Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You

Post by foxyv » Wed, Sep 13, 2017, 10:22 PM UTC

thecrazyone wrote: post #178

phant0mas wrote: post #108

I see the same thing with all my family and friends. Whenever they have to do something that involves bureaucracy, they give up and/or start shouting. Especially in Greece, where the public sector and the banks depend on you giving up. Personally I always make sure to go fully prepared, with every legal paper ready before hand, and having ready answers/solution for every possible issue. And above all else I talk as p…

I feel sad every time I hear things like this. That we've to be happy that we got our job done even when all our documents are in the clear. Or that we've to hope get some favor from them by fawning (not alleging that you did that). It makes me feel like we're treated like dumb children by our governments.

> It makes me feel like we're treated like dumb children by our governments.

Bingo.

Post by yebyen » Thu, Sep 14, 2017, 8:13 PM UTC

SilasX wrote: post #280

ProblemFactory wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taking out loans that you don't need, not spending the money, and paying them back on time (with interest) should be a very positive credit score indicator. It shows that the person is planning ahead, is careful with not overspending even if they have cash available, is organized enough to make all the monthly payments on time. To me that seems like a better signal than someone who does need the loan. How would a per…

I agree, but in fairness, the way credit agencies use that information is nonetheless gameable. They ignore all of your payment diligence when it comes to bills (utilities, rent, cable, etc) but consider it a positive indicator when you get a credit card that you pay off every month. This leads people to do something they don't want to do, and is no more informative than paying all those other bills would have been,…

I think you do have to consider too, that these companies also want to give you credit (it is their business,) and in many cases they will likely have insurance that pays when you default.

If the way they have allowed you to "game" this metric results in you signing up for some credit in order to improve your credit score, that's nothing but a net win for them. They got you some credit, that's definitely a score for them.

(I'm not saying that credit card companies would prefer all of their customers to default, they would never be able to buy insurance again... I just want to put it out there that maybe the system works exactly this way, 100% deliberately, because it benefits them too.)

Re: Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You

Re: Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You