Thread: The real scores!!!!!

Well in the last two weeks my wife and I have closed on a house with 5.75% and purchased a vehicle. We did not ask the mortgage broker about the credit score, but we did ask the car dealer about it. This really threw me off. On both Experian and Equifax, my wife has 711 and 720 scores respectively. The dealership had 685 and 686. However, on mine just the opposite. They had 707 and 710. Go figure. Now, I know that mortgage companies and car finance companies use different models and different things from your report will mean different things to them. We didn't have to have the dealership pull credit, but since they were going to be holding a $40,000 check overnight, the said they had to. Normally, I would have said no, because of the inquiry, but we don't plan on using any other credit for quite awhile. We are both completely out of debt, not even a cc balance right now. Well we both decided to cancel Equifax and Experian credit programs. (By the way, I found out that you can cancel experian right on the web). While talking to Efx they asked why we wanted to cancel, I told them that it was no use to have it if we did not have the same models that lenders get. My wife has never had a late payment, she is showing less debt on her reports than me. I have a judgement that is five years old that is not showing satisfied yet. I have one thing on mine that is giving me an advantage, that is I have financed a car in the past from 2000. It is paid off now, but the report has not shown this either. This program was good for one thing, to know exactly what was on the reports and what EFX says what will improve the score. But the score they show, I have come to believe is useless. In my case. One last thing, I would like to thank this board. It has really made me aware of my rights and aware of my financial well-being. And for that I am grateful.

Congratulations!!!!
This is a little OT. I have been following some of your posts. I know you must have all judgments paid before you can finalize a mortgage loan. But is the same true for auto loans? I whould like to buy a van within the next 6 months. I probably would not be able to pay of the judgement for 1- 1 1/2 years and be eligible to close on a house.

Well the house we used just my wife's credit and income. For the car, it did not matter because we paid cash for this one. However, back in 2000 when I bought my Jetta, I had to go through HAFC. They were the only ones that would finance me, higher interest rates though. So high, I took a six year loan, but the car was just paid off this month. I hated to have to go throgh them. They had the rudest customer svc people. For the mortgage, just be well informed. The way the rates are now, a broke said that for the most part, no one should be paying of 7 1/2%. No matter what. There are so many different programs out there.

This may be a dumb question, but who is HAFC? Is it Honda?

It is Household Automotive Finance Corporation. They do more than just cars though. I think that for credit cards they are called Household Bank.

I had a dealership pull my CR back in 02/02 and the score he provided was the same score that I received that night on EQ Scorepower (or whatever it is). That is odd how your scores were different. When I was told my score I was floored. I bought a house last 06/01 and thought it would have improved more than it did. Oh well.

Ambitious

That is exactly how I felt when I found out the scores were different. I don't know how yours could be the same and mine would be different. But after that, I just figured why pay for a service that is not going to be accurate for me or my wife. I don't believe in throwing money away. Why can't I have the same as what the dealer had?

Hi Suedan! Congrats on all your purchases! It sounds like you have really gotten some great rates.

I do have a remark about the usefulness of the EQ and EXP credit program though. They are good to have for that "just in case". Sure, the score suck and are inaccurate, but when something randomly pops up on my CR, I know. And that peace of mind is worth the 80 bucks for me.

I agree with you on that. I probably will check the reports quarterly, and just pay their price for that. Or I may wait and see if the price drops or if they offer a really great promo. I will not stop monitoring our credit, just won't pay month in and month out for it.

when I purchased my car on Monday, Toyota dealership pulled Equifax and got 662 . That was 2 points different than what I pulled on Sunday (660). For whatever reason, all my scores are getting very close together. See below,