Credit Report Advice

[Doombard]

So here's the deal. I'm in the middle of getting ready to close on a house. I just paid off the rest of my car to raise my credit score by a little bit to help on the loan. Now I'm 2 weeks away from closing date and my bank just told me that I won't be able to get the financing I need because the loan company for my car reported that I paid my car late AND that I settled the balance. I have all the receipts from paying for the car, but now I need to dispute the thing on the credit report which takes 30-60 days. Is there any way to get this resolved in the next 2 weeks or am I fucked on this? FYI I will lose $5,000 earnest money if it doesn't because of the mistake they made. If I do is there any legal action I could take against them? ugh.

[Aerides]

Try talking to the Car loan bank and getting a letter saying it was wrong (if it was?).

[Doombard]

I tried this and they said they can't do it and that I need to dispute the report. (duh)

[Serif]

I tried this and they said they can't do it and that I need to dispute the report. (duh)

Where did you get your financing on the car?

[Doombard]

credit acceptance >.>

[_chuchu]

Closing a line of credit (or paying one off completely) makes you look less attractive to them. It's a crock of shit because they know there's less profit to make from someone who's debt free (assuming they can pay it off faster than someone with the same income level who still has some or moderate debt)

[Ksandra]

So here's the deal. I'm in the middle of getting ready to close on a house. I just paid off the rest of my car to raise my credit score by a little bit to help on the loan. Now I'm 2 weeks away from closing date and my bank just told me that I won't be able to get the financing I need because the loan company for my car reported that I paid my car late AND that I settled the balance. I have all the receipts from paying for the car, but now I need to dispute the thing on the credit report which takes 30-60 days. Is there any way to get this resolved in the next 2 weeks or am I fucked on this? FYI I will lose $5,000 earnest money if it doesn't because of the mistake they made. If I do is there any legal action I could take against them? ugh.

this may sound retarded, but...did you talk to a banker about this? They deal with this type of shit a lot, and may know what the best route to go.

[Khamsin]

Quick credit score question:

I can find my TransUnion and Equifax FICO scores (though not Experian) from myFICO, and that means I have 3 separate FICO scores, one for each bureau.

But where can I get my combined FICO score, the single number that utilizes all three credit bureaus?

[Skyylya]

there is no 'one' fico score. there are just the three separate ones. different companies use different bureaus.

i.e. if you apply for a credit card with USAA i think they use equifax whereas capitalone might use experian.

since the information on all three bureaus usually varies you might have a 700 credit score with one and maybe a 680 with the other which could affect the decision made, or interest rate you get.

I use truecredit.com through transunion to monitor all three reporting bureaus, only costs like 15 bucks amonth but i can update all three reports every 30 days and if you stay on top of your credit and dispute the innacuracies you can bridge the gap between the different bureaus. right now all my scores are within like 10 points which is pretty good, before i started paying attention there was like an 80 point different.


basically the disputing process is a joke and they do whatever they can to waste your time. legally they 'have' to do an investigation whenever you request one properly, but they'll jump through hoops to find out if you didn't submit for it properly to avoid spending the time/money to do it.

the best thing you could do is contact the lender of the car loan again and just keep talking to them and stress the situation. (don't be an asshole on the phone, keep your composure because they do not have to help you) you just need to keep trying til you find that person that will.

[ArchDizzle]

Not sure who you are buying your house through, but after purchasing 3 I can say I don't think one of mine didn't have at least 1 credit report mistake during the process. Everyone I dealt with simply had me collect a letter from the creditor stating it was a mistake (which I know you said they won't but if you talked to someone there they can pull up your payment history and see that it was a mistake, you talked to the wrong person or just an asshole)

Even if you try every way possible and they won't do it you should be able to talk to the lender for your house and explain the situation, dipute the credit report and make your car lender print out your payment history and take that to your bank that is financing your house. Your bank may even contact the car people themselves once they have your payment history supporting your claim of it being incorrect. The key is don't claim it was a mistake to your potential lender they hear that all the time, show them it was a mistake.

[Khamsin]

So what are people referring to when they mention their "combined" FICO score? It sounds different from the uncombined FICO score specific to a bureau.

[Skyylya]

i think people mentioning a 'combined fico score' is just people's lack of understanding how the credit reporting system works.

like i said there is nobody out there that averages your scores and uses that.

every business that checks credit for whatever their reasons are only uses one of the bureau's. That's why it's so important to keep track of all three of them to make sure they are as similar as possible.

[Khamsin]

Well, my TransUnion one is 750, and my Equifax one is 766. No clue on Experian, they don't sell their FICO score to consumers, so I don't know if they tend to be higher or lower than the other two.

Is that close, or should they be closer?

[kuronosan]

You can write to the credit bureaus and dispute this pretty easily. Send it certified mail and send a copy of the letter to the assholes who reported it "late" or "settled".

If you did settle, there's nothing you can do.

[Aerides]

Khamsin, those numbers are reasonable for closeness. Anything in the <30 range is pretty normal from what I've found.
I'm assuming if you have the scores, you have the details/accounts. There's probably one or two extra inquiries against one, or onea account missed on one, etc.

[Takedown3]

why the fuck do i have to pay someone to see my credit score

[kuronosan]

You don't. Whenever your credit is pulled by a company they are required to provide a free copy of your credit report on request.

That mainly applies to loans.

[zoobernut]

You don't. Whenever your credit is pulled by a company they are required to provide a free copy of your credit report on request.

That mainly applies to loans.

I just want to clarify there is a big difference between your credit report which is a history of your credit activity and your credit score. The credit score is not included in the report. The report by law is free for you to view ANY time you want from any of the three companies. Your credit score on the other hand is not required to be available to you at all though some companies will sell it to you. Also when another company like a loan company or something does run a credit check on you they are not required to tell you what your score is either.

To recap Score /= report.

[Nirokun!]

Accidentally deleted my post Short version inc. ((

Have the car loan company issue a statement on their letterhead showing that you are late on a payment, the payment amount, and the date the payment was due at the time. Then go to the bank, get a bank statement that includes the transfer of money towards that car loan payment. It should include the date of the transfer to the car loan company and the appropriate payment amount. Present these documents behind your own written letter stating that the funds were transferred on time and that the car loan company made a mistake. This way, you don't have to get the loan company to admit they were wrong right away, and can save that for later. Include that the information will also be disputed with the appropriate bureaus, but that the letter and documentation was required at this time to close a deal on a house. They should understand that the back-and-forth of the disputing items on your credit report takes time, time that you don't have with the closing date.

[kuronosan]

I just want to clarify there is a big difference between your credit report which is a history of your credit activity and your credit score. The credit score is not included in the report. The report by law is free for you to view ANY time you want from any of the three companies. Your credit score on the other hand is not required to be available to you at all though some companies will sell it to you. Also when another company like a loan company or something does run a credit check on you they are not required to tell you what your score is either.

To recap Score /= report.

Oopsie. I totally misread what was being asked about. This is correct.