Comments on: Improve Your Credit Score and Creditworthiness

By: ForeverSarai

ForeverSarai — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:56:13 +0000

My husbands credit report consists of mainly past due/collections medical bills. Just wanted to know if we pay these off will it raise his score? I keep seeing that sometimes paying off certain debts can lower your score, just wanted to make sure.

By: Josh

Josh — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:12:49 +0000

Once your debt gets charged of or goes into collections it is bad debt. If you pay it your score will go down even further. That is why a lot of people don’t pay and our country went into recession! Because of how the fico score works! No one wanted there score to go lower so they didn’t pay and the banks went bankrupted! You can blame that on these 3 credit burros. Transition, Equafax and experian.

By: EFX Moderator, EM

EFX Moderator, EM — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:11:26 +0000

Great question. It's up to lenders to report information to credit reporting agencies. It sounds like your medical bills aren't being reported by the medical office. When they are past due and sent to a collections agency, however, it sounds like the collections agency is reporting the delinquent payments. You could always see if there's a medical practice that will report your on-time payments to a credit reporting agency. Regardless, you fiscal responsibility shows with the positive information on your credit report. Even if your medical bills aren't reporting, it sounds like you are being financially responsible. Have you checked your credit report lately to see what is being reported? Here are tips on how to view your credit report. I hope this helps.

By: SpringLilly

SpringLilly — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 08:05:24 +0000

It’s interesting to me which questions that the moderators answer, and the ones they do not. I’ll admit that MadMama was on a bit of a rant, however, she also asked several questions that weren’t answered. Rhonda, Richard and Mike also had very good questions that weren’t answered-and frankly, I would have liked to know what causes the fluctuations in the scores. My husband and I have gotten to the point that we no longer use credit cards at all simply because of all the games that the credit card companies and the CRAs. I am also amazed that you can go from having a 7,500 credit line to having a 600 credit line simply because you haven’t ever maxed the card out, EVEN if you use it about every month and pay it off. My personal opinion is that the credit card companies don’t like you paying off your accounts-whether it’s paying monthly, or making monthly payments on your balance. Seems to me like you just can’t win.

By: Uncleelmo

Uncleelmo — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 22:37:34 +0000

I’d like to know why medical bills are only reported to credit agencies when they become delinquint, In the past I’ve either paid off medical bills immediately or used their repayment plans. and paid them off on, or ahead of schedule. This should demonstrate fiscal responsibility. I don’t currently have any revolving credit, mortgages, car loans. I prefer to save for those things that I can’t buy outright. I measure desire for something against the cost, this prevents foolish purchases.
Is there any way I can have these accounts displayed onj my credit record

By: EFX Moderator, EM

EFX Moderator, EM — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:39:45 +0000

Great question, elc. There are different credit score models available to lenders. Some use industry-weighted scores, and others use blended scores from all three CRAs. The lender determines which score model it prefers. If your Equifax Credit Score differs greatly from the score your lender has calculated, you might want to bring a recent copy of your Equifax Credit Score to the lender. You can then compare the differences and figure out which information is missing or inaccurate. Read more about it here: http://blog.equifax.com/credit/why-is-the-credit-score-my-lender-calculated-different-from-my-equifax-score/

Thanks for posting.

By: elc

elc — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:21:08 +0000

Why do mortgage companies get a different score than you do when you check your own credit scores?

By: EFX Moderator, EM

EFX Moderator, EM — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:58:59 +0000

Tiffany, it's great to hear that both of your children are headed off to college! What an exciting time for all of you. You might want to look at your credit report yourself and see what the lenders are seeing. It'll give you a better idea of how you can improve. Click here for more information about checking your credit report. I hope this helps.

By: nonegiven

nonegiven — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:09:07 +0000

Don’t cosign your kid’s student loans. Read consumerist.com on never cosigning loan, especially a student loan.

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:30:49 +0000

I am sending two children to college and both are applying for student loans and are required to have co-signers (me) as a single parent to sign but have been turned down by banks due to my credit points (currently at 678) I dont know what points they are looking at, I have paid my bills on time for the past 2 years, have credit cards, my home was on short sale I suppose that was the reason for bad credit. I am trying to increase the points in order to be able to get both children to get student loans. Any ideas??