Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Curiosity got the best of me and I went ahead and checked my scores. A magical 542. The ONLY thing on it is my student loan (which I keep hoping goes away since Congress keeps talking about it) and they are listed like a hundred times since 2011 when I finished school.
Seriously? No car payments from back in the day (been paid off for 3 years)? No insurance? No cell phone? No apartment rent? No utilities or net? None of these things get reported? No assets factored in (6 figure savings/cds plus another ~125ish between my Roth and 401K)?
So if I am understanding how this works you need to put yourself in debt if you ever want to put yourself deeper in debt? What a stupid system.
Should I even bother trying to fix it? From the sounds of it despite my impeccable driving record this score is why my insurance rates are so high which is asinine. New car hunting and didn't feel like dropping 40K at once but if i"m looking at a 12%+ rate I may have to.
Advice? Are there any "good" things that actually make it on the report? And by good I don't mean having a bunch of credit cards. It almost feels like I'm being punished for being a responsible (if you ignore the gov't loan of $10K) person and not going into debt.
Pay your college loans since you have the money. They aren't going away.Take out ONE credit card and pay it off every month, if you qualify for one. If you want a car loan, get a slightly used car instead of a new car, and you have had the same bank for a while, go through your own bank and they will give you a cheaper rate for both the car loan and the credit card than someone else would get with that credit score.
Also, your previous car loan should be showing up on your credit report. Are you sure they pulled the right person? Ask your bank to run it instead. I just did and they had accounts that were paid off 5 years ago.
Curiosity got the best of me and I went ahead and checked my scores. A magical 542. The ONLY thing on it is my student loan (which I keep hoping goes away since Congress keeps talking about it) and they are listed like a hundred times since 2011 when I finished school.
Seriously? No car payments from back in the day (been paid off for 3 years)? No insurance? No cell phone? No apartment rent? No utilities or net? None of these things get reported? No assets factored in (6 figure savings/cds plus another ~125ish between my Roth and 401K)?
So if I am understanding how this works you need to put yourself in debt if you ever want to put yourself deeper in debt? What a stupid system.
Should I even bother trying to fix it? From the sounds of it despite my impeccable driving record this score is why my insurance rates are so high which is asinine. New car hunting and didn't feel like dropping 40K at once but if i"m looking at a 12%+ rate I may have to.
Advice? Are there any "good" things that actually make it on the report? And by good I don't mean having a bunch of credit cards. It almost feels like I'm being punished for being a responsible (if you ignore the gov't loan of $10K) person and not going into debt.
Hmmm....maybe I'm not understanding your post. You know it is called a CREDIT score so it seems obvious that it evaluates your history of using credit. Do you get high scores on tests at school when you don't attend class and learn the material? Scores normally are given to evaluate your performance on something in your past. Could be learning, credit, game you played, etc. If you don't participate, it is hard to evaluate your performance.
Are you saying you're ignoring paying your student loan and just hoping it goes away? Or are you actually paying on that?
BTW, hoping Congress wipes away a legitimate debt you have isn't "responsible" and can't be "ignored" as you ask us to do.
The responsible use of credit over time is the only way to get your score higher.
Is this a FICO score or a credit agency score? They do not use the same numbering system, i.e. 543 is very bad for a FICO but might not be for Experian, etc. Spring for a FICO, that's the one that counts. If you happen to have a Discover card, you can get your FICO score free online.
Hmmm....maybe I'm not understanding your post. You know it is called a CREDIT score so it seems obvious that it evaluates your history of using credit. Do you get high scores on tests at school when you don't attend class and learn the material? Scores normally are given to evaluate your performance on something in your past. Could be learning, credit, game you played, etc. If you don't participate, it is hard to evaluate your performance.
The difference being a poor score on an academic test doesn't impact things entirely unrelated to academia or the field itself - like an ban from drinking milk because you failed a Math test.
Insurance? Jobs/security clearance/etc (which may come into play as I climb the aerospace ladder)? Because I don't use credit cards? Really?
And yet a massive amount of consistent monthly payments that aren't considered "debt" are not included?
Tell me how this system isn't flawed at best and an encouragement to keep people down and dependent at worst.
The difference being a poor score on an academic test doesn't impact things entirely unrelated to academia or the field itself - like an ban from drinking milk because you failed a Math test.
Insurance? Jobs/security clearance/etc (which may come into play as I climb the aerospace ladder)? Because I don't use credit cards? Really?
And yet a massive amount of consistent monthly payments that aren't considered "debt" are not included?
Tell me how this system isn't flawed at best and an encouragement to keep people down and dependent at worst.
Did you come here to complain or did you want help raising your score? Granted, the system is in many ways backwards, but that's the way it is. Some of the things you paid on should have been reported to credit bureaus. So get a REAL credit report if you really want to fix it.
The difference being a poor score on an academic test doesn't impact things entirely unrelated to academia or the field itself - like an ban from drinking milk because you failed a Math test.
Insurance? Jobs/security clearance/etc (which may come into play as I climb the aerospace ladder)? Because I don't use credit cards? Really?
And yet a massive amount of consistent monthly payments that aren't considered "debt" are not included?
Tell me how this system isn't flawed at best and an encouragement to keep people down and dependent at worst.
The things you mentioned are not "credit"...insurance, cell phone, rent, utilities, etc. are not credit since they require you to pay each month for the service/product provided to you that month. Those are billls, not credit. You don't expect the pair of shoes you purchased at the mall to go on your credit score do you? You're paying for a product or service (shoes) so certainly it wouldn't go on your credit score just as the other things you listed.
Credit is when you're given money to use (car loan, mortgage, student loan, etc.) or access to money (credit limit on a credit card) that you can use at any time. The way you manage that credit and pay it back is what your credit score is composed of.
You have had car loans and student loans and if you have a 542 score then you have mismanaged that credit and not been responsible with it. A car loan from three years ago doesn't disappear from your credit history. I have car loans on my credit history from 20+ years ago. Your credit HISTORY is a big part of your score so your car loans stay on your credit report even after they are paid off which allows you to have a history.
If you're not paying a student loan like you're supposed to then that is the reason right there and there is nothing else that can be said. Pay your debts and your score will rise over time.
Did you come here to complain or did you want help raising your score? Granted, the system is in many ways backwards, but that's the way it is. Some of the things you paid on should have been reported to credit bureaus. So get a REAL credit report if you really want to fix it.
I bit of both perhaps.
I think is it quite possibly the dumbest system ever created (which is why only a dozen or so countries around the world use it), but I do know that it will have a profound impact on my life.
It is more of a do I want to fix it that I'm asking myself out loud here with input from others? Do I want to support the vultures of the credit and loan industries? Do I want to be a part of a often broken system that destroys countless lives each day? Is maintaining my stance worth the costs - nigh inability to get a loan, higher insurance costs, lower career ceiling, etc? I don't know; that's why I am asking for opinions.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
