Posted on 04/22/2008 5:11:17 PM PDT by shrinkermd
Why would you need to know and lose sleep over some "credit score"? Beat them at their own game, as I have been doing for over 20 years, borrowing money at 0% rate then repaying it with a loan from another bank at 0% rate. Bought cars, equipment, paid taxes that way, and the offers are still coming. Suckers!
I haven’t used credit cards in several years. I make most purchases on a credit/debit card, I haven’t had a car loan in five year and, I pay a extra $300 dollars on my mortgage each month. This qualified me for the best rates when I stared looking for a new house.
i read the article today and got all my credit reports.
I put everything I buy each month on the card, clothing, gas, entertainment, groceries, dry cleaning, everything ... It gets up into the thousands ... then I pay it all off each month without being late.
I even put $50,000 on it when I was remodeling the kitchen and paid it off the next month.
I think that helps.
I even tried to get a Zappos [shoes online] credit card lately and I called the bank [Chase card services] with whom I buy my monthly stuff [also Chase with Amazon,com] ... with some fast talking they gave me a card with a $40,000 limit. I’m going to max it out when I go the masterbath remodel and told them so. They were delighted.
Are they FICO scores? Scores can vary a LOT depending on which system it is. And FICO is by far the most widely used by creditors.
http://www.myfico.com/Downloads/Files/myFICO_UYFS_Booklet.pdf
FICO's *NEW* credit scoring system for 2008: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/172008_FICO_08.asp
Don’t know if this is a game to make more money or if they are just incompetent boobs.
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When I worked for Sprint (local/long distance landline service , not the cell side) they would always let the mail age a few days, it was never processed on the day it arrived.
1)First you need no lates, or at least nothing larger than 1 30 day at least a year ago. This makes up around ~35%
2)You need at least 3 years worth of active history
3)You need a variety of types of loan. Having a mortgage, a revolving (credit card) and another installment (either car or student loan) all open over a year and still active helps
4)You need a LOW utilization rate. Under 20% is the best. Under 5% is better. So if you put $600 on your $1000 credit card, even if you pay it in full, it looks like when it reports a 60% utilization rate briefly. Utilization is looked at two ways--your overall utilization rate of revolving credit and individual card utilization rate. Utilization makes up ~35%
I highly recommend getting at least one card with a near $10k limit.
My parents, who have a mortgage (open 12 years no lates), a car loan (open 3 years no lates) and $50k in revolving credit lines (only have monthly purchases of maybe $500 total on it) have about a 815 credit score. YMMV slightly.
Pay digitally. You’d be surprised how often it’s the mail’s fault.
I have a friend, a member of this forum who couldn't rent a car with cash, even with the price of the car as a deposit.
Thanks!
The scores didn’t make any sense. Especially since my score was different from my wife’s. We share everything, both our names are on everything.
Dont cancel, either - that will ding your score too. Pay it off, and forget about it.’
Hey, that 77 car pileup was a long time ago. Alamo hardly even remembers it these days.
Thanks! We’ll probably hang on to it. It is free, through a credit union, so it doesn’t cost us anything.
They admitted that it was “probably” their fault. A problem with the bar code at the bottom of the envelope.
And only after my wife was on the phone for over an hour and I spent another half an hour talking to more people and finally a manager.
Wondering how many people would give up.
We were surprised the second time. My wife was prepared to run the gauntlet and asked for a manager. The rep told her a manager wasn’t necessary and promptly removed the charges.
That is funny. I pay $100 for a years worth of service on my cell phone. Of course it is one of those pay as you go type. For $100 they will keep the minutes for a year before they expire. Since I make few calls expiring minutes is my only concern.
The phone is not fancy but it does what I intended it to do.
I recommend not taking out loans and stop worrying about the stupid credit score.
Who cares about their stupid credit score. Just save lots of money and pay cash. Having continuous debt is a corporate scam to keep us under control.
You are generalizing to a false inference. It may not work for some but not in all cases. As for satellite, you can get the services by paying a deposit and it will be returned to you after a short period of time.
As for employment, the lack of credit history is not automatic grounds for denying employment. In fact any denial based on such grounds requires a disclosure, and such disclosure is ripe for legal challenge. I am sure attorneys specializing in employment law have jumped on such cases. Case law would reveal such activity:
http://www.lectlaw.com/files/emp36.htm
And in fact Federal Bankruptcy law explicitly prohibits usage of credit information in denying employment:
http://members.aol.com/mattlawfrm/fedlaw.htm
These quick observations reveal a muddled landscape of employment policy. I am sure denial of employment based on lack of credit history has been challenged and overturned.
For those of you that work in the industry and have ‘accepted’ what you’ve been told is ‘fact’, nothing can be done for you and you are right where your capability lands you.
And if you are proud to broadcast the lingo of ‘ghosts’ and such as evidence of your ‘experience’ in such a craven vacuous existence, I would enjoy more watching paint dry.
Wrong on every count.
You can open a bank account, get a bankcard that acts like Visa or Mastercard, and rent a car with it. I do it all the time.
You can purchase cell phones with minutes or if you sign up to a minute plan the deposits are less than you say. For utilities, deposits will be returned after a period of time usually 6 to 12 months. You will not be denied a job based on a lack of credit history, and if you are you will have legal grounds to sue.
As for having persons assume you are ‘weird’ for not using credit, that’s a clear indicator of the type of people to avoid much less ever contemplate working for.
To live life without a credit card is a wonderful experience. Try it.
Good points all. And then there is the IRS. But there is a wonderful solution on the horizon to that problem:
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