their truecredit FICO/FACO score'os. First you can't talk to a truecredit rep. there isn't one. Go, look on their website for a contact us page... None.

SO I called TU directly. after being bounced around through 4 people and 3 countries I'm sure. I think I finally ended up India. And I ask them about the scores and whether they are real FICO scores. They finally admitted to me that they are proprietary formulas used by each agency. not necessarily a true FICO score. Hence, like you say.. a FACO.

SO I ask whats the use of these scores. (at this point blood pressure going up), are they just some sugar coated pill made to give us a sense of false hope, that our credit rating is better than it really is. That all these letters and disputes really don't do all that much good? (OK I'm on a bit of a rant here..) Well rep from somewhere, I do think it was India,, is getting all this from me and he starts to explain to me, the basics of credit scores and how they're computed. And telling me like I'm some sort of idiot about this stuff. (Blood pressures going up alot here..)
So I interrupt him, I said a mortgage company does NOT care diddly-doo about your FACO scores. they look at real FICO scores.....
And it kinda ended about there.
All in all it was a waste of time call. But it just confirmed things for me.

I really don't believe that the CRA's care at all if your info on your record is correct or not..
OH well.

On to more relevant issues, you have asked about my credit card and usage.
I will summarize:
Debt essentially zero. 3 CC's all with a 0 balance, I paid them off when I sold my house. I don't use them.
5 dept store cards home depot, mervyns, nordstroms, all zero balance.
I have student loans, all current.

Where the real source of my low scores is a series of late payments, the most recent was a 30 day late, from a HELOC last january. The background with it is this.

I got laid off my job last fall, Sept. got great new job here in phoenix in november.
Sold house in January, and cashed out. My wife was still up in Layton, taking care of the old house I'm down here working. I forgot about the HELOC payment, with the chaos of closing, getting everything moved out, packed up. I forgot about it.
Done the letters, made calls to the credit union. They will not budge, Late is Late.

Theres more, back in spring of 07 got behind on stuff, suffered for a couple months, got caught up. Same thing happened, in 06, got behind a couple months, then caught up..
I fully accept the fact that I am paying, or doing my penance for my past mistakes.
But my financial situation is completely different than is was 6 months ago..
Zero debt, cash in savings for a down payment. IF I had a decent score I could qual for a 400K or more loan.
But my average fico is 570, and 3 months ago it was 550. not a huge improvement.

Now my mortgage advisor (my father in law) is saying I should look into one of those credit fixing companies. to remove the late pay records off my reports.. and he found a few referrals. But something about those guys, gives me doubts.
I did research, I read books, I scanned pages and pages of websites of credit experts.
And I came to the conclusion that these credit fixing companies can't do anything special that I cannot do myself..
Am I wrong? An I missing something?
He's convinced that they are the way to go. and that the 3-4-5 hundred dollars I may spend will be worth it in time savings, and get the score raised.

Has anyone had experience with credit repair companies? positive negative?

Give me info...

thanks
Dane V

[Anonymous]

Theres more, back in spring of 07 got behind on stuff, suffered for a couple months, got caught up. Same thing happened, in 06, got behind a couple months, then caught up..
I fully accept the fact that I am paying, or doing my penance for my past mistakes.
But my financial situation is completely different than is was 6 months ago..
Zero debt, cash in savings for a down payment. IF I had a decent score I could qual for a 400K or more loan.
But my average fico is 570, and 3 months ago it was 550. not a huge improvement.

             Are these accounts open or closed?   Also look at your CR......what you need to see is the date that you opened all your accounts.......If an account (opened or closed) will cause you to lose history. This is important as it is 30% of your scores.

If you have already PIFd them and they are still opened....they might delete the lates with a GW letter.

If they were COd  then that is your problem. FICO hates COs  paid or unpaid.

the lates in 07 are hurting you!

FICO also loves CC with a Bal.$0  but you need to use them.....charge something that you would usually pay in cash & PIF when the charge appears on you bill.

Some people say that their scores go up if they leave a small bal. on at least 1 card....not a large bal.!

CC UTIL & payment make up 35% of you scores....so this is important!!

 
Now my mortgage advisor (my father in law) is saying I should look into one of those credit fixing companies. to remove the late pay records off my reports.. and he found a few referrals. But something about those guys, gives me doubts.
I did research, I read books, I scanned pages and pages of websites of credit experts.
And I came to the conclusion that these credit fixing companies can't do anything special that I cannot do myself..
Am I wrong? An I missing something?
He's convinced that they are the way to go. and that the 3-4-5 hundred dollars I may spend will be worth it in time savings, and get the score raised.

You are correct. Using a credit repair company can not do anything that you can't do your self!! The first thing that they will do is file a dispute with the CRAs....they will come back verified & FICO will treat them as new baddies because they will update.

[danev2]

Yes all my accounts are open. with only a few exceptions.
All three of my CC's are open, good standing. 5 dept store cards, open as well. all good. the mortgages and heloc are all closed when I sold the house.
The only three closed accounts I have on record are AMEX, and that was because it was a corporate card, and they took it away from me and closed the acct when I got laid off. So I had no choice in that one.
Then I have a goodyear and a sears that were closed by the bank, Citibank or chase runs those cards I think, Happened last year. right out of the blue. wasn't late on them. Balances weren't high. well under 50%, but they closed them anyway... Guess I didn't meet their credit reqts. what kills me is I had those cards for nearly 10 years each. I paid off the balances on those as well. There were no CO's

Now what you are saying in terms of usage. Of the CC's and dept store cards is to use them, say $23-30 each month then PIF when the bill comes in. I can do that. no problem.
Will that level of activity really make a difference to the FICO machine?
I can do that easy enough with the CC's. buy gas, go to dinner, hit a movie with wife, etc.

But I really don't want to use the Home Depot, the Sears charge plus, the mervyns, Dillards etc just to buy stuff, just because. Although I could return it afterward I suppose...
I am doing everything possible to SAVE $$ to put as much as possible into savings for a house down payment.

All the cards and accts show PIF in Jan or Feb. the ones that I had been late on in the past, did not budge, with calls and GW letters to them. I have gone round and round with several. Just no luck at all. Although I could try it again.


I haven't thanked you all for the good info and all. I really do appreciate it.

Having gone through this crap for so many months now to make things better on my reports, has left me tired. so I sound bitter and frustrated. I suppose though I can't give up.

"Bartender! order up an 'nother round of disputes and letters;
oh and don't forget that scotch whiskey either."

Dane V

[Anonymous]

Dane,

Maybe in your next mortgage letter hint that you want to use XX mortgage company again in the very near future... sometimes the potential for repeat business will push a company towards forgiving a few lates. Know what I mean?

Second, unless you have a life-or-death sit where you won't qualify for the heart transplant unless you own a house or something wacky like that, you might just have to wait it out. The lates really will hurt less in a year or two, and it will give you time in the interim to work on those GWs... send them every  month, they may reach a new rep every month and one of those reps may be the one to change the status.

The "fix-it" companies truly cannot do anything you can't do. I've learned that myself, very quickly. And again, six months to a year of working out the late payment kinks could actually be a really good practice in patience for you.. it will be more time for you to prove to yourself that you CAN do this consistent on-time payment thing. It really does take work, and quite a while to become a habit! Second, it will give your JOB time to prove to you that it is stable and won't change, so you'll feel safer and the job will have "aged" some when you go to re-apply for that mortgage.

[Anonymous]

If the lates are on the closed accounts & they are old CCs   I think I would wait them out. There are times that the OC wil delete the complete TL instead of just deleting a late pay......you don't want that!

On the CC that you have  NO  you do not have to use all of them every month!!!  Take 1  use it  PIF  before the grace period runs out. The following month pick another card & do the same. This will keep them all active and reporting!

I just have no idea why your scores are so low.

Do not buy what you do not need  just to use a CC.  I use mine on things that I would use cash for...utilities...groceries...drug store.....things like that and I PIF.   Some people find that their scores do better if they carry a small bal. on 1 or 2 cards.....I do mean small. You would need to watch your scores each month & see if it helps or not. FAKOs are ok for that.

Message Edited by HappyDays on 04-24-2008 11:58 PM

[danev2]

Quite a weekend I've had, but it was one of those times that I was glad to have a CC to cover emergencies.
My wife and I have two new puppies, Lab. Rottie mix, But Recker our male came down with a case of parvo virus. quite lethal without treatment. Well after 2 days at the vet hospital, he doing much better and he'll recover 100%.
The cost though was severe, over $1000, plus the incidentals we spent to try and kill the virus here at home. We ended up completely soaking washing and coating everything on the backyard of the house we're renting, with a strong solution of bleach and water.
Plus scrubbing everything on the floor in the kitchen and living room of the house. Rented a rug doctor, shampooed carpet, used a color safe bleach on that. turned out clean though..
I'll need to reseed the small bit of grass in the yard.. I bet my landlord will be a bit upset that I bleached it dead. But I wasn't going to take any chances with my other pup getting this virus.
So I'll have a balance on my Amer. First card for a month. I get three paychecks next month. so I'll have it back down to zero, end of May.
I don't think that will hurt my score any. Better not.

I do have one question Will it hurt or help my score to call up america First CU and see if they'll up my limit from the $2000. and also My Cap1 card from $1100 up to maybe 2 or 3 K?
I would think it will help
the cap 1's at $0 bal. the Amer first it sitting at $1300 now. But I'll have it at zero in a month.

What a weekend. Friday night at the vet was pure worry that he would die and Saturday was all work sterilizing the yard, house, car. Today I crashed and pampered and spoiled Recker... whole weekend was spent money like it was going out of style..


thanks
D

[Anonymous]

Dane,

So sorry to hear about your pup. I lost a puppy to parvo a long time ago and it was gut-wrenching, a horrible way to die..

On Christmas Eve last year, at about 1 am, only eight weeks after we got our puppy, she chased one of the cats down the stairs & tried to leap the baby gate at the bottom.. only being a little spaniel she wasn't big enough & ended up landing on the gate & cracking a rib & bruising a lung. She spent Christmas Day (from 1:30 am on, haha) and the next in the vet ER, with IVs in both paws & on oxygen. Cost us $800!

We paid for it without even thinking about it, of course...

Just a small hiccup on the road to Fico freedom!