Michael Lenzner asked:




Credit reports and understanding your FICO credit score is essential whether you are trying to buy a home, a new car or applying for a credit card. Lenders will want to determine the risk their taking by lending you the money. Most lenders use your FICO credit score (you have 1 score for each of the 3 major credit agencies) to determine if they are willing to lend you money, how much money and at what terms you will receive.

FICO Credit Score-What exactly is it and how do they get it

Your FICO credit score, named after the company that developed it, Fair Isaac & Company is a number between 350 and 850 ( though some reports have it going as high as 900). Lenders believe the higher the number, the better chance you will make your loan payments and make them on time. They use a variety of information to come up with this score. It’s often been compared to a laundry list of all your credit accounts, all payment history, as well as some other personal information that when combined together will be the determining factor for most lenders as to your credit worthiness.

FICO Credit Score – Let’s Brake It Down.

Payment History – 35% of your score is based on your payment history of making payments on time and not missing any. This probably is the most important item lenders will look at when determining your credit worthiness.

Amount Owed – 30% of your score is based on this number. This is derived by taking amount you owe relative to amount of credit available. Your considered a higher risk if your close to maxing out your credit. Lenders believe your more apt to late payments therefore lowering your credit score.

Length Of Credit History – 15% of your FICO credit score will be based on this number. This is just how it sounds. The longer you have an account opened in good standing, the better your credit score. Simply put, your score considers your oldest account and average length of all accounts.

New Credit – 10% of your FICO credit score is determined by this factor. Opening up several new accounts in a short period of time is not a very good idea. This can lead to a lower score. Also, the amount of inquiries can affect your score as well. This does not include any inquires made by you, a potential employer, or if done so by a lender wanting to send you an unsolicited pre-approved credit offer.

Types Of credit In Use – 10% will be determined by the various mix of credit lines currently in use by you. Such as credit cards, retail accounts, finance company loans as well as mortgage loans are considered.

FICO Credit Score – How Do I Measure Up?

Roughly 60 percent of people have credit scores of 700 and above. A score of 720 is the number everyone should be shooting for. If your score is 720, there’s really no need to try and raise it because lenders lump you in the same category as folks with a score of say 800 or 820. With a score of 720 or above, lenders will consider you a safe risk and typically you should receive what you need at a good rate with no problems. If however, your score is below 700, then it is definitely worth your time and effort to pump up that number.

Francisco

Rachel Myers asked:




Credit reports provide all the details to the people regarding their credit rating in the market after taking into consideration all the transactions, which is related to the credit availed by the people for their personal as well as commercial reasons. The fico scores are usually transferred by credit bureaus to all the financial institutions, banks, mortgage lenders of different lending institutions, credit card companies, who deal with people on the basis of their creditworthiness. The people are provided with mortgage, credit cards and many other facilities on their basis of their fico score in the market.

Credit reports can be accessed from any of the main credit bureaus available in the market, which are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion after every financial year. This can provide assurance regarding their credit report has been provided to different banks, financial institutions and lending institutions related to their financial strength. Credit reports also protect the people from theft of their identity in the city, avoiding any sort of mishappening.

There are many credit check programs, which are arranged for the people in the country to get their free credit report. All the major credit reporting organizations mainly credit bureaus launch their website along with their toll free number. The mailing address of credit bureaus is also provided in the free credit report program manifesto. individuals need to request the credit report from three different credit bureaus at the same time or some different scenarios according to the requirement.

The free credit report is provided to the consumers in that scenario if they apply for their credit scores instantly at their respective websites of specific credit bureau. Applicants need to be aware regarding their typing mistakes, which can lead to expenses. It is because of providing all the information by the people in the wrong website in relation to free credit report status, charge huge cost and provide credit status to them when the people are expecting free credit report from them.

There are many people who can apply for free credit reports over the toll free number or mailing them at the provided address, it takes at least 15 days of time, which is provided on the basis of time period required by the credit bureaus to extract the credit detail of each applicant. Free credit status can be provided to by the individual if he is not working from last 60 days or looking to join somewhere professionally in next 30-45 days. The person need to apply for free credit report if his credit rating is very poor or marginal.

It is important to be aware regarding credibility before looking to fill the application for mortgage or availing the facility of credit card. It is really a good idea to verify credit report from different credit bureaus at different period of time in order to secure the identity, which can prove to be beneficiary in avoiding identity theft. Identity theft is made when the unknown person pulls out the credit report of individual for different reasons such as taking mortgage or availing credit card services which can ruin the credit rating of the victim if the accused person makes irregular payments on mortgage or credit card bills

Availing the service of free credit report results in continuous credit inspection of the people,which results in avoiding bad credit report in the market.

Matthew

Regis Sauger asked:




Negative Paid Accounts

Unfortunately, you have no leverage in this case as the creditor has already been paid their money. The best strategy for accounts which were paid off a great while back and now just show up as a “Paid Charge-Off’ or “Paid Collection Account” is to find something wrong in the reporting of the information so that you can initiate a reinvestigation for verification. The hope is that the accounts (now being an inactive paid account) may be stored on electronic files not in the main system of the creditor.

This might create more work as far as research than the creditor wants to pursue just for
verification purposes. If so, the account must be deleted from your file for lack of a response from that creditor. The effectiveness of this method is hard to determine. It is as varied as the number of data storage systems in use today and the variety of people overseeing the process.

I have heard about using the term: ESTOPPEL in some cases. What I have read is this: The creditor has already been paid and the consumer makes the claim that, when the debt was paid, the consumer was under the impression that the creditor would make a favorable entry on the consumer’s credit report. BUT, when the credit report showed a PAID COLLECTION, this damaged the consumer’s credit rating. So, the consumer files a lawsuit claiming damages.

The logic to this is that because the creditor already has the funds, what more can they gain by defending this lawsuit. Especially, if they are in another town. So, the creditor either loses by default or succumbs to the consumers demands. Personally, I think that this type of action requires guidance from your trusted attorney.

Old Delinquent Accounts:

(EXTREMELY IMPORTANT) MAKE SURE YOU DON’T MISS THIS)

This has long been probably the most unfair provision in the FCRA. The original 1970 law allows for a seven-year waiting period before negative collection accounts were automatically removed. This is referred to in Section 605(a)(4) “Accounts placed for collection or charged to profit and loss which antedate the report by more than seven years.”

That seven-year clock begins ticking from the time reported as the last activity. If you have an account that never was fully paid, that you have not made a payment on in five or six years, beware!

If you go make a payment on it now, you will restart that clock and have to wait another seven years for it to be removed. There is a distinct wording in Section 623(a)(5) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act that reads “the seven year period of reporting derogatory entries begins when an account is FIRST late and never get caught up. That is fact and there have been numerous court cases where Collection Agencies have been fined millions of dollars for violating this statute.

Confused, guess what? So is the system. BUT, you can rest assure that when a collector or mortgage broker tells you that by paying on an account you restart the seven year clock, that is hogwash. It begins when the account was first late and NEVER gets caught up. It is directly identified in Section 623(a)(5) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Is it fair to be sentenced to seven years in a credit prison only to have your sentence increased for good behavior? I don’t think so!
As you can see, in some cases, you may have to make a decision whether to live with a charge-off for another year, or, a paid charge-off for seven more years. A paid charge-off will trigger a credit denial almost as easily as one that hasn’t been paid. It’s a shame that our system provides no more incentive to pay these old debts.

Credit Fraud

How do you know if you are a victim of credit fraud? The signs can vary, but typical indicators of fraud include: Unusual purchases appearing on credit card bills

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