I know youre allowed to check your credit scores etc once a year for free. SWMBO and I are looking into a major purchase requiring financing, and want to make sure our duckets are in a row before we walk into soulsucking hell, I mean, the bank. Is there a .gov website to do this, or am I left to the tender mercies of for-profit websites? I found www.annualcreditreport.com which looks pretty legit. Anyone have any advice/recommendations? When we were purchasing our house about 5 years ago, I used freecreditreport.com, you know, the site with the catchy band in the used sub-compact...well, they charged me somewhere in the vicinity of $15 a month for several months, even though I only wanted one report because they require a credit card to sign up, and getting them to cancel service is like pulling teeth. I want to avoid that one again if at all possible. halp
You can get your credit report for free, but it will not include your credit rating. That you have to pay for, and a one-time fee should cover it. Your bank will certainly run your credit report, and will provide you with a copy if you ask nicely and they are not complete DB's. Better than running it twice IMHO.
The way I accomplish this is to say "Honey, can you do the magic money stuff so I can buy something?". Your results may vary.
If you use something like "free credit report dot com," make sure you cancel ASAP. The secret is that its not really free. 
Annualcreditreport.com is the legit site fir your free annual but as mentioned it will not give you your scores, only the report.
Freecreditreport.com is a hack site ran by TransUnion that will give you a score but it's a vantage score which is pretty useless when applying for financing. When banks run your credit they get a Fico score, it's the only one that matters. All the credit bureaus got pissed that Fico had a monopoly on the scoring market and came up with a alternate scoring method, the only problem is that no bank considerers it as a legit score.
myFico.com is where you want to go to see the same score your bank will see. It costs money but it's worth it if you are serious about your credit.
I've raised my score from a 540 to 740 using that site and it's tools in 18 months.
IIRC annualcreditreport.com is the legit site and the only one that allows you to check your credit for free once a year with each credit bureau without any strings attached.
nice, thanks guys. annualcreditreport.com was easy and quick, and provided the info I needed.
If you are thinking about a mortgage loan, it is worth noting that the underwriting engine and pricing tiers are driven by the credit scores. Lenders will get scores from each of the three agencies for both borrowers, and the score that drives the bus is typically the middle score of either the borrower or co-borrower, whichever one is lower.
Example:
Borrower: 720, 705, 690
Co-borrower: 690, 670, 660
670 will be the score that they use, in most cases.
Also keep in mind that NONE of the freebies give you a complete and accurate report.
And credit scores vary by their intended usage so there isn't ONE credit score for everybody. There's a different credit score for getting a CC than there is for buying a car than there is for a home loan, etc.
Getting a copy from your bank is the best choice of the ones mentioned above.
bludroptop wrote:
If you are thinking about a mortgage loan, it is worth noting that the underwriting engine and pricing tiers are driven by the credit scores. Lenders will get scores from each of the three agencies for both borrowers, and the score that drives the bus is typically the middle score of either the borrower or co-borrower, whichever one is lower.
Example:
Borrower: 720, 705, 690
Co-borrower: 690, 670, 660
670 will be the score that they use, in most cases.
That may vary with some. I believe with my pre-approval, they took our scores, and used my median score because mine was higher.
I couldn't believe how high those Vikings made my credit score go. If yours is low, u suggest Capital One. Really glad I used them.
carguy123 wrote:
Also keep in mind that NONE of the freebies give you a complete and accurate report.
And credit scores vary by their intended usage so there isn't ONE credit score for everybody. There's a different credit score for getting a CC than there is for buying a car than there is for a home loan, etc.
Getting a copy from your bank is the best choice of the ones mentioned above.
One example from a gig I worked in Chase's manufactured home (read: mobile home) division. They used the BEACON score, not FICO, and it was one of several factors they used. The other things they looked at included:
- Employment history; they wanted at least past years of having a steady job.
- Whether you had a checking and/or savings account. It was good to have both.
- Ratio of down payment to value of the mobile home
- Who owned the land it was going on (I can't remember exactly which was best)
Obviously, the last one doesn't apply to a normal house. But you could make up for a lousy credit score by doing well on the other areas.
Obviously, the last one doesn't apply to a normal house. But you could make up for a lousy credit score by doing well on the other areas.
Not anymore!!!
All the other things you noted are REQUIRED if you have a low, but acceptable credit score.
Below a certain score (it depends upon the downpayment and loan type) a mortgage underwriter's not even allowed to look at you or listen to your stories.
And stay far, far away from anything Capital One! The recent credit card laws were directed point by point at Capital One. Just try to reach a person from anywhere but India when you call them.
It's not a matter of will they someday make a misteak, it's only a matter of when. Just google Capital One issues or troubles or I hate Capital One. You will get more hits than any other lender on the planet.
