I joined this forum today to ask for some feed back. I received a call from a company called KonQwest com and I signed up as a member. They told me that they are licensed by Microbilt/FICO and will report my regular household bills and it would automatically result in raising my credit score. Besides that they will reward me with points every month for paying my bills, they also have an emergency bill pay so if I get a shut off notice they will refund some of my membership fee so I can put it towards the bill. The fee for the membership was only $19.95 but my hubby advised me to ask around. If we can report our regular household bills why isn't everyone doing it? I can't find another company besides them, but I did see something on the news that spoke about the FICO Expansion Score.
Welcome to the Forum! Is the membership fee monthly or a one time fee? If you are just trying to get some positive history on your credit report. I would ask a family member or friend to add you as an authorized user to their existing credit card accounts. Make sure they have perfect payment history and can maintain a low balance (10% or less of the credit limit). Then I would apply for a credit card from Capital One, 1st Premier, or Orchard Bank. There might be some up front fees but at least you won't be paying a monthly fee to establish some positive accounts on your credit report. Thanks! Heather with BoostMyScore.NET
You can report your own non-traditional bills to the PRBC. There's really no reason to pay someone else to do it for you. Not every lender will utilize the FICO expansion score though...just keep that in mind. It's a very new thing, and the vast majority of lenders will still only rely on your regular FICO scores.
Heather Hi, Thank you for the welcome. It is a monthly fee that includes more then just reporting my bills. You advise is good but personally I am uncomfortable asking that type of favor from someone and my credit is so bad that I do not think that I can apply for a card. The economy is just killing us.
Joshua Hi, Thank you for your response, I called them today, well actually I call MicroBilt (I think that they are one and the same..please correct me if I am wrong) and they told me that I can only report my bills if I was licensed to do so. Can you please advise me on how to go about doing this? Maybe I did not contact the right people.
It looks like the PRBC may have changed things up a bit since the last time I looked into them. You used to be able to report your own non-traditional payment history to the PRBC, but now it seems as though KonQwest controls this process for them. The point I made before is still valid. Most lenders, especially credit card issuers, do not use the FICO Expansion score yet. I would focus your efforts on building your regular FICO scores instead. It would only be worth it to me if I had 0 credit, was planning on financing something in the near future like a home, and my lender said that they would consider approving the loan based upon my PRBC credit report and the FICO Expansion Score.
If you don't fee comfortable asking a family member or friend to add you as an authorized user to one of their existing credit card accounts then you could look online and purchase one. Be very careful and do your homework about the company that you go through. Thanks! Heather at BoostMyScore.NET
