TestnDoc

Was checking my FICO scores on myFICO.com, and was able to see my Transunion and Experian scores, but wouldnt show me my Equifax score. I called Equifax, and they said I didnt have enough revolving credit (credit cards) and too many inquires to give score. Sounds silly to me. I hope MBCC or Porsche Financial doesnt use Equifax. Anybody know or have this happen to you??

hoffyvortex

MBC uses only Transunion according the the credit manager i spoke with a couple of weeks ago when arranging my lease.

Brian_I.

Actually each dealership may use a different bureau to pull your score but when I got my E last year a hard inquiry showed up on both my TransUnion and my Experian reports.

Seeing as you and your girlfriend have the means to drive six-figure vehicles you should have no problem buying an SLK350.

Barry45RPM

My wife is in credit. She says a lot of credit report requests all of a sudden raise all kinds of red flags*. That's why you sould only permit a dealer where you already have the price of the car nailed down & are ready to go barring any last minute games.

*The credit people feel that you are going to be making a bunch of credit purchases, so that makes what they have on file of your past/completed credit purchases not a great predictor of how you will be able to pay for all the new installment contracts at once.

Phillip711

When I was working for Mercedes-Benz, we only used transunion and experian.

TestnDoc

Thanks for the info guys. Equifax F###ed up my account, and had the wrong name an address attached to my Social security number. Now I have to write to Equifax and send "proof" that I am who I say I am...what a pain..My Transunion and Experian scores are in the high 700s...

sacguy

Good you caught that, happens far to often, especially now that identity theft is so rampant, 7 million USA cases and counting. I would suggest to anyomne that a report monitoring service thru experian or another provider is cheap insurance for peace of mind and allows you to get email updates on any change in your files thru the three major credit bureaus.

SAguirre

Well, when I bought my car in late August they pulled a credit report. I have no idea what company it was, but I had a score of just over 800. The weird thing is that they pulled the report in spite of me paying cash for the car.

I asked why they would do that. I avoid as many credit report inquiries by merchants as possible for the reasons stated above. They told me that it was because of the "Patriot Act." I asked a good friend of mine, who owns a dealership, and he said that it is true. What help would a credit report be for the US government to stop terrorism? I don't quite get this.

Steve

Phillip711

I assume you paid your car by check. The dealership does it in case the check bounces, then they will find a lender to finance the amount of the car.

SAguirre

It was a Merrill Lynch wire transfer (they are free). If it had been a check I would understand, but they swore it was the "Patriot Acts."

Steve

plocjim

Being in finance, I have 2 thoughts on this: 1) There probably is some truth to what they are saying. If you pay cash then the dealer is required to prove that they at least attempted to make sure you weren't laundering money - and a credit report on file would certainly help them. 2) They are probably also curious about someone who pays cash and wanted to check it out - also helps on the future marketing side if you know the person has a lot of resources available. Probably a little of both!

lig

800+ is impressive!

Depending on where you live - you may be able to get your credit report free here (FICO scores are extra though)

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/...reereports.htm

Brian_I.

If your scores are in the high 700's from two of the three big bureaus then you will have nothing to worry about. If anything they will average the scores out and as long as you're over 700 they'll be able to offer you Tier 1 financing/lease packages.

SAguirre

Thanks! This thread reminded me to pull my credit reports.

I have just rechecked my credit reports and everything is in order. I am not familiar with the scoring system since every time I check the reports I just check for account status and other errors. I refuse to pay to see a score. So in a way, the fact that the MB dealer pulled a report and I actually saw the score was a good thing. I have never had anything negative on my credit report. I have also been lucky and they have been accurate.

I am not planning on financing anything in the near future, but it is time to purge the unused credit cards. I close a few accounts every 5 years. I was told that having too much revolving credit could sometimes be a problem. If 800+ is that good, I attribute it to (paying my bills on time) not having tons of credit cards with high credit lines. I just noticed that I have 12 credit accounts (including some department tore ones, Home Depot, Lowe’s etc), I will be closing about 5 next week. I personally set the credit limit on my Am Ex to 15K, I rarely exceed that in one month's spending. I find it hard to believe that some people have 40K credit lines (If it were Trump, then I would understand). But these are some teacher co-workers!

Check you reports! The last thing you want to find out when you are doing big finance is that you have errors to fix in your credit reports.

Steve A

Brian_I.

I can't wait till my score gets into the 800's. I have no negative marks, no credit card balances and pay all my stuff on time but my score stays in the mid 700's due to "length of credit history". I was told that because I'm only 26 and my oldest credit card is only 8 years old it isn't long enough for them to consider me in the highest percentile. They say it it usually won't come until I maintain at least 7 more years of outstanding credit! Damn, I'll be an old fogey by then.

SAguirre

Well, I was in the same position when I was 26. I don't remember what my score was back then, but since I am 31, I guess I have arrived! Just keep doing what you are doing and I am sure you will get there. But if I remember correctly, I was only at 803 or something like that. I bet I was not there a few years ago.

Now I have to check my business' credit report!

Steve

HELL ONA HARLEY

Since a few are bragging about credit scores.....833 for me and 836 for the ol'lady.... This is according to the Mercedes finance gal who did the paperwork on our purchase.... She also stated its one of the highest scores she had seen in 25 years of doing the financing of Mercedes Benzes

Debt ratio according to income has alot to do with as well of the other reasons already mentioned....

sacguy

And, don't close your oldest accounts........this can cause the score to drop.

TestnDoc

Income is not a factor in determing your FICO. As a matter of fact, often, if one carries more debt, and accounts, it might cause your FICO score to rise, which is nuts. I got penalized for paying my mortgage off early (6 years), according to Equifax rep. She stated that the length of the debt/history is one of the most important factors for your FICO score. Sounds like a way to entice one to open up too many credit accounts....

Silver_Lana

Its strange - my crerdit score is horribly low even though I have a large income and have very little debt other than monthly credit purchases.
The whole system, in my opinion, is designed to get you into more debt.
Oh well ....

plocjim

I checked my score and was bummed...it dropped to the low 700's because I paid a $35 dollar credit card bill late! I had switched to online billing and completely forgot I had used the card and the bill got lost in the gazillion online marketing messages I get from the bank...the bill tipped over the 30 day mark before I found it while just poking around and realized I had the outstanding balance. I tried to get the company to rescind but they wouldn't...so now I'm totally bummed!

Still not a bad score, but I feel like a loser with a 30 day past due sitting there!

WIldcat465

We wrote a check for an SL500 in October or November. No report was pulled. We didn't give them a Social Security #.

We leased an SL600 and prepaid (i.e., one pay) a CL500 lease in December and credit reports we pulled.

lig

Keep it going, fellas. More FICO tips would be appreciated. I'd like to get out of the 700s and move into the 800s.

I used to moonlight as a mortgage broker and have never seen an 800. Plenty of 600-700s. Some def. worse.

Personally the worse their credit - the better for me because those high risk/high interest loans really paid good comissions. It was nice to be able to help folks who were paying really outrageous interest rates because of their lousy credit.

Barry45RPM

Ah yes, but lousy credit is not a gift. It must be earned!

lig

Some of those folks worked pretty hard at earning that lousy credit!

What was really sad were the folks who had gotten bad credit through no fault of their own. One couple I did a loan for had a daughter completely screw up their credit. They just didn't know how to get it cleared up and paid dearly for it.