Credit Report

no they are not worth it if you have good credit. they are only a tool for the banks to evaluate your credit record. i have never needed to get an individual report. they have only been obtained thru the urgings of banks for loans that i have applied for and they paid for the service. maybe it was included in the bank loan but i did not put out cash on the barrel head to get it adjudicated.
 
Here's two excellent places. Both are owned by the same company. They both give your credit reports + credit scores from the Big 3 credit reporting agencies. Also you can pull fresh reports daily to monitor any changes. The CB website below has info on how to do that.



http://www.privacyguard.com/ - 2 month trial for $1, be sure to cancel before the trial period is up or they will bill you for one year's service, $119 I think.



http://www.mycreditkeeper.com/ - 1 month free trial, after the trial period, they bill $9.95 monthly.



Once you see what's on your report, you may want to clear up bad items or mistakes. http://www.creditboards.com/ is THE PLACE to learn how to do it. Creditboards is to personal credit what Autopia is to detailing. CB teaches you "the rules" of the credit game, what creditors are looking for and you learn the right things to do. I've seen stories of 100+ point gains in credit scores there. I worked on my credit earlier this year and was able to increase my scores about 45 pts on average, and got a 0% APR balance transfer CC thru Sept 2005...nice interest savings!
 
Now here is something that I know almost as much about as I know detailing. lol I am a paralegal at Lexington Law Firm and we are probably the largest credit repair firm in the country.



The report at www.myfico.com is probably the best to get. Most of them are going to cost you $35 bucks anyway, so the added value of the advice they give as well as your actual FICO score is worth it. I have heard that you can get a 3in1 at WalMart's website for like $26 or something like that. I haven't seen on yet though.



If you are worried about your credit or are looking to fix some errors or old items that should come off, then the best online resource for that is at www.artofcredit.com. To me it is the Autopia of the credit repair world. Its like creditboards, but different. I have found it to be more useful than creditboards in what I do anyway. The people on artofcredit.com are just normal consumers who are dealing with the bureaus, low life collection agencies, and other creditors. I was doing research the long way for a year at Lexington before I found that place. Everything I researched and double checked was all confirmed on that site by other people doing the same research. It is reliable information that you can depend on. Like I said...to me its the Autopia of the credit world. Take that for what its worth.



I should add that if there is stuff on your credit that you need to remove before you buy a house, then you should plan on it taking at least 3 months. When creditors report changes to the bureaus it takes 90 days before the change shows up on the report. I spent 5 years trying to remove one account off my report that was 100% verifiable fraud. It was the stupididty of certian people that kept it on there for so long. I finally got it taken care of about 10 weeks before applying for a mortgage and they said it was still there. When I pulled my report again after they told me that, it was gone. The 90 day thing is a pretty reliable timeframe to expect changes to be made. If you dispute directly to the bureaus then it typically takes 45 days to hear back from them with changes simply because the creditors have 30 days to respond to the bureaus to begin with. Anyway, its not always a fun game to play, but if you need any advice, then I'm glad to help. :bigups
 
Jngrbrdman said:
The report at www.myfico.com is probably the best to get. Most of them are going to cost you $35 bucks anyway, so the added value of the advice they give as well as your actual FICO score is worth it. I have heard that you can get a 3in1 at WalMart's website for like $26 or something like that. I haven't seen on yet though.



Myfico is probably the 'best' service, but I think it may be too costly for whats needed. Both Privacyguard and mycreditkeeper provide what-if score simulators where you can type in different scenarios (paid off CC balance, loan, adding new credit line, etc.) to see how different situations will affect your scores and tell you the main factors that are helping and hurting your credit. Also you can pull fresh, current reports daily with both services to see if anything has changed. This is invaluable if you're trying to get bad items removed, and need to SEE the results. Example- I had 3 medical collections on Experian that were preventing me from getting a new CC. I contacted the collection agency, arranged to get the items removed, but it never showed up on Experian. Turns out, the collection agency gave me lip service about removing the items. They agreed the items were a mistake and had verified it, but never contacted Experian. I finally filed a credit dispute form through the Federal Trade Commission, and 3 days later the items were GONE and could see it with my own eyes.. Had I not been able to view the data in the present, I wouldn't have known and it would have remained on my report. At any rate, if someone wants to use myfico.com there are discount codes available from creditboards to save money on that service. (search the forums - myfico & discount)



Bottom line on PG and MCK is they're both the same service owned by the same company. PG bills you once yearly, MCK monthly. So if you need to work on credit removal for a few months, MCK will save some $$. Best way IMO is to sign up for 2 months at PG first, then cancel, then 1 free month at MCK. Then if needed continue with MCK at $10 month.



Artofcredit sounds like a great website, have to check it out. The people at CB are normal folks too :-) and usually pretty helpful.
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Are you familiar with PsychDoc? He works for Lexington. I hear he is big over on the creditboard. I've closely with him for the last year or so regarding our processes and in getting a new project off the ground. He has spoken highly of that site. I finally got him to sign on at artofcredit, but he doesn't post much. A lot of the members cross between both boards. I guess its like Autopia and Detail City. It doesn't matter where you get the information from as long as it works. :)



Obviously the reason I suggest myfico.com is to avoid the 'fako' scores that are out there. Also their advise is pretty good and it seems personalized. You can get what is on your report from anybody, but the score from myfico.com is the one that creditors are going to look for. I have seen a 100 point difference on one report from myfico and another online score site. Don't even get me started on the scores... There should be laws about that.
 
Yes, I've seen PsychDoc at CB. I went to the artofcredit site and it looks like a great site also. Read a few threads and tried to learn something. :-)



About the FAKO vs. FICO scores. My opinion on this is that many (if not most) creditors dont neccesarily use the FICO score to evaluate your credit. I've heard FICO is used on mortgages, but outside of that I'm not sure how many companies use it to evaluate credit. Also there's a Yahoo group called Whopulledmycredit that lists where various companies pull reports from. http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/whopulledmycredit/ To me, the DATA on the credit reports is what's most important and needs to be accurate...then the scores will take care of themselves. The places to correct that data is with Exp, EQ, and TU. I also went to the FICO site and they had a FAQ there and one of the questions was "Why is my credit score different at each of the 3 CRA's"? They said that there are 2 main reasons. 1) Some credit accounts you have may not be showing up at all 3 CRA's. 2) They (Fair Isaac & Co) give out a slightly different scoring model for each CRA to use, so the scores are supposed to vary slightly....and more if a credit line is not showing at one of the CRA's. At any rate, people can make their own choice but I always felt the scores will take care of themselves if the DATA in your credit record is correct.
 
Yes, beginning Dec. 1 they'll be starting up the free reports from West to East Coast. Sounds pretty good too, "Under the final rule, the nationwide CRAs must establish a âہ“centralized sourceâ€Â� for accepting consumer requests for free credit reports (called annual file disclosures in the final rule). This centralized source must include a dedicated Internet Web site, a toll-free telephone number, and a postal address." Props to the FTC! First the Do-not-call list, now free CR's!



Article: FTC Issues Final Rule on Free Annual Credit Reports
 
With MyFICO you dont have to pay for the yearly, you can get the 3 reports with the FICO score for a one time fee of $35



Southern- I'm selling real estate now, I obviously don't know much of anything about the market in Louisiana but I do know a lot about financing and I have a lot of financing contacts. If you want to ask me some questions feel free to PM me, I'd be happy to ferry some questions back and forth between you and my loan people gratis for a fellow Autopian. There are some strategic credit moves you can make to get the best financing (there is SO much unbelievable financing out there right now, 103%, 100% loans with no PMI, 30 year interest only arms...its unreal.



I can even help you find a RE Agent out there too if you'd like.
 
Just a quick comment... I work for a credit consulting company here in Cleveland... I have seen the side by side comparisons, and now I believe my bosses when they tell customers to only request their credit reports directly from the bureaus. The third party reports vary GREATLY from the actual equifax, experian, and transunion reports. If you really want a 3-in-1 report, the most acurate will be from one of the credit bureaus... the third party sites are the most inacurate. If I remember right, I think Transunion has the cheapest 3-in-1... but I'm not sure... they only vary by a few bucks in price. Plus, when you order directly from the bureaus, it does not impact your credit score... whereas if you order from a third party site I heard they pull your credit when you order, showing up as an inquiry :nixweiss not positive on that one though



First call to see if you qualify for a free report based on credit denial. It takes about 3 minutes or less per call, and you might save yourself $9. I just ordered my moms credit reports... she wasn't even denied credit recently and she still was able to get ALL 3 free reports..



Just to save some time, here are the numbers:



Equifax:

(800) 685-1111 -> option 1



Transunion:

(800) 888-4213 -> 2 ->2 -> 3 ->1



Experian:

(888) 397-3742 -> 2 -> 1 -> 1



If that fails, you can go to annualcreditreport.com and see if your state qualifies for the free yearly report yet... if it does you can order the reports right through that site and get them in a matter of minutes. They will ask you questions about major mortgages or auto loans to verify your identity, so make sure you know all of that info before trying to order reports that way.
 
I paid for one and it showed that my name is spelled wrong on my credit report. That must be why I always get turned down everywhere.
 
I only go to MyFico.com or one of the three CBs. Why in this day and age should I buy a credit report from a third party vendor. With all of the ID theft and everything else it is the safest route to take. You'll get up to the minute reporting, plus scores for all three reports. The free credit thing is being gradually phased in throughout the country. The northeast doesn't have this option for several more months. It's available to about half of the country now. I don't think it includes the score.
 
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