Thread: TransUnion & credit scores

Best way to raise credit is to not apply for credit.
Everytime a company makes an inquiry, it drives your score down.
Paying your bills ontime increases your score. No other way really.

And don't close any accounts.

I haven't applied for any credit. We have one credit card and one car loan.

So paying the car off would be a bad idea because that would close the account ? or does that only apply to credit cards ?

Originally Posted by ROID

I haven't applied for any credit. We have one credit card and one car loan.

So paying the car off would be a bad idea because that would close the account ? or does that only apply to credit cards ?

It applies to any account. If you're not really going to need your score anytime soon, pay it off. However, if you're cleaning up your credit record because you're going to buy a house or get a job that requires a good score, then wait. You're better off putting money into savings, where it looks good to a perspective employer. If you're buying a house, put some of it down on up front. That should give you points and save you a ton of money down the road.

credit is for poor people.

keep a balance for more than a few weeks 6 months min they base it on long trem payments and if u pay on time it suck to carry a balance but it boost your score. have more than one card 2 -3 .my cousin works for 1 of them and thats the deal just don't max out all of them that will make it drop any small balance a few 100.
ninja edit: (thanks keljew) stay away from dept store cards, gas cards, tire firestone card any thing GE money owns thye can hurt your score.1 won't be 2 will just a thought

Originally Posted by DOMS

It applies to any account. If you're not really going to need your score anytime soon, pay it off. However, if you're cleaning up your credit record because you're going to buy a house or get a job that requires a good score, then wait. You're better off putting money into savings, where it looks good to a perspective employer. If you're buying a house, put some of it down on up front. That should give you points and save you a ton of money down the road.

Points only makes sense if you're going to stay long term though. If you're planning on it being a short term investment - say 5- years, then it doesn't make much sense to pay points, does it?

Originally Posted by danzik17

Points only makes sense if you're going to stay long term though. If you're planning on it being a short term investment - say 5- years, then it doesn't make much sense to pay points, does it?

True. I was making the assumption that he was buying to hold it for at least five years or more. It doesn't make much sense in the current market to hold it for less though.

Originally Posted by DOMS

True. I was making the assumption that he was buying to hold it for at least five years or more. It doesn't make much sense in the current market to hold it for less though.

You lost me. If we aren't going to be making payments for more than 5 years then we should just pay it off then ?

Originally Posted by ROID

Why is TransUnion's credit scores always lower than the other two. My transunion score is 40pts lower than My Experian Score and 70 pts lower than my equifax score.

What are the best ways to raise credit scores ?
right now we have 1 very small car payment and 1 credit card.

We use the credit card but never carry a balance longer than 2 weeks.

Would it be better to keep paying the monthly payments on the car or should we just pay it off ?

Transunion has a much larger range than Experian or Equifax.

Equifax 300-850
Experian score 330-830
TransUnion score 150-934

Trans has ALWAYS been my lowest too.

Originally Posted by lnvanry

Transunion has a much larger range than Experian or Equifax.

Equifax 300-850
Experian score 330-830
TransUnion score 150-934

Trans has ALWAYS been my lowest too.

oh, I thought they all topped out at 850

ok so if cleaning up credit score how would u do it . i have cards that are charged off but not on credit and then some that are just charged off on credit score.

(before anyone says anything really being serious . i battled drugs and alchol for several years and now sobered up )

make a point to use what credit cards you do have (don't go over 20% of your max limit...and NEVER pass 50%). Pay the bill off every month and on TIME.

same goes for your rent/mort and all your other bills (water, gas, electric, cell phone, etc).

Don't go closing all your credit cards or opening a bunch either...stick with what you have now until you build some momentum. Holding the same job for 3+ yrs also helps. If you have any disparaging remarks or records on your credit score and they are not supposed to be there, challenge them. This is usually a tedious nerve racking process, but its usually worth it.

If you still owe a creditor money from 5yrs ago, think twice before paying. I'm not saying do or do not (only some one familiar with the details of the case should answer that) but paying off past delinquencies will not necessarily help. It admits a past mistake and shows clear financial risk.

Here's a FICO 101 site, but there is still some "reading between the lines"...

How Are Credit Scores Calculated? Learn What Affects Your Credit Score

Originally Posted by ROID

You lost me. If we aren't going to be making payments for more than 5 years then we should just pay it off then ?

It depends what your goal and finances are like. If you have enough money, then yes, pay off the house up front. It frees you from having mortgage/rent payments which helps with your debt to income ration, which will help your score.

However, if you're going to buy it on mortgage and then flip it, don't put down more than you need to. There are better ways to make your money work for you.

Originally Posted by DOMS

It depends what your goal and finances are like. If you have enough money, then yes, pay off the house up front. It frees you from having mortgage/rent payments which helps with your debt to income ration, which will help your score.

However, if you're going to buy it on mortgage and then flip it, don't put down more than you need to. There are better ways to make your money work for you.

ohh.....nevermind. I thought we were still talking about the car.

The whole purpose is within two years to buy a house. I'm trying to get our score over 800.

Unless something out of the ordinary happens we are not going to be paying cash for a house. I was thinking at least putting 10% down.

Homes are really cheap in Florida but when I'm finished here we are moving to Arizona and I'm afraid if we bought a house now we would never be able to sell.

Originally Posted by ROID

ohh.....nevermind. I thought we were still talking about the car.

The whole purpose is within two years to buy a house. I'm trying to get our score over 800.

Unless something out of the ordinary happens we are not going to be paying cash for a house. I was thinking at least putting 10% down.

Homes are really cheap in Florida but when I'm finished here we are moving to Arizona and I'm afraid if we bought a house now we would never be able to sell.

Any reason you want your score over 800? Sure its great to have it that high, but 720+ will get you primo rates whether on a car or a home.

Originally Posted by ROID

ohh.....nevermind. I thought we were still talking about the car.

The whole purpose is within two years to buy a house. I'm trying to get our score over 800.

Unless something out of the ordinary happens we are not going to be paying cash for a house. I was thinking at least putting 10% down.

Homes are really cheap in Florida but when I'm finished here we are moving to Arizona and I'm afraid if we bought a house now we would never be able to sell.

hope u like them mexicans..good food

Originally Posted by Big Pimpin

Any reason you want your score over 800? Sure its great to have it that high, but 720+ will get you primo rates whether on a car or a home.

better score , better options i thought

if 720 is considered that good then I shouldnt be too worried.

Originally Posted by Dark Geared God

hope u like them mexicans..good food

I plan on owning a few. I'm going to teach them to cook chinese food.

To start, you don't need to use your credit, and many factors affect yur score. By far the most important factor for credit cards is your utilization ratio, your credit used to total available credit, that should be under 20%, as mentioned before. There are ways to game the system with this, there is something referred to as the trifecta where you apply for a credit card through Littman and 2 other jewelry stores, I think Jared and another one. When you do this, the credit is shared but it reports as 3 separate accounts. In other words, if you get approved for $5000, you can only use $5000 total in all 3 stores but it reports as 3 separate $5000 credit lines, boosting your total credit assuming you don't use it. Another important factor is having multiple types of accounts such as revolving (Credit Cards and lines of credit), fixed payment (Car and shit like that), and others. The length of your credit history and history of late payments is also big. I've raised mine over the last year by using creditboards.com, they give you cool little secrets like the ones above, but they also have a database of credit pulls that shows you what credit scores were approved by specific creditors and also what the limits or reasons for decline were. Mine has gone up by about 200 points in the last year just by knowing what to do and when to do it, and I didn't even need to game the system, plus I don't get declined for anything because I make sure I match the criteria that has already been approved for other people.

Originally Posted by ROID

I plan on owning a few. I'm going to teach them to cook chinese food.

Well thats good i see them working in chinese eaterys and in little italy

Originally Posted by Dale Mabry

To start, you don't need to use your credit, and many factors affect yur score. By far the most important factor for credit cards is your utilization ratio, your credit used to total available credit, that should be under 20%, as mentioned before. There are ways to game the system with this, there is something referred to as the trifecta where you apply for a credit card through Littman and 2 other jewelry stores, I think Jared and another one. When you do this, the credit is shared but it reports as 3 separate accounts. In other words, if you get approved for $5000, you can only use $5000 total in all 3 stores but it reports as 3 separate $5000 credit lines, boosting your total credit assuming you don't use it. Another important factor is having multiple types of accounts such as revolving (Credit Cards and lines of credit), fixed payment (Car and shit like that), and others. The length of your credit history and history of late payments is also big. I've raised mine over the last year by using creditboards.com, they give you cool little secrets like the ones above, but they also have a database of credit pulls that shows you what credit scores were approved by specific creditors and also what the limits or reasons for decline were. Mine has gone up by about 200 points in the last year just by knowing what to do and when to do it, and I didn't even need to game the system, plus I don't get declined for anything because I make sure I match the criteria that has already been approved for other people.

wow...ours is going up about 10 pts per month.

With the credit card, we use it and pay it off within two weeks.

Would paying ahead on the car loan be a good idea, not paying it off but paying it ahead. It drives me crazy to pay interest knowing I could just pay the damn thing off.

What I have learned is that credit just isnt free. You have to pay to have good credit.

It has crossed my mind to just pay the car off and continue setting aside the money and within 3 or 4 years, when its time to get a new car, we would be able to pay cash again or 80%.

Originally Posted by ROID

wow...ours is going up about 10 pts per month.

With the credit card, we use it and pay it off within two weeks.

Would paying ahead on the car loan be a good idea, not paying it off but paying it ahead. It drives me crazy to pay interest knowing I could just pay the damn thing off.

What I have learned is that credit just isnt free. You have to pay to have good credit.

It has crossed my mind to just pay the car off and continue setting aside the money and within 3 or 4 years, when its time to get a new car, we would be able to pay cash again or 80%.

It wouldn't hurt, but I don't think it helps that much either.

FWIW Credit scores and lenders like structured debt vs. credit card revolving debt meaning score-wise you're better off having a $30,000 car loan vs. $30,000 in credit card debt. Obviously you're better off having little or no debt, but structured debt is perceived better than revolving debt.

My credit is bad...

Originally Posted by ROID

wow...ours is going up about 10 pts per month.

With the credit card, we use it and pay it off within two weeks.

Would paying ahead on the car loan be a good idea, not paying it off but paying it ahead. It drives me crazy to pay interest knowing I could just pay the damn thing off.

What I have learned is that credit just isnt free. You have to pay to have good credit.

It has crossed my mind to just pay the car off and continue setting aside the money and within 3 or 4 years, when its time to get a new car, we would be able to pay cash again or 80%.

I have never held a balance on a credit card. I have had one since I turned 18. I'm 29 now. I had 1 car loan so far. I paid it off in about 3.5 years. My credit score, when I went to buy my house, was 813. I was 24 at the time. I really haven't to pay any extra to have really good credit. I just pay everything on time. I don't look at credit cards as loans. I look at them as a convenience. I don't have to carry around thousands of dollars in cash. I just carry a piece of plastic. Then when my bill comes at the end of the month, I can see everything I bought. Then I pay it off. Just don't ever spend more then you can't afford and you will be good.