Tag: Credit Scores
Help! Workers’ Compensation Wrecked My Credit
A reader, “Anngie,” recently contacted us to ask what she could do about credit damage from a bill that should have been paid by workers’ compensation. Here’s what she told us: “A workmans comp claim not paid from 2012 is on my credit report. I am working with all parties to resolve…but how do I remove the negative impact on my report….I don’t want it to look as if I paid it & it was my responsibility & allowed it to remain for 3 years unpaid. Can I have the company fax somewhere to validate this was not my collections? If this is accomplished — will my credit score reveal a pre-collections score?” The answer isn’t simple, unfortunately. We
How Closing a Credit Card Affects Your Credit Report and Score
By credit expert: John Ulzheimer:http://www.johnulzheimer.comIf you follow credit scoring to any extent, you’re probably familiar with the concept that closing credit card accounts can potentially lower your credit scores.The idea that closing a credit card will always have a negative impact upon a person’s credit scores is untrue. There are some scenarios under which closing a credit card is completely benign. Let’s explore the issue in depth.The Never Ending Myth:The idea that closing a credit card automatically lowers a consumer’s credit scores due to the fact that the age of the account will no longer be counted is false. FICO® and VantageScore® credit scores still consider the age of closed credit card accounts when determining a consumer’s credit scores. In
How Student Loan Debt Factors into Your FICO® Score
By Tom QuinnThis year’s summer break may be a bit more stressful if you are a college student who plans on taking out subsidized federal student loans to help pay for upcoming tuition. Unless Congress takes action this summer to restore lower rates, new student loans will have interest rates twice what they were in the spring semester (3.4 percent to 6.8 percent). You don’t need to be a math major to know this is not good news.This difference in interest rates will increase the total amount of money you end up investing in your education. And it will likely impact a lot of US consumers.With education costs rapidly outpacing inflation, more students and their parents are taking out student loans to pay for education. Based
The Credit Score That You See – NOT The Same As Lenders See
The credit score you receive may be much higher or lower than the one a lender uses when deciding whether to give you a mortgage, credit card or auto loan, a new government report finds.One out of five consumers is likely to receive a score that is “meaningfully” different from the score used by a lender to make a credit decision, according to study from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that analyzed 200,000 credit files from the three major credit bureaus, TransUnion, Equifax and Experian.As a result, many of these consumers receive either better or worse terms on mortgages, credit cards, auto loans and other credit products.”This study highlights the complexities consumers face in the credit scoring market,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray in
Disputing Credit Report Information, What Happens to my FICO Scores During The Dispute?
By John Ulzheimer President of Consumer Education at SmartCredit.com,I recently received this question from a consumer regarding a rumor they heard about how disputing credit information impacts their FICO credit scores…“I’ve read on the Internet that when someone disputes information on their credit reports their credit scores will improve because the disputed item no longer counts in their scores. Is that true”As you’ve probably figured out by now, there’s a enormous amount of information about credit scores floating around on the Internet. Some of it is accurate, a lot of it is not. This consumer’s question is actually a good one because there is variable treatment of credit information when it’s being disputed. But, it’s not as simple as saying, “no, it doesn’t count in
Girl Scouts Add New "Good Credit" And "Finance" Badges
By Ben Popken on October 20, 2011 2:00 PM (Girl Scouts USA)The Girl Scouts just finished their first redesign of their badges in 25 years, adding several new ones that will appeal to Consumerist readers.There’s now a “Good Credit,” “Money Manager,” “Budgeting,” and a “Financing My Future” badge. But It’s not just the consumer credit side that’s getting represented, but also the other side of business. There’s a new “Customer Loyalty” badge in the cookie sequence, as well as Meet My Customers and Business Plan badge.For an Ambassador level scout in the 11th or 12th grade to earn the “Good Credit” badge, for instance, one of the tasks to accomplish is meeting a loan officer at a bank to discuss how one becomes a good candidate
