The careless errors of credit reporting agencies
241–250 of 313 posts
Re: The careless errors of credit reporting agencies
#242The US is as far as I know the only country in the world who have a positive creditscore system. At least in Europe it's mostly based on a negative creditscore i.e. you are trusted by definition but if you don't pay your bills you end up not being allowed access to credit. In the US they don't trust you per definition and instead you have to prove that you are good with money by basically creating debt and then payin…
I don't see what's so strange about this. Let's say you were lending money. Would you prefer to lend it to a person with an established history of taking out and then paying back loans, or a person with zero history either way? I don't think it's accurate to describe the system as starting out not trusted. There are many levels, and misbehavior can easily give you worse credit than the default. You start out neutral…
There are plenty of other ways to credit companies could gauge inside your economic maturity as much of your financial history have been done via debit card for more or less the same transactions that you are going to use your credit card for.
In other words the information is there already because you have been using your debit card already.
And yes it is accurate to describe it as not trusted which is why you need to increase your credit score by using your credit and paying it back.
Re: The careless errors of credit reporting agencies
#243How much is this connected to not having a real id card? For me is always weird when you see things like "no flight lists" and it is just a list of names. In Spain or Sweden your ID will be listed and the rest of people named like you spared of being harassed. Another concept that I don't understand is that USA's social security number has to be kept secret or otherwise your identity can be stolen. How that is even p…
Every State in the US has ID cards, but citizens aren't required to obtain one at any point. (Although a heck of a lot of basic things-- driving a car on a public road, boarding an airplane, buying alcohol-- are gated by them.) What we don't have is a Federal ID card. The TSA tried to impose one, but a lot of States are pushing back against it. (Washington State called the TSA's bluff and obtained a 2-year "extension…
Re: The careless errors of credit reporting agencies
#244Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's absurdly backwards because it's asking you to create debt which normally is the opposite of showing you are good with money and I would question the validity of seeing people paying back limited debt to be indicative of ex. borrowing for a house. You could instead just look at the history of their debit card usage to figure out whether they are trustworthy. As I said though I understand why they do it, it's just…
> It's absurdly backwards because it's asking you to create debt which normally is the opposite of showing you are good with money and I would question the validity of seeing people paying back limited debt to be indicative of ex. borrowing for a house. First of all, you can have an excellent credit score without paying a penny of interest. All you have to do is buy things with your credit card, and pay the bill in f…
Second it's a fairly know issue that the way creditscore is established is pretty flawed. You can have 10mio on your account, but if you have no job or own your own company it will actually affect your credit score. This whole thread is started because of some of the issues.
With regards to the debit card the point is that the kind of purchases you did before you got a credit card, aren't going to change dramatically or fundamentally after you get one.
Re: The careless errors of credit reporting agencies
#245Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't see what's so strange about this. Let's say you were lending money. Would you prefer to lend it to a person with an established history of taking out and then paying back loans, or a person with zero history either way? I don't think it's accurate to describe the system as starting out not trusted. There are many levels, and misbehavior can easily give you worse credit than the default. You start out neutral…
Perhaps it's my English that's just not allowing me to communicate clearly but I think people are missing the point here. There are plenty of other ways to credit companies could gauge inside your economic maturity as much of your financial history have been done via debit card for more or less the same transactions that you are going to use your credit card for. In other words the information is there already becaus…
Re: The careless errors of credit reporting agencies
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
It sounds like you are at least ten years out of college. Federal regulations have changed and now it is more difficult for a college student to access credit cards
Graduated this year, Citi literally handed me a $5000 limit with minimal history (I had a credit card I used ~100 times across 4 years of college) and basically told me to go nuts.
Re: The careless errors of credit reporting agencies
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't see what's so strange about this. Let's say you were lending money. Would you prefer to lend it to a person with an established history of taking out and then paying back loans, or a person with zero history either way? I don't think it's accurate to describe the system as starting out not trusted. There are many levels, and misbehavior can easily give you worse credit than the default. You start out neutral…
Perhaps it's my English that's just not allowing me to communicate clearly but I think people are missing the point here. There are plenty of other ways to credit companies could gauge inside your economic maturity as much of your financial history have been done via debit card for more or less the same transactions that you are going to use your credit card for. In other words the information is there already becaus…
Credit score is one of many pieces of information used in lending.
Alternative credit scores are starting to come on the market for people who pay bills on time but may not otherwise have a traditional credit history but they are pretty experimental still. There's different algorithms too. The current one used most often is FICO 8 but there's a LOT more.
Each lender has their target borrower too. Some lenders are what is called subprime lenders meaning they lend to people with low or limited credit histories.
Debit card use makes no sense and is irrelevant.
Re: The careless errors of credit reporting agencies
#248Here's something I've wanted to know for a while: How is a foreigner emigrating to the USA (or Canada I guess) supposed to function? We don't use credit cards in my country (we use direct debit cards) and I've never had any debt to my name. On the other hand, I've always paid all my bills on time. Do you get some sort of crappy default credit score given based on estimated factors, or are you SOL until you've lived l…
It is not perfect, but it is not that bad. It sucks having to have your money blocked in an account for a year though.
Re: The careless errors of credit reporting agencies
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
>you are trusted by definition I felt pretty "trusted by definition." Citi gave me a credit card with a $3,000 limit as a college freshmen. A few years later I had an $8,000 limit card and a $10,000 limit card. I bought my car certified-pre-owned under a program that writes favorable low-cost loans to recent college graduates with no or limited credit history (with an offer letter or paystubs). You just aren't truste…
"I felt pretty "trusted by definition." Citi gave me a credit card with a $3,000 limit as a college freshmen. A few years later I had an $8,000 limit card and a $10,000 limit card." As a recent immigrant I felt pretty untrusted. In my late 20s, despite being able to show a year of income in the six digits, no overdrafts, I had to go to four separate banks before finding one that was willing to give me a $300 limit ca…
Re: The careless errors of credit reporting agencies
#250Earlier quoted context omitted.
I work for Capital One and their target customer is actually people without credit scores. As far as I know, it's the only company that actually targets these customers as the primary revenue stream and also makes money. The way it works, is they usually only give someone a $500 limit, then double the limit every 6 months If you pay monthly. Once you get a job you can get a bump to $2000 limit with the 1.5% back easy…
Why in the world would you want 100k of credit?
I just have a lot of cards. If they want to give me bonuses for signing up I will take them. Free money.