I recently received a cr which listed the following scoring factors: 1. Recent derogatory public record: tax liens that were paid, so now count against me as "recent" 2. Insufficient number of positive accounts How many is enough? (5 + 2 as AU) 3. Too many inquiries: 2 in October, I early in 2001, 2 early in 2000 4. Not enough specialty retail accounts: How many is enough? What exactly is a "specialty" account? A store card as opposed to a Visa/MC? Aren't some of these lower tiered accounts? I have been working toward the model provided this summer by Marie. I am totally confused! I know her information was very reliable (1-2 installment loans, 2-3 revolving accounts). Anyone have any idea what the heck they want? I know, that is a really dumb question!!!! I don't really have time to open accounts and let them age now, I need to buy a house! HELP!!!!!!
The credit industry does not want us to know the answers because it causes us to do things to lower our scores so they can use the FICO to charge us more money.The rigged FICO is a rip off:What A racket!
lbbrown59 Well, part of the problem is that TransUnion and the rest of them are about like a bunch of fighting cocks when it comes to scores. Each one of them wants to end up inventing the scoring system that is the one the rest of the credit industry will end up using. So far, FairIssac seems to be the leader of the pack, but the credit bureaus and others want to get all the pie away from the rest of them so they fiddle and play with their own system. Maybe things will settle down into a bit, the credit industry as a whole accepts one single method as an industry standard and TransUnion and their ilk quit trying to be all things to all people maybe we will see some sanity come back into the industry.
Well... that's alot of opinion you threw out there Bill... You forgot to mention that FAIR ISAAC is the only company who has a model in place used by lendors nationwide for each of the three national credit reporting agencies... Lendors use F(air)I(saac)CO(mpany) scores based on your Experian, Trans Union and Equifax report information. At this time, the only one who provides access to the same score seen by lendors is Equifax who teams with Fair Isaac at www.myfico.com. The problem comes when companies try to mis-represent the scores they make public. CreditExpert, CreditXpert, Privisita, Worthknowing, etc. produce scores, but only the consumer sees them.... They're worthless. NO ONE has EVER been turned down for a new loan or a credit card because they have a low CreditExpert.com score. NOBODY! If the public would start forcing companies to be honest in their advertising, as you know I expect, you would find the only score that matters is FICO. Everything else is smoke and mirrors, bait and switch, marketing confussing the consumer and taking money out of there pocket!
Relax. You're getting their generic score and you have to get 4 codes. even if you were absolutely perfect and you had 1 inquiry you'd still generate 4 codes and one would be too many inquiries. You have a specific goal: a mortgage. Towards that end, the last 24 mos count the most. No outstanding delinquent items... and some down payment money will get you a decent mortgage. Relax... you're doing the right things
Thanks lB,Bill, Marie and Bkev for your replies. lb- I agree, they really are setting us up in a trap! It is definitely not fair! Maybe the main cb scoring model should be changed to ICO, because their is no "fair" involved! Bkev - I know FICO is the only "real" score, but the other two scores count because for some approvals, especially for a mortgage. Marie - I appreciate your encouragement. I really only have one year of good credit to offer. In March of 2000, we only had one score on our trimerge report because the only credit we had was negative! It states on the report that there was not enough info to create a score! I have come a long way with the help of you and others on this board. I am crossing my fingers that I can pull off a mortgage soon, because I may have to. Lease was up here 2 years ago and the landlord really wants to sell the house.
I know FICO is the only "real" score, but the other two scores count because for some approvals, especially for a mortgage. I don't think you quite completely grasp the whole picture of scoring. I'm sorry if you already knew this but your comment leaves some doubt. FICO is the only real score, but the Equifax FICO is not the only FICO score lenders use. FICO is actually just an algorithm that takes in a credit report and generates a number for a potential lender. So you have a FICO number based on each of the CRAs. However, we (the consumer) only have access to one of them, the Equifax one. The numbers you get from creditexpert and transunion are just garbage if you are expecting to take short term actions to increase your credit score. There is another REAL FICO behind the scenes.
Well, by real I meant, the only one that is in wide spread use by lenders. Whether or not it's an accurate predictor of future actions, beneficial to the industry, or fair to borrowers, I don't feel qualified to judge.
EQUIFAX F.I.C.O. SCORE IS THE ONLY "REAL" SCORE... https://www.econsumer.equifax.com/webapp/ConsumerProducts/pgConsumerProducts? SCORE POWER $12.95 TRANSUNION AND EXPERIAN are "VARIATIONS" of the F.I.C.O. score with different HIGH and LOW scores, so you CAN'T compare all 3...(you can't even "compare" EXPERIAN to TRANSUNION)...
If fico is so great in the credit and insurance industries lets expand it to the retail industry that way the price of cars boats homes and just about every thing else would depend on how high or low your score is.Would you be in favor of such of a priceing system?
George, I did see some a couple weeks ago! I was teasing my teenage daughter about getting her a pair, she didn't seem interested... Mom, Larissa, being warm is a good thing! Especially for me - I am a 'winter-hater."LOL
Yes warm is good, but when you have lived in ND your whole life you kind of get used to winter. In fact Grand Forks just had 12 inches of snow last week. (freak storm) No snow here yet, it is supposed to be 50 today, but winter is coming. I need to dig out my flannel sheets and jammies too! larissa
