Credit Score, Report???

[sbe]

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K. Just checked and I'm wrong. It's legal.... and common.

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it is VERY common in all areas of the workforce. When I was looking to change companies about 2 and a half years ago, I had to sign releases that allowed the interviewing party to run my credit on several occasions, including the company that eventually hired me.

Sarah

 

[fr8dog]

guess it make sense

 

[JDMcFly]

I think if someone is denied a job because of their credit.. Well eh, that's just stupid

. Credit isn't one of those things that is easy to fix in a short amount of time after it is damaged, if you have the means of fixing it.

 

[kellwolf]

I have to agree. If you're denied a job b/c of bad credit, that company has no IDEA what your past situations were. A note on the freecreditreport.com, it's free, just make sure you call and cancel the service you have to sign up for. Oh, and you can't cancel until you've been in the system for at least two weeks. "The computer won't let them." I think they're hoping in two weeks, you will forget.

Equifax is the bane of my existance currently. Things were WAY screwed up on my credit report, and I've been trying for going on 6 months to get things fixed. It took three months just to get them to admit I am who I say I am, and I live where I say I live. Then they had my bankruptcy down as a Ch 13 instead of discharged Ch 7 (HUGE difference if you try to get a loan or buy a car), and I had to fax copies of the court papers THREE TIMES. Now, if I can just get the student loan for $15K that is listed three times off of there. They gave me the line about if there is more than one disbursement or if the account is transferred or sold, then it is listed more than once. Well, if I count the "transferred or sold" one, it is listed FOUR times, and there was only ONE disbursement.

I haven't even gotten my FICO or my reports from Experian or Transwhatever. Experian is normally really good about getting things fixed though.

 

[MikeD]

I love the ATP qualifier in the FARs that say "...be of good moral character"

What's next? Questions like "Do you watch pornographic movies?" "If yes, how many movies of a pornographic nature would you estimate you've watched in the last 7/30/60/90 days?"

No airline job for me.....

 

[Wm226]

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No airline job for me.....

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...unless you stop for 91 days prior to answering the question!

 

[tonyw]

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Questions like "Do you watch pornographic movies?" "If yes, how many movies of a pornographic nature would you estimate you've watched in the last 7/30/60/90 days?"

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Could I pull a Clinton?

It depends on what the definition of the word "pornographic" is.

 

[MUTiger]

e]I don't know of most people who do pay their credit card payments off in full, the credit card companies prefer that you do not. Kind of take the point away from paying off big purchases

.

I don't know how it affects your credit score though.

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They prefer to have about 30% of the balance. That is when your credit score is at the highest.

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I just started my credit up a year ago with a 300 dollar limit on one card. I've made all my payments in full and on time and my 300 dollar limit has just been raised to 1200. My other card jumped from 500 to 750 a while back too.

I've always heard paying your bills in full helps your credit out.

-tiger

 

[TheWife]

The key is all how you balance it. My cards keep uping their limits and I have to keep calling them and making them lower the limits. Right now I have over $30K of available credit which is too much. Companies want to see that you are worthy of credit, but they also don't want to risk you getting a wild hair and maxing all your available limits. I need to lower mine back down again. But you want enough limits that you can show responsibility and that you can exercise control. It's a balancing act.

 

[MikeD]

What I would reccommend Michelle....is that you get back on topic.

We're talking about pornography here.

 

[danielsexton]

Heres my question about the whole credit score issue. As I was reading these posts I got to thinking what about all the Pilots/FO's/FA's that were laid off? Just think a guy who was making $50k gets laid off, all of a sudden he is making $0k there are no JOBS, and he has a car, a house, student loans, and many other bills. Even if he does find another job making less, it’s hard to pay $50K worth of bills when you only make $30K at your new job. How does that make you "not of good moral character?" Is it his fault a bunch of terrorist flew a plane into the WTC and they airlines have been mismanaged for years?

And another thing, it is impossible to get erroneous information removed. I have been fighting for years to get a $150 phone bill from some company in Rhode Island. I was 16 at the time the bill was incurred, not only do I live in Alabama, I have never even stepped foot in Rhode Island, nor do I know anyone who has. I offered to pay the $150 to get it off my report, but guess what? The company went Bankrupt and no longer exists no way to pay. I have requested at least 25 “investigations” and every time it comes back “confirmed as your account”, whose confirming it? They went bankrupt years ago.

So as you can see from my own experience I don’t hold the three credit bureaus in very high regard.

 

[Maximilian_Jenius]

There are many different determining factors that determine ones credit score.

My cousin works for Wells Fargo as a branch manager.

He told me that length of time on job, how many jobs that you have had over a span of time (such as the past 1-2 years) and if your married will all affect your credit score.

Also if your a homeowner your credit score is typically higher then a non-homeowner.

So someone who is married and has worked at the same job for 10-20 yrs. will typically have a higher FICO then someone who is single a non-homeowner and has had 3-5 jobs in one or more years.

My cousin explained this as: Someone who has been at the same job for a considerable length vs. a job hopper as well as someone who owns a home or is married is considered and looked at less of a risk and more responsible in the eyes of creditors.

He also told me that everyone should have a credit card and make regular ontime payments (which goes without saying).

He said having revolving credit ie a credit card is gold in the eyes of creditors.

But you can't have like high revolving debt you have to show that you make regular ontime payments and have low balances.

Also he suggested (if one can afford it) making a large purchase and paying it off within a few months to a year max. Cause if done your FICO will skyrocket.

Matthew

 

[JaceTheAce]

[ QUOTE ]
There are many different determining factors that determine ones credit score.

My cousin works for Wells Fargo as a branch manager.

He told me that length of time on job, how many jobs that you have had over a span of time (such as the past 1-2 years) and if your married will all affect your credit score.

Also if your a homeowner your credit score is typically higher then a non-homeowner.

So someone who is married and has worked at the same job for 10-20 yrs. will typically have a higher FICO then someone who is single a non-homeowner and has had 3-5 jobs in one or more years.

My cousin explained this as: Someone who has been at the same job for a considerable length vs. a job hopper as well as someone who owns a home or is married is considered and looked at less of a risk and more responsible in the eyes of creditors.

He also told me that everyone should have a credit card and make regular ontime payments (which goes without saying).

He said having revolving credit ie a credit card is gold in the eyes of creditors.

But you can't have like high revolving debt you have to show that you make regular ontime payments and have low balances.

Also he suggested (if one can afford it) making a large purchase and paying it off within a few months to a year max. Cause if done your FICO will skyrocket.

Matthew

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Matthew, I worked for First American CREDCO - a credit reporting agency who creates credit reports from all three credit bureaus merged into one report. It is a system used for lenders' Desktop Underwriter program, which helps facilitate loan origination. Your FICO score NEVER considers any employment data whatsoever, not even your marital status. Loan underwriters themselves may rate your risk higher if you are divorced or single, but it NEVER affects your FICO score.

Click here for some good info on your credit report:
http://www.credco.com/html%20files/Consumer_Assistance.htm

Also, many lenders do order tri-merge style credit reports. These are credit reports which contain all the 3 credit bureau's data on to one report. The 3 ONLY credit bureaus in the US are Equifax, Experian, and Transunion (not Transamerica like some other person mentioned here). So, if your potential lender pulls data from all three credit bureaus and you're thinking that your discrepency you are trying to clear up on an Equifax report will be cleared up, it might be, but just be aware that it may be on file with the other credit bureaus and would appear on your lenders report. Also, sometimes Desktop Underwriter makes loan origination order a credit report with a more stringent scoring model - this could make your FICO score lower or higher depending on the scoring model. Your FICO scores are RARELY the same between bureau to bureau, unless for some reason they all have the same EXACT reported data from your creditors and your lender ordered your credit report with a scoring model that assesses your risk with the same exact mathematical formulas... which of coarse is not possible.

Everyone should also be aware that while www.myfico.com provides a good general idea of what your FICO score might be, it will almost always be higher than the score your lender pulls because the scoring model used by MyFico may or may not be as stringent as the one your lender uses.

Good luck on your credit report...and remember, the HIGHEST score I have EVER seen in the whole time I worked there was 817. I never saw a perfect 850.

 

[Vyse]

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i think it has to do with debt ratio.....but i kinda dummy with this !
I never paid late, I cancel my unsuded cards and my cr, score still sucks...

Actually, cancelling unused cards hurts your score, because it lowers your debt-to-available credit ratio.

Let's say you have balances totalling $1000, and your available credit totals $3000. That's a 33% debt ratio.

If you then cancelled your unused cards and now only had $1500 left in available credit, your ratio is now 66% ($1000/$1500) which is bad for your score. So cancelling all your unused cards probably won't help you, it might hurt you.

 

[JGriffis]

Good point

 

[I_Money]

I used to work as a loan officer and it is far more then just scores. I had a 700+ infront of me once, but there was so little credit it was unreal. I think they had a $500 max credit card, and 4-5 credit lines. You can not give away with such little established credit.

Buying a house does great things to your credit, but the other things looked at are: max debt carried, % of leanding currently used, lates, and trade lines.

 

[rhs]

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The key is all how you balance it. My cards keep uping their limits and I have to keep calling them and making them lower the limits. Right now I have over $30K of available credit which is too much. Companies want to see that you are worthy of credit, but they also don't want to risk you getting a wild hair and maxing all your available limits. I need to lower mine back down again. But you want enough limits that you can show responsibility and that you can exercise control. It's a balancing act.

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I have about 55k in available credit, but only 18k of it is on the credit card I actually routinely use. I guess this is seen as a negative since I routinely approach that amount on a monthly basis, but pay it off every month. I'm not sure what that means...do I spread my 'debt' over more cards or do I close out some of the high limit cards that I never use??

I don't think it will matter in the long run, but I want the best score possible! I am a perfectionist!!!

 

[TheWife]

I have seen people that had lower scores then they should because they did routinely charge the balance up and pay off in full. The problem is that on the card is does show "most ever owed" right next to the "available credit limit" and yes it does apper that you are a card maxer if that's what you do. Since you have an $18K balance, you need to keep enough available balance on your other cards to counter that-you don't want to cancel all those cards and have $18K out of $20K used up. I often max one of cards and pay it in full cause it's a GM card and I'm building up my points. I don't worry too much about my score right now because there won't be anything we need for a long time, we won't be refin-ing our house or getting any cars for a long time so I am not too worried about it right now. But when we get closer to that time I will stop running that card up. A good three months will usually be sufficient-three months of not having the balance up to the max on one card. The reason I was told that while maxing but paying in full doesn't reflect in a good light, is because even though some people have the money already and will be able to pay it no matter what-many people don't, and they either forget to pay it, decide not to cause they want to do something else with the money first, or something happens to their income or there is an emergency, and suddenly they have a huge balance they can't pay. For your case if you have any thing that you want to get a loan for in the next six months-I would probably try to balance transfer some of the money to other lines (you can usually get way better rates after a transfer) or do what you need to to not have the $18K right at any limit. Hope that made sense. I am not an expert though-that's just what I have seen in my experience of working with people's credit.

 

[Tired]

[ QUOTE ]
I have about 55k in available credit, but only 18k of it is on the credit card I actually routinely use. I guess this is seen as a negative since I routinely approach that amount on a monthly basis, but pay it off every month. I'm not sure what that means...do I spread my 'debt' over more cards or do I close out some of the high limit cards that I never use??

I don't think it will matter in the long run, but I want the best score possible! I am a perfectionist!!!

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There is quite a bit a bad info in this thread, so I will try to provide sources at some point in order to prove that I am not just another mis-informed source...

Anyways, the primary factor of your credit score (30%) is the ratio of debt to available credit. People that pay off their cards every month should have a debt ratio of zero, right? Alas, this is not reflected on their CRs because credit card companies report the balance when the statement closes. So if you max out a card every month and pay it off in full it still looks like you are maxed out on your CRs. Both maxing out one card completely and having more then around 30% of your availbe credit in use will damage your score. There are two ways to combat this, spread your balances around all your cards, and pay the balance before the statement closes. Neither is very practical, so I wouldn't worry about it unless you have a major purchase coming up...then you can pay down your CCs early and when the balances show zero apply for new credit.

Many people have misconceptions on what will bring there score up....the following will always hurt your score.

1. Closing CCs - hurts by incresing your debt to available credit, and reduces the average age of your tradelines. If there are no fees just make a small purchase every couple months and pay off in full to keep the card active.

2. Paying off old debt/collections - at the best will have no impact, at the worse bring your score down quite a bit because the date of last activity will reflect when the debt was paid. It is illegal, atleast for debt after 1997 to do this, but it still happens today and is difficult to get fixed. The only way old collections can hurt you is when closing a mortgage, a prime lender will want open collections paid, no matter how old they are.

Basically, I wouldn't worry about having the best score...you need a 620 for a prime mortgage, and 720 for most other things. If you are 720 or above now don't change anything you are doing. A CR with no negatives in the last 3-4 years with good ratios is typically always 720 or above.