what are your thoughts on credit scores?

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do we need them? is it a gimmick? do other countrys besides the usa have credit scores? whats your credit score? ive seen some commercials saying you could not get a job unless you had a credit score. i mean wtf? who came up with this great idea of credit in the first place?

i dont know my credit score and when i tried to find out what it was unbenounced to me it wasnt free at all like what ive been seeing, its false advertisement and it seems silly to say its free when actually its not.

Do you believe everyone is equally credit-worthy?

ruveyn

The credit score is an old metric that has evolved into an overly used and often abused number in adult life in the US. The exact way a credit score is calculated is a secret, and even if you request your credit report, you won't get the details of how your score was derived. You will likely find errors and omissions on your report, and getting those corrected is a lot of work (too much work for me to bother with).

Many employers, as well as apartment leasing companies, loan officers at banks or other institutions (think of financing for a mortgage or car loan) are very interested in your credit score. How they combine that number with other factors, such as your work situation, marital status (marriage is considered a sign of stability, and so improves your image), criminal history, educational attainment, etc. varies with each individual looking at you.

You can get a free credit report, but that does not include your credit score (an odd omission that the three companies in the credit score business lobbied hard for). Fortunately, you only need to know your credit score when applying for a loan, mortgage, and certain jobs. Otherwise it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

Ignore the advertising about credit scores and reports. The system is flawed and demonstrability unfair in a variety of mathematical ways. But it is in use, and fortunately doesn't affect people much.

no, but it seems silly to have credit. if your credit worthy individual than couldnt you just pay in cash upfront for whatever you wanted?

In the Netherlands we have credit scores, but as I understand it they have a really different meaning than in the US.

To explain it:
When you make a debt it is registered as a risk. Different kinds of debts have different weights. For example a creditcard with no credit on it (a check card?) is registered as light. A credit card with credit on it, is registered as middle. When you borrow money for a car it is middle to high. When you have a company car it is registered as neutral, but when you private lease the car then it is middle. A mortgage on a house is high.

You can only have one or two 'high' debts and a few 'middle' debts. When you want more, your application will be blocked.

There is also a payment factor in it, when you pay too late or not, it is a 'high risk' and a lot of things get blocked.

It is a system to discourage debts and credit. So I think it is a good system. And there is definitely the need to keep it clean, when you want to buy a house someday or need a loan for emergencies.


As I understood from people coming from the US (they emigrated to NL), they needed to make debts and pay them back to get a positive credit rating. It sounds a bit dangerous.

Most people do not have the ready cash to buy houses. Without mortgages there would be very little property ownership. Even large Corporations must issue bonds to raise capital.

ruveyn

yep much like how your social security # wasnt supose to be used as personal identification. now you can hardly do anything without one, sneeky lawmakers. also yes i found out very quickly that free really doesnt mean free when you want to know your credit score

A credit score indicates that a person has shown responsibility (or irresponsibility) in paying their bills.

If people want to start a business, buy a home, or do other things, they may not have enough money, even if they are good at managing money. So they seek credit/loans, and the credit score gives a (partial) indication of how they have done in the past at paying their debts.

Some people do not believe in borrowing - great if that works for them. The one type of farmer that is doing well is the Amish farmer, and they do not go into debt much, if at all. They are trying to minimize loss. Most mainstream farmers have a strategy of maximizing profit, and they go into debt to do that. When the weather or the market turns on them, big trouble.

Some people do not believe in borrowing - great if that works for them. The one type of farmer that is doing well is the Amish farmer, and they do not go into debt much, if at all. They are trying to minimize loss. Most mainstream farmers have a strategy of maximizing profit, and they go into debt to do that. When the weather or the market turns on them, big trouble.

Well, if I'm buying a house or a car, that's fair.
If I'm applying for a job, that's not fair. It's then construed as a measure of your trustworthiness, which is a bit of a stretch. And credit is being used a lot more for job decisions than you might think.

The problem is that the 3 agencies have far too much power, and far too little transparencies. Credit score errors are common, and unless you pay, you're not likely to find them. Even fixing them is a royal pain.

I don't know where you've been seeing that you could get your credit score for free, except from scammers online I haven't seen anything like that. You can get your credit report once a year for free through AnnualCreditReport.com. The FTC wants to hear from you if you paid for what you thought was your free annual credit report. Submit your complaint here





The credit score is partially derived by what's on the credit report. You can get your credit report once every year for free by calling the phone number provided here, 1-877-322-8228, I've done it a few times already. Your credit report tells you what accounts of debt, credit cards, loans, mortgages, etc. they have on your file. This information can be wrong, way wrong, when I got my first credit reports two of them had accounts in other peoples names from other states with completely different social security numbers. Correcting it wasn't hard, when you get the report they have instructions on how to challenge the accounts that are not yours, they investigate and remove them if they're not your accounts and send you a notice letter letting you know how their investigation turned out. It may take a few hours of your time, but it's not hard.

Obviously if the problem(Credit report) is wrong the answer(Credit score) will be wrong, so make sure you check on it.