BellaOnline Forums Money Home Ownership A Closer Look At Credit Reports

My latest article is related to the things that appear on credit reports and how they affect us.

Has anyone taken a look at their credit report lately? What did you find? If you have questions or would like to share your thoughts, this is the place to do it.


Rosemary Rugnetta
Home Ownership Editor

I got my income tax return in early Feb and did the free annual reports and bought two credit scores and then got a high rate for auto loan from capitol one auto finance and then when I got the car and signed the papers last friday my scores were 30 points higher and it was almost a month later.

Guess I should have waited since I paid down credit cards and then they were reported and the score was higher.

The finance company came back and sent me a letter saying my address was wrong with one of the agencies, which is odd since I have lived in this duplex rental house for ten years. I called and turns out they made a mistake since I used to use the equifax reporting for a review and got it free for a year and the others were printed out and no errors.

I dont understand the date they report things though since trans union reported an old address eight years ago and that was odd.

As I worked for banks I can only tell you that they use what is called a tri-merge credit report which is one report that includes all of the information for all three credit reporting agencies. All of the3 agencies get their information fed to them thru outside sources such as banks, loan companies, employers, irs, etc. and even sometimes landlords. It all depends on who they are reporting to. If trans union was not reported to, then the old address would still show up. It can be very confusing about how they work. And the information they hold is often times incorrect and they hold your information forever. Reading a credit report can be very difficut. And at least 99% have errors or need to be updated. If someone from a bank tells you that they had your credit report updated, double check yourself with the 3 agencies to see if it stayed. Most times, an update done for a bank will only last 90 days and then it will go back to it's original state. The agency they use for the tri-merge report does the update, not the actual 3 credit reporting agencies. And each update is a charge to the bank who then charges the customer (if they are doing a loan). And updating it does not change the score unless they order a rescore.

You've done yourself a favor by keeping up on it and seeing what is reported. Believe me, credit reports can be a nightmare. And no one would believe what shows up on them.

I went to the car dealership with my Capital One Auto Finance blank check package and for some reason they did an application on my behalf with Bank of America. I hate that bank and would never do business with them since they are the reason for my bankruptcy in 2004 due to a credit card with my first husband in 1989 and in 2004 they were trying to get access into my bank accts, especially my kids SSI accts.

I got the letter saying that I was denied. I did the credit report onlne and then added the $5.95 for the credit score. Seems the price last time was $7.95. So the score was quite different again.


on 2-15-08 experian vantage score is 623
on 3-20-08 experian vantage score is 641

at the dealership they printed out these scores on 3-7-08

equifax - 653
experian - 657

I got from equifax on 2-16-08 - 620

I called the dealership and asked about Bank of America and the finance gal did not know about it and said disregard. I said I did not want this affecting my credit score. I don't think it did, but I never signed anything giving them permission to seek a loan thru BofA and not happy with that at all, since I had my own financing brought in with me.

Oh and yesterday I noticed one of my credit cards increased me another $300. That is good since I can use that for a Derm appt next week and save money in bank for my auto loan since I am still unclear when it is due, etc.

I'm not really sure how car dealerships work but I do think that the dealerships have an agreement with an individual bank and gets a kickback for every loan they get. That is why they will automatically check to see if you can finance through them. I once worked for a bank that had an agreement with a home builder. The home builder got a quarterly check from the bank for all of the loans that went through them. It became so lucrative for the home builder that eventually if you didn't use their mortgage bank, you paid more for the home. Pretty nasty stuff. Should be illegal.

Bonnie - you may want to consider being proactive and calling the finance company for the exact due date, the address to pay it at, and amount due. Keep a log any conversations. Then make your first payment even without a payment coupon.

One time I had financed a car through the dealer (bad move on my part), but they didn't send me any type of payment coupon or bill. I knew the first payment was either due or close to being due. I called and they said if I didn't pay by a certain day, they would mark it against me. They said it doesn't matter if I didn't get a bill on time, not their problem. It's in the contract that I would pay 30 days from purchase.

I was able to set up payments online at their website. I chose the fifth for my due date and then it said the first one would be done on the 7th and I called to make sure that would not count against me.

Turns out they did credit the acct for the 5th and it went through.