Building my Credit Score

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

53 minutes ago, DaveNot said:

I did it with a secured card and checking account (checking account was required, but doesn't build a score). Six months later I had a clear established score and went unsecured with a different company and kept my secure card too. After about a year and a few cards (all paid on time), my score hit 750. You can check using credit karma, it is free and they even have an app.

Credit Karma gives you a FACO score not a FICO score and can differ a bit from a true FICO, but gives a good estimate for most instances.

[kzielu 1,147]

9 minutes ago, Suss&Camm said:

This is not true. 

1. Yes being an authorized user as a SPOUSE, and when the terms say so (which they normally do for spouses) reports the EXACT same thing for the 2 spouses.

2. Yes, there are also estimated scores that you can specifically request when there is no history. I got one of those when they first applied for my credit card. They have to estimate a score if you apply that early. That score was around 550-560.

I have since then built my score like anyone else. I've been in contact with ALL THREE BUREAUS AND MY CREDIT PROVIDER ON MULTIPLE OCCASSIONS .... my own account and the account where I'm authorized user report in the exact same way. I have even gotten my credit reports where I can see this. It is a TRUE score.  NOT an estimated score. (For example calculated by FICO 8 software algorithm)

All the free scores provided by Credit Karma and such are estimated and not true Fico scores. When somebody sees score >700 after 6 months, it is an estimated score. I verified this when applying for mortgage when my true Fico used by lenders was ~40 points down from what both Credit Karma scores were (with 4 years of substantial credit history and $40k of credit card limits with very minimal credit utilization).

 

All I'm saying is don't kid yourself with high credit scores after 6 months of being an authorized user of a card, whatever websites tell you.

[Transborderwife 4,666]

The thing that (general) you need to take into account is just how good is your partners score?  Sometimes it's best to start from scratch 

[Transborderwife 4,666]

2 minutes ago, kzielu said:

All the free scores provided by Credit Karma and such are estimated and not true Fico scores. When somebody sees score >700 after 6 months, it is an estimated score. I verified this when applying for mortgage when my true Fico used by lenders was ~40 points down from what both Credit Karma scores were (with 4 years of substantial credit history and $40k of credit card limits with very minimal credit utilization).

 

All I'm saying is don't kid yourself with high credit scores after 6 months of being an authorized user of a card, whatever websites tell you.

My husbands CK score fluctuated almost 150 pts after Christmas.  It was ridiculous 

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

2 minutes ago, kzielu said:

All the free scores provided by Credit Karma and such are estimated and not true Fico scores. When somebody sees score >700 after 6 months, it is an estimated score. I verified this when applying for mortgage when my true Fico used by lenders was ~40 points down from what both Credit Karma scores were (with 4 years of substantial credit history and $40k of credit card limits with very minimal credit utilization).

 

All I'm saying is don't kid yourself with high credit scores after 6 months of being an authorized user of a card, whatever websites tell you.

I'm not talking about kredit carma FACO scores I'm talking about TRUE FICO scores from the bureaus themselves. 

[kzielu 1,147]

Just now, Suss&Camm said:

I'm not talking about kredit carma FACO scores I'm talking about TRUE FICO scores from the bureaus themselves. 

This is what I was talking about - those from bureaus themselves were the true FICO ones either  : 

 

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined Experian $3 million, saying the credit bureau:

 

• Led customers to believe its proprietary PLUS scores were the same ones used by lenders to make decisions, in violation of an agency regulation
• Required customers to view ads for Experian before they could see their federally mandated free credit reports, violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act

TransUnion and Equifax, the other two major credit reporting agencies, were fined earlier this year for similar violations, and ordered to issue refunds to consumers as well. In a statement, Experian said it does not believe it violated the law.

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

You can't just say in general "when you see above 700 in less than 6 months". You need to look at what kind of score your particular score is. I was always referring to true FICO scores in my posts, as these are what matters. Of course you should also still get your own card.  In fact having 2, one authorizied and one my own is what helped me build faster.

I have put in quite a bit of research in to this. I don't know what made you think I was talking about FACO scores.

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

2 minutes ago, kzielu said:

This is what I was talking about - those from bureaus themselves were the true FICO ones either  : 

 

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined Experian $3 million, saying the credit bureau:

 

• Led customers to believe its proprietary PLUS scores were the same ones used by lenders to make decisions, in violation of an agency regulation
• Required customers to view ads for Experian before they could see their federally mandated free credit reports, violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act

TransUnion and Equifax, the other two major credit reporting agencies, were fined earlier this year for similar violations, and ordered to issue refunds to consumers as well. In a statement, Experian said it does not believe it violated the law.

And I'm not talking about some "proprietary plus score". I'm still talking about a regular true FICO score. 

[NYCruiser 423]

12 hours ago, Transborderwife said:

It's not as effective 

Yes it is VERY effective. That's what I did with my spouse. However, remember the depending factor is the credit history of the card by the other person comes on your credit rating.

Check www.creditkarma.com for a free tracking and reputable company to check your rating

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

10 minutes ago, Transborderwife said:

The thing that (general) you need to take into account is just how good is your partners score?  Sometimes it's best to start from scratch 

Well of course. There is no reason to piggy-back if it won't actually help

7 minutes ago, Transborderwife said:

My husbands CK score fluctuated almost 150 pts after Christmas.  It was ridiculous 

That's the weak spot in both FICO and FACO scores for new credit builders. Since the credit history is short and this counts as part of the % that builds your score (different % dependingon bureau and what generation FICO is used) it will fluctuate more with any change. This will stabilize only with time. 

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

Just now, NYCruiser said:

Yes it is VERY effective. That's what I did with my spouse. However, remember the depending factor is the credit history of the card by the other person comes on your credit rating.

Check www.creditkarma.com for a free tracking and reputable company to check your rating

Again credit karma provides a FACO score not a true FICO, but gives an estimate.

[Transborderwife 4,666]

1 minute ago, NYCruiser said:

Yes it is VERY effective. That's what I did with my spouse. However, remember the depending factor is the credit history of the card by the other person comes on your credit rating.

Check www.creditkarma.com for a free tracking and reputable company to check your rating

Credit karma is not accurate whatsoever.  It's not a true FICO score.  You're better off tracking through your bank.  I used to work in credit and credit counseling 

[Transborderwife 4,666]

2 minutes ago, Suss&Camm said:

Well of course. There is no reason to piggy-back if it won't actually help

That's the weak spot in both FICO and FACO scores for new credit builders. Since the credit history is short and this counts as part of the % that builds your score (different % dependingon bureau and what generation FICO is used) it will fluctuate more with any change. This will stabilize only with time. 

We have been looking at a house for the future.  His mortgage lender is willing to overlook some old medical bills (they have some leeway) so that does indeed help.  Many lenders in Florida will do this especially for buying a car.  I'm quite surprised that they can actually 

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

1 minute ago, Transborderwife said:

We have been looking at a house for the future.  His mortgage lender is willing to overlook some old medical bills (they have some leeway) so that does indeed help.  Many lenders in Florida will do this especially for buying a car.  I'm quite surprised that they can actually 

I suppose if they should be able to overlook anything old medical bills would be that thing, as you generally can't help getting sick and shouldn't be punished for life for something normally beyond your control. You are already punished enough for that inherently human aspect of life in this country. But that is a whole different discussion

[Transborderwife 4,666]

1 minute ago, Suss&Camm said:

I suppose if they should be able to overlook anything old medical bills would be that thing, as you generally can't help getting sick and shouldn't be punished for life for something normally beyond your control. You are already punished enough for that inherently human aspect of life in this country. But that is a whole different discussion

It all comes back to health care ??

 

when I worked in credit counseling one of the main things we looked at were patterns, for example if there was a sudden credit crash due to a major life event (divorce, death, etc).  Or if someone is just irresponsible with money