Posted on 05/05/2008 5:32:15 AM PDT by shove_it
However, to be fair to Fair Isaac, that's a very good FICO score to have available to consumers, the one used by mortgage lenders, since this is generally the largest individual debt item that a person assumes.
No one??? We pay our medical bills, so you can't quite make that claim. Our credit score is very high (over 800 last I checked), but that's because I pay for everything with a credit card (rewards card) and then pay the card off at the end of the month, in total. Plus I use billpay, so my bills are never late in arriving, just click on the date due, and the bank makes sure the payment arrives at the CC company on time.
That being said, last car we bought we used home equity line of credit because the rate was prime minus a point. Then we just pay it off quickly. IMHO, when you see what your exact interest is each month (as on a home equity line statement,) it motivates you to pay it off quickly.
“And no one—NO ONE pays their medical bills” - That’s because it takes months for your insurance to decide how much they are going to pay. If you and the insurance company both pay - try getting the overage back from the medical facility. Not easy.
For the most part, quite true.
But there is a problem in the credit tracking business with really lousy data quality. I've heard it said from the tracking companies themselves that somewhere upwards of 1/3 of the data in all credit records is wrong. It's the wrong person, wrong dates, wrong amounts... and missing data that ~should~ be there. It's just junk data.
With the pitiful data quality in credit reports, I honestly don't know why any lender would rely on it for any decision related to credit. It's bad data. It's worthless.
Even better, walk in with an attache case full of hundreds.
And no one—NO ONE pays their medical bills, regardless of income level. To see a bureau without medical collections is a rare thing indeed.
4 years ago, I pulled my credit report and found 4, count ‘em, 4 medical collections to the tune of $1200. My ex-wife had taken my kids to the doctor, AFTER our divorce, and put me down as the responsible 3rd party NEVER telling me about them. I paid them the SAME DAY, then called the medical office that initially reported them and asked they be taken off. They told me to metaphorically “pound sand” and submit a dispute. I did that, but it didn’t help; they fell off the report last year.
The government has nothing to do with that site.
That's simply a lie!!!
Something along the lines of FreeCreditReport.com. You have to join to get a FULL credit report and you have to get the additional monitoring, but try to cancel that and it takes a letter from an attorney, an act of God and legal threats.
My friend did that. They sent him back to the back to get a certified check for the amount above $9,999 so they didn't have to deal with the reporting and hassles of a cash transaction above $10K.
That’s exactly what I have done for every new car I owned: Pay with a check! No financing at all. Of course, it limited my choices to vehicles under $35,000 (including title and tax) but there are a lot of nice cars for that amount or less. Some great used cars can be acquired for less than $20,000.
A good friend bought his 2002 BMW 740Li with 48,000 miles for $24,000; the previous owner always used Zymol so the finish was impeccable. The guy also threw 4 Blizzak snow tires into the deal. After my friend sold his ‘93 Lexus LS300 for $5,000, he basically got a like-new car for $19,000. Not bad.
As a Finance Director at a large Ford dealership I say you are 100% correct...I’d say 25% of our customers are check writers.
Car dealers make a ton of money on loans. The old “cash is king” adage is no longer true in the business.
if so are the tax dollars going toward this ‘resource’ accurately reflecting someone’s credit?
The government site is AnnualCreditReport.com . It is just a site which passes on the information to any of Equifax, Experian or TransUnion which then sends you the report. Their reports don't include the credit score unless you pay for it to be added to your free report.
freecreditreport.com belongs to one of the three main report agencies (I forget which). The report is only free if you sign up for some subscription from them, which means it isn't really free.
In 2001 I went to by a conversion van at a local dealer. It had the TV and VCR all the wood trim goodies. The package was stickered at 30k. The dealer had it listed at 26k. I got him down to 22k. Then when I went to pay for it with a check... he asked what about financing. I told him I finance my own loans. I loan myself the money and I was paying by check. He REFUSED to sell me the van for the agreed upon price unless I financed it with him. It took me two hours and a threat to call the Ford’s corporate office before he finally sold me the stupid thing for cash.
That's a good reason to never, ever mention that you have cash to pay for the car until after you have already made your best deal on the price. If the dealer knows he will be getting $0 from the financing, he'll be much tougher to deal with on the price.
It’s amazing to me that the credit bureaus have taken no criticism for the housing mess. So-called “Liar Loans” or “No-Doc” loans are largely based on credit scores. Buyers and loan brokers have gamed the system for years.
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