(Serious) It's January, time to check those credit reports...

[flagger]

Since Ms. Flagger is currently looking at a new house to rent in the Dallas Metroplex, I decided to run both of our credit reports.

I did the "get all three reporting agencies and get your FICO score" from Equifax for both of us. Lo and behold on Ms. Flagger's account is a charged off account from Capitol One. An account that had been closed by her after we got married and was re-opened by the person who lived in the apartment after we moved out. Why they sent a credit card to that address long after we had closed the account is beyond me.

To make a long story short, in August of 2001 we received word from Equifax that the information had been deleted from the account. In November 2001, we received notification from Capitol One that they had been at fault and a promise to send correct information indicating such would be sent to the reporting agencies.

Now I notice on the new report that the information sent to Equifax was that the account was charged off in November of 2001. Gosh back to the post office I go.

Also she gets to include a consumer statement because of lab tests that were turned over to collection and then subsequently paid by the insurance company. Grrrrr

All of this gives her a lower FICO score than I, but still above 50%.

Ain't credit fun! So it is important to check your credit reports yearly.

[aliceinwonderland]

Scary. I am sure to apply for private loans later on this year to help finance law school, so I'm definately taking your advice and ordering a credit report...

Thanks!!

eri and the spring bean, due April 04

[flagger]

You can do it online at any of the three reporting agencies. I did it through equifax and was able to get all three reports plus our FICO scores for $39.95.

If I had known that there was erroneous information I would have been able to get at least Equifax for free, but then I thought it had long been taken care of.

[Meatball Mommie]

...just a quick question about credit reports...Aren't you entitled to one free credit report yearly depending on what state you live in? I thought I heard that somewhere?

[flagger]

Yes I believe it depends on the state. I think you have to do it by mail and since we are trying to rent a house, I went ahead and ran them from online.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

You can do it online. The only one I found the sliding fee scale based on state is www.transunion.com , the others must have it buried somewhere.

If you want your score too, they charge extra for that, but for just the credit report you only pay a certain amount, or nothing, depending on where you live.

We pull ours once a year. I almost always find mistakes. Once they had me confused with my mother and her stuff was showing on mine. (we have the same first name and once had a joint account). Another time they mixed in some stuff from a person with the same name as mine. This time, it is an account showing a balance but I paid it off last year.

I used www.myfico.com to get mine. They have a score simulator that lets you play with it and see how to improve your score, things like what if I paid down my revolving charge cards by a certain amount, stuff like that.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[Meatball Mommie]

Does it matter which of the 3 you get your report from? Are they all the same? Thanks for your help!

[stillplayswithbarbies]

Mine are usually the same, exactly. Years ago there would be something different on one or another, but these days I think they all share electronically.

If you are applying for credit somewhere, ask them which they use and pull just that report. If you are looking for errors for the first time, pull all three. I usually just pull one of the three and change each year.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03