Credit Reports?

[tiggerlover]

Has anyone checked out their credit reports before buying a home (or for any other reason)? DH and I plan to be first time home buyers when he retires from the military early next year and we have been preparing for it for a while now. A realtor friend of ours suggested that we get a credit report to see how our credit is and to clean up any bad credit we may have and I was wondering if anyone had even done this before? About 3 years ago I worked somewhere that I could access my credit report and I did, DH and I scored in the high 700's which is good. Since then I have closed most of the open credit accounts that were paid off and we have paid off the cars and have only one credit card that has a balance (which will be paid off by the time we get a mortgage). So I guess my question is should I pay the money to run another report or just assume all is well based on the report from 3 years ago? Also any recommendations of where to have the report done if that is the route I should go?

 

[DocRafiki]

It's only like $7 each, and there's only 3 that you need. Plus, if you've been turned down for credit recently, it's free. The question is... do they actually CHECK to see that you were really turned down? (shhhh) I did this and brought it up to my loan officer at my credit union. She showed me some stuff on there that I didn't even know counted against me. It was pretty helpful. Someone might be able to give you tips on how to raise your score. Any little bit might help reduce that APR. Also, with the high incidence of credit report errors out there, I wouldn't assume that yours is as good as you can get it.

Equifax, TransUnion, & Experian are the 3 that are recommended to be checked. Go directly through those companies and not another website that will get it from them. They will sometimes leave out partial info and try to get you to pay extra for it.

 

[DocRafiki]

I should mention that I found it easier to call and order the reports than to dig through all the online info. Sure you don't get it instantly, but I prefer the original format to internet print-outs anyway. And I didn't get sidetracked by all their attempts to sell me credit protection services, etc. I think I only had to pay for one when I did that. The others said to punch a # if your credit had been denied. Voila.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

You might want to look closely at your next auto insurance bill. Most of the companies now use credit history to determine what discounts policy holders get. Because of this, the insurance renewal notice will sometimes include a phone number to call and order a free copy of your credit report. We have done this three years in a row as we want to keep tabs on our SSN's with the threat of identity theft growing out of control. If you are military, you may be at an even higher risk as one of the Tri-Care facilities was broken into a couple of years ago and hard drives were stolen that gave the thieves access to servicemembers SSN's.

Don't want to alarm you -- but you don't want to miss out on your dream house because of any surprises.

 

[Poohnatic]

I just got my credit report from Trans Union on Saturday, after ordering it on the phone on Wednesday. My state allows you to get a free credit report each year from the three major agencies.

Trans Union's website is www.soundcents.com. Follow the instructions, as quite a few states allow you free reports.

Sometimes closing those accounts is worse than keeping them, but consulting with a lender with credit reports in hand is a good idea. Lots of credit inquiries are bad, as in the credit checks that are made when you apply to open new credit accounts.

I found three discrepancies on my report, so I'm glad I pulled mine!

Suzanne

 

[Toby'sFriend]

Somewhere around 40% of all people that check their reports will find an error in the report so I would definately check them before you begin the process. Most places recommend that you check them every 2 years even if you aren't planning to buy a house or borrow any money soon.

We always just use one of the online places that combines the three reports.

 

[Tina]

I highly recommend you get your FICO score report from www.myfico.com

The FICO score report will combine your reports from the 3 credit agencies, which is simpler than ordering from each separately. This report will also give you your FICO score (hence it's name) which is what most lenders use to determine your credit worthiness. I think the report costs about $12 per person, but its well worth it.

 

[kdibattista]

I've been very diligent about this recently because DH and I are looking to buy a house soon. We access all of our reports through www.privacyguard.com. You can get a 2 month trial run for $1 and cancel anytime within the 2 months. After the two months, they will charge you around $120 for the year. I think it's well worth it. You can pull a new credit report every 24 hours!!!!

But, there are some downsides: the scores they provide you at the end are not true FICO scores and can be off by a lot; you cannot dispute any inaccuracies online with their credit report (you would need to pull the report directly from the CRA and dispute with their confirmation number)

www.myfico.com is great for your FICO score (and is really the only place you will get you true FICO score). You will be provided with an entire credit report but again, you cannot dispute any inaccuracies online with that report. The price is $12.95 per report but type in the promo code myfico20 and you will get 20% off.

Hope these help!!!

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

Just a word of caution. I know someone who shopped around for a good interest rate and contacted several lenders. They all did a search on her credit. It threw up a "Red Flag" that her credit rating was being searched often and she had a hard time getting a good interest rate. She didn't have bad credit but with so many inquiries she was so to speak "red flagged."

Lori

 

[CajunDixie]

MSN has a couple of great articles on credit. One thing I never knew is that closing unused accounts can actually be bad for your credit.

Beef Up Your Credit Score
and
Six Steps To Building Great Credit

 

[pw2pp]

Yes, I also heard just the other day that you should NOT close your inactive charge card accounts, you should just lock the cards up in a safe for safe-keeping.

 

[kadaten]

I would definitely check your report, and the individual ones, not the combined. Why? When we were buying our first house the lender pulled our reports and there was a different error on each one! Nothing big, but things that had to be fixed. We had a high score in spite of the errors, but it ticked me off that they were on there. (Especially a supposedly unpaid hospital bill from when I was a minor! First of all, as a minor, it shouldn't have been on MY report! Second of all, when I called the hospital, they told me it had been paid in full years and years ago! The other errors were accounts listed as open that weren't, and a student loan to someone of the same name but different social security number! They'd been unable to locate this person and had done a search for the name, found mine, and attached the delinquent notice to my credit report, in spite of the SS#'s not matching!!)

 

[Tina]

Lori is correct about have too many inquiries on your credit report. This can hurt your score. But don't worry about your own inquiry. It is known as a "soft" inquiry and does not affect your score at all. Only creditor inquiries lower your score.

 

[faithinkarma]

Tina is right....get your FICO score. We did after seeing Suze Orman insist it was important.

Good thing we did....we discovered there was a very recent late payment history on my husband's record for credit cards he never had. Turned out it was his ex wife up to her dirty tricks.

It was actually easy to clear his record up, which surprised me. I thought we were in for a good year of hell.

But it sure goes to show it is important to check on a regular basis.

 

[tiggerlover]

Originally posted by kdibattista
www.myfico.com is great for your FICO score (and is really the only place you will get you true FICO score). You will be provided with an entire credit report but again, you cannot dispute any inaccuracies online with that report. The price is $12.95 per report but type in the promo code myfico20 and you will get 20% off.

Hope these help!!!

Thanks for the code, it came in handy. This is the site that my friend recommended and since others here recommended it I went ahead and ran the reports.

DH's scores ranged between 761-770 and mine from 792-815, so it looks like we are in good shape. I think there is only two minor things I need to fix and then we will be golden.

Thanks a bunch to everyone for their input.

 

[faithinkarma]

Good???? Those are GREAT scores. Bravo ! And good luck with the house.

 

[tiggerlover]

Originally posted by faithinkarma
Good???? Those are GREAT scores. Bravo ! And good luck with the house.

Thank you, we have worked hard to keep our credit good just for the purpose of buying our first house.