Gem for page 2

Quote :

"Some jobs require credit checks, but why is good credit considered a measure of responsibility or trustworthiness? "

2/15/2008 3:50:25 PM

Quote :

"Plus, owning a house ties you down; it's a lot easier to move on a moment's notice if you rent."

It's also easier to do so if you have no possessions, or any family and friends where you live. How often do you think people really just up and move overnight anyway?

2/15/2008 3:52:57 PM

raleighboy's advice is almost amusing but for an idiot it might be helpful - for anyone with some basic financial responsibility and 5th grade math skills however, his advice should be ignored

2/15/2008 3:55:08 PM

eh, i was gonna post something else, but i'll be a nice guy instead.

raleighboy, get a chase freedom card. $50 sign-up bonus, plus 3% cash back. that's free money.

gl

2/15/2008 4:04:22 PM

free money AND more convenient

Raleighboy is far too sharp to fall for such a foolish deal!


[Edited on February 15, 2008 at 4:19 PM. Reason : ]

2/15/2008 4:06:28 PM

wait, could he possibly help his credit too... OH SHIT THE TERRORS OF DEBT!!!1!

2/15/2008 4:07:28 PM

lets say one was waiting to go for a mortgage in order to build credit up a bit first

at what level would you consider adequate to go ahead and start shoppin?

Financially I was looking at a few months from now, and i know that there's no "quick ramp up" for a score by any means.

(looking at ~200-250k)

Im in raleighboy's shoes, a few years later.

never had a credit card, never needed one.

but now, my credit score pretty much blows (not so much blows, but is more ~middle of the road nationally) b/c ive just started accumulating a legit credit history about a year ago.

it's really irritating to not have had a bad history, and sorta being punished in the same way for having no history.

2/15/2008 4:28:52 PM

680+

2/15/2008 4:30:26 PM

kthnx

2/15/2008 4:32:26 PM

due to the recent tightening you really need something more like 720 now.

2/15/2008 5:44:02 PM

the fish sure are biting the bait today

2/15/2008 5:46:53 PM

Just get a credit card, use it for all the purchases you would normally use your debit card or cash for (phone bill, gas, groceries, etc.) and pay it off in full each month. It also wouldn't hurt you to go take out a personal loan for say... 5k, not spend it, and just pay it back over the course of a year. The fact that your income to debt ratio would be tremendous and a solid repayment history on both revolving and fixed payments should boost you up pretty quickly.

2/15/2008 5:59:38 PM

when I got pre-approved for my mortgage a few weeks ago, I asked what what my credit score was, and it was an avg. btw. the 3 of 766. I think the last time I checked was a couple of years ago, and it was like 620, because I didn't have any credit. I was pretty pleased, but I've payed off all my credit cards since then and have been steadily paying on my car as well.

2/15/2008 7:17:19 PM

Quote :

"and it was like 620, because I didn't have any credit."

620 is pretty good for not having any credit

2/15/2008 7:42:41 PM

when i try to use annualcreditreport.com, each one wants to charge for you to see the results, i thought it was free one time a year or some shit.

2/16/2008 4:01:43 AM

^ no they don't charge anything, they may/will offer extra services like see your credit score or get monitoring services (this will have a price and may be more emphasized on the page). However, there is always a place on the page that says no thanks take me to my credit report.


Looking at the entire page ftw...

ps. you can see each report once a year, most people look at one every four months rather than all three at once.

[Edited on February 16, 2008 at 5:16 AM. Reason : .]

2/16/2008 5:15:30 AM

bttt

8/12/2009 7:42:08 PM

so let me get this straight...

annualcreditreport.com gives you 1 free report/year/credit agency
then each agency's site for their score for their fee

?

[Edited on August 12, 2009 at 8:57 PM. Reason : damn, none of them will let me see my credit reports. wtf.]

8/12/2009 8:41:58 PM

to summarize for those who haven't followed in this thread.

the law states you get one free credit report per agency per year. however, that does not include your credit score. if you want that, you pay approximately 5 dollars per bureau to get the score. all things being equal, though, it's a pretty good idea to get that, because your scores can vary wildly

the reason you are allowed to get the report is to be able to inspect it for accuracy and make sure that there are no errors or anything that would prevent you from being issued credit.

also, any time you are denied credit for any reason, you have the right to a free copy of your credit report from whichever agency or agencies the credit issuing organization pulled from. (meaning if American Express denies you a card, and they used your Equifax report, you are authorized to receive a free copy of that report).

again, as mentioned, the site is http://www.annualcreditreport.com.

interestingly enough, i found out my credit score today when i was getting a new apartment. i was thinking about getting my reports and score on my own, but i just asked the rental agent and she told me.

8/12/2009 9:24:50 PM

This needs repeating...

Do NOT go to any of the three major credit bureaus websites directly. They will enroll you in one of their credit monitoring services under the guise of a free credit report / credit score. (I would be forgiving of this if other products were easier to order). Cannot cancel online, must call to cancel.

DO go to annualcreditreport.com. You will get 1 free report from each agency per year. Subsequent reports in a given year after the 1st are not free. If you need additional reports in a year, go to this website and it will auto-prompt to pay for the 2nd/3rd/etc. report. Credit scores are NOT free (credit reports are). Credit scores per agency are $7.95 or so per time you pull it.

Quote :

"due to the recent tightening you really need something more like 720 now."

That was posted about six months ago and is still true. They are also weighting other factors other than score these days as well, so don't think a specific score will guarantee a loan ... it will guarantee you won't get cut off at the first level of decision-making.

[Edited on August 12, 2009 at 9:39 PM. Reason : .]

8/12/2009 9:38:07 PM

So this thread got me thinking about the last time I ran my free report and it's been awhile. Just went to annualcreditreport which actually is the only one specified in the federal trade commission government link. Apparently I have a Chase credit card account that was opened when I was 15 (9 years ago), has a credit limit of $17k and was only used once but has a $0 balance. I don't remember that being on there, but I may have been checking with a different credit agency last time and it didn't report it.

8/12/2009 9:43:14 PM

Credit reports usually always have a couple of weird surprises that are nothing major. For instance, my latest credit report has my current address in Santa Monica--where I've lived for less than a year--as a "former" address, and an address I last lived at five years ago--about five addresses ago--as my "current" address. It completely skips over the two years I lived in Houston.

8/12/2009 11:28:58 PM

Quote :

"credit cards are awesome. a company gives me an interest-free loan to buy all my stuff, which allows me to keep my money for a whole month, earning interest in my investments. plus if it gets stolen, i'm not responsible for purchases made. if i carry only cash, then im' screwed if my wallet gets stolen. plus, i actually get money and free airline tickets for using a credit card."

spot on, joe#s. Consider also that credit card companies charge something like 3% to retailers for the service they offer to the retailers (easy money flow, less overhead dealing with cash and bad checks and stuff) BUT ALSO they require that retailers charge people the same amount whether they use cash or credit. So when you pay cash, you're paying for it anyway.

to Jen: my wife has made it a habit to always keep a credit card that offers a free monthly FICO score as a perk. The last one was a Chase Visa. My Amex clear gives me an annual triple-report and score. We use annualcreditreport.com - which is the FACT act site - once a year each, get all three at once. I've never gotten a score from them.

also, when I married her and she put me on a couple of her cards, I got the benefit of the payment history from those cards. My credit score improved drastically.

8/12/2009 11:33:32 PM

Quote :

"BUT ALSO they require that retailers charge people the same amount whether they use cash or credit"

Not quite - this is just what often happens.
Retailers cannot charge more for credit purchases, but they can offer a cash discount.

Quote :

"So when you pay cash, you're paying for it anyway."

The fucking truth.

8/13/2009 6:22:19 AM

Ok I have a question regarding opening a new card vs requesting a credit line increase on a current card to increase my debt:credit ratio.

Did another credit score&check yesterday and was mid 700s. I have one card that has a 4,000 limit and one with a 9,000 limit. Both cards when I first got them would offer increases without me doing a formal request that would require them to pull my credit report every 6 months or so. Its been about a year now since either of them offered anything (I'm guessing due to the economy and stuff). I have never missed a payment and always pay the full balance off completely each month. My average credit account history is like 4 years the report said. Obviously I am very happy with my score, but looking to improve it further.

One of the things that is a slight negative is of course my student loans that I have several years of payment left on, but there is not much I can do about that. What I am trying to decide between is opening a new card vs requesting a credit increase on one of my existing cards.

My Citi card is $9000 and I have had it for 6 years and my Chase card is $4000 and I have had it for like 2 years. Obviously if I request an increase, they will pull my report, but I really don't know how much or for how long that affects my credit score. I'm also assuming that the positive of the better ratio would quickly outweigh the negative from their credit pull.

If I open a new card, I might be able to request a higher amount than I would want to request on a credit line increase, but they would have to pull my report AND it would affect the avg age of my accounts. So I am leaning towards the increase request. Any thoughts?

8/13/2009 9:01:43 AM

increasing is always better than opening another one.

8/13/2009 9:20:30 AM

The increase request would be better out of the two options due mainly to avg age of accounts, however I'm not sure that your score would come out (much) higher due to the added inquiry (at least in the short term). I mean, you've already got $13k credit, so unless you're charging $3k+ every month you're not really getting anywhere near the "deducting points" threshold.

If you're just trying to boost your score for a car/house loan, try paying the balance on your cards BEFORE the statement hits for the next few months. That way your utilization is 0%, and credit/debt ratio goes through the roof.

[Edited on August 13, 2009 at 9:27 AM. Reason : df]

8/13/2009 9:26:40 AM

I usually charge everything major including rent so my bills are around $1500-$2000 depending on extracurricular spending and other factors. Originally I was planning to purchase a house by the rebate deadline this year, but the way things have looked lately at work, that probably won't be happening until next year I would guess. So on one hand, yes I am working to try and get this up for a house loan in the not too distant future. On the other hand, because my project is getting shut down here at work, I see myself either getting laid off within the next 4-6 weeks(either temporarily laid off until another project starts up or fully let go due to lack of spots) and was just starting to think about this again. Was thinking it would help to request this while I knew I still had a position if I was going to request one at all.

And thanks, paying off the balance before the statement hits is a good call.

8/13/2009 10:09:02 AM

maybe someone could help me with this.....

Question: The past two times i've applied for a credit card, i was declined. A little over a year ago, i checked my credit and everything checked out fine. It showed my paid-off car loan and everything else (my credit should be perfect). However, when i checked my credit again a few months back, my report just said "insufficient credit history on file." The same statement was used both times i applied for a credit card, too. Is this just an indication of the tightening of the credit card companys' belts, or should i be worried????

8/14/2009 10:08:14 PM

^it just means you dont have enough of a *real* credit history. Everyone thinks your car/house/student loans factor in to your credit score, but they don't really (at least not as much as a credit line will). You need to start out by getting a n00b-friendly card (Citi has cards for students, SECU is also another good place to look).

^^In your situation, I would agree: go ahead and ask for the increase.

8/16/2009 11:19:28 AM

^that makes sense, but i used to actually get a "real" credit report where it showed my loan and where companies, such as progress energy, have checked my credit

but now it just says "insufficient credit history on file" and that's it.....

8/17/2009 12:19:16 PM

If I were you I would just get a student card OR get someone w/an established history to co-sign on a card.

I would also do it ASAP, b/c average age of accounts is one of the heavy factors in your credit score.

8/17/2009 1:00:18 PM

765 average score

8/17/2009 3:16:15 PM

766 average score

8/17/2009 3:45:31 PM