I have a question on credit scores. I'm not too familiar with how they work or what is a good score and hope someone can give me thier opinions. I pulled my report tonight from Transunion and they have my score at 645. Is this good? I have a chapter 7 that was filed in 1999 so I know that affects it drastically, but even with the bankruptcy, is that a good score to have? Also, is there any place where you can get these scores from the other CRB and don't have to pay for them?
I can tell you it's better than MY score.. I'd LOVE to have my score... but I think good is around 700-800
You can get reports free in some states but if you want to get a report and score online you will normally have to pay. You can get the TU report and score online for free if you live in Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, or Vermont at http://www.transunion.com/Personal/OrderCreditReport.asp For more info go to http://myfico.com for Equifax, and https://www.creditexpert.com/creditexpert/creditmanager/01_home.jsp for Experian. Equifax's service is $12.95 for one report with score or $38.85 for a subscription of 4 reports with score that you can pull over the course of a year or all in the same month or whenever you want. Experian's service is an annual subscription that is worth the $79/year charged. But there is a free trial for 30 days and you don't pay the $79 until the end of the trial. Trans Union will be coming out with an online subscription service later this month.
Rutheena, Welcome to the board! 645 is a good place to start, considering your recent chapter 7. I've never had a BK (others can advise you about that), but from what I've seen, a lot of people would love to have a similar score. The FICO score provided by EQF is the most widely used. Some lenders pick the middle score among your EQF, EX & TU scores, or derive a composite score from them. According to my research (http://www.stretcher.com/menu/topic-d.htm#debt, http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/dollardiva/20011001a.asp, and http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/dollardiva/20000428a.asp) scores 620 & below are considered sub-prime. At 660+ you can negotiate. A score of 700 or 720 is good, although you may have minor dings remaining. Most people find at least a few items that, once removed, boost the score 10-20+ points.
Thanks Rina for the welcome! Great site here, I found alot of useful info last night going through these posts. I always get a report once a year to check for inaccurate information, so that way I know what is on it and if something is wrong...it is easier to correct. Looking around the board here...I guess my score isn't bad considering that BK....which to me really didn't hurt my chances of getting more credit afterwards. It actually improved it. Figure that one! I had established a good long standing relationship with my local bank and they don't even look at the BK when I'm going for a loan. It doesn't figure in thier calcualtions at all. They told me that they realize that every now and then you have problems but they know that I'm not the type of person to intentionally disregard my debts. This way they still give me the best possible interest rates available. I've had loans with them for over 20 years (on and off) and never was late once on any of them. Even when I was out of work and having real bad troubles. The credit cards were the ones that I didn't care about being late with at that time, but my local bank is the one that i always made sure was paid on time and it has paid off for me now.
I take back my posting about my rating not being too bad....I broke down and paid their damn fees to get my scores from the other bureaus! As much as I hated to do it, I did. TU: 645 Equifax: 593!!!! (FICO) Experian: 590!!!!!!!!!!! Why do they vary so much??? That is horrible!
Rutheena, don't punish yourself too much. When I first started my credit repair adventure in March 2001, my Equifax FICO score was 564 (what FICO says is a 7% percentile, ugh). As of two days ago, Jan. 3, 2002, my FICO score was 744 (or their 57% percentile). I checked my score because my FINAL derog was removed -- two 30-day lates from Associates Bank Radio Shack, which raised my score up from 712. (Evidently a perfectly clean status accorded a whopping and unexpected 32 point increase.) In case you're wondering (and you may not be, lol), I used a combination of doing-it-myself mostly, a small claims lawsuit against Equifax for violating the FCRA when improperly handling disputes (using Lizardking's encouraging posts and a modified version of his combination notice of lawsuit and settlement letter), a 3-month stint with a very mainstream credit repair firm, and a brief bit of paid consultation as well. This mix worked very well for me with both Equifax and Trans Union -- I'm still working on Experian. So, you're starting out your quest with a score that's 29 points higher than mine was when I first began -- not a bad place to begin. Welcome to Creditnet (since I didn't get to say that to you yet)! There will be many people here who'll help you deal with what will undoubtedly be moments filled with both frustration and joy as you begin to confront your credit files. Doc P.S. Greg Fisher sometimes asks that we post the 4 "reasons" given by FICO since his main online avocation is studying the scores. Just in case this benefits anyone, lol, my 4 reason codes in March 2001 when the score was 564 were #39 ("serious delinquency"), #13 ("time since delinquency"), #18 ("number of accounts with delinquency"), and #8 ("too many inquiries"). As of January 3, 2001 and my 744 score, the 4 reason codes are #8 ("too many inquiries"), #10 ("proportion of balances to credit limits"), #1 ("amount owed on accounts"), and #14 ("length of time accounts have been established"). Interestingly, and I've not seen this caveat before, my report basically told me to ignore the 4 reason codes: "The fact that you have received such a high score implies that you scored the maximum (or very near the maximum) possible points for many of the aspects that are evaluated by the FICO score. As such, you should not consider the factors discussed later in this analysis to be any serious flaws with your credit history."
Thank you for the welcome....I have found alot of useful info on this board in just the two days i've been here. Really makes you stop and think that's for sure!!! Another question you might be able to help me with. In a few weeks i am closing on a refinance of my mortgage. This will pay off all my existing debt with the exception of the new mortgage (of course) and one car loan. I will have nothing else that is open besides insurances and stuff that doesn't get reported. Once this is done, can I expect my score to increase?
