Credit Report vs Credit Score

In My Humble Opinion
1

Since I don’t have have any debt, and am not looking to get a loan, I haven’t really paid much attention to my credit rating.

But now, for some reason, I have a debt collection agency calling my house several times a day. I Googled the number and it appears they are a nasty lot, Midland Credit Management. I am 100% certain I have no debts in collection, as it’s been years (over a decade) since I paid off the last loan I took out. I don’t owe anybody any money. My house is paid for, my car is paid for, I have one credit card with no balance, my bills are paid, solid 5 figure checking account balance.

What I was hoping to see was whether this Midland bunch had tried to ding my credit based on what/who they think I owe/am. I hate to answer their call and somehow get involved with my own name, or even answer the phone and let them know they’ve got a living person on the line. They’re evidently shotgunning for similar names or something, but I don’t even want to say my name over the phone with them.*

So I decide to check my credit report. Do a little looking and I went to annualcreditreport.com, as directed by consumer.ftc.gov.

But they don’t really give you a report. One site was down, on site said I had no problems, and one site had info from the paid up credit card. Sort of a partial credit synopsis. And one site had my name wrong.

Seems you have to pay to get an actual report or score. I was hoping for a little more detail, but I guess if there’s nothing to report then that’s the whole of the report? And you have to pay to get a “Score”?

Can somebody who has seen their actual credit report verify that “No Problems” is the extent of the report? Seems a little vague. And I assume that if a collection agency really knew who I was and I had a bill in collections it would say something like “A Problem”?

I’m not sweating the collection bozos, they can call from here on out. I just don’t want them messing with my credit rating.

*We had a crazy invoice show up at work, $10K of lighbulbs. When we called the company to dispute the order, they played back a recording of our receptionist stating her name, then cut to them asking if she was approving the order, then cutting back to her saying “Yes”. All I need is some jackhole playing a recording back of me saying my name and that I agreed to assume the debt of Duck of Rasta or something.

2

My credit report has all my open and recently closed credit/installment loans. They do drop off after a certain period of time so I wouldn’t be alarmed if old accounts are not on there.

Your credit score is totally separate from your credit reports from the three bureaus and the most well-known credit score, FICO, is actually a third-party proprietary scoring system. You have no “official” credit score. I think all the individual credit bureaus also have their own scoring systems, as do some banks. Your credit scores wouldn’t tell you anything other than what you saw, because that’s the very data they draw from.

3

The bozos at Midland Credit Management can suck donkey turds in hell, if they aren’t already. They ring my phone with robo-calls several times every week, and sometimes several times a day. I’m pretty sure they are looking for SWIM, since I don’t owe anybody anything and I do get plenty of debt collection calls for SWIM.

Midland Credit Management’s robo-calls begin with a friendly robotic voice saying, "Hello, I have a call for you. Please wait while I connect you . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "

I just can’t belieeeeeeeeeeeve that anybody, upon receiving such a call, ever actually, you know, actually waits for somebody.

4

I’m glad to hear they appear to just be fishing for somebody to pick up.

I’d like to set them straight, but if email spam has taught me anything it’s “NEVER reply”.

5

It also depends on which state you live in. Some states, like Georgia - mandate one free credit report per year from each of the big 3 bureaus. You have to ask, it’s not automatic, and last I checked the beureaus did not make the report itself available on-line, but mailed a hard copy.

6

I did sign up for the once every 12 month hard copy, but it’s 2 weeks to prepare and 3 weeks to mail, so it’ll be a thousand more robocalls before I get it. I’ll be able to compare to the online version. If I get a sheet of paper with just “No Problems” written on it, I’ll have a laugh.

7

Whenever I get a phone call from a robot, I ALWAYS hang up immediately. I also rarely answer calls if I don’t recognize the number or already have them in my contacts. (I hope Ed McMahon never calls me from the Great Beyond.)

I feel safe doing this because I *know *I don’t owe any money and I monitor my bank accounts and credit cards online quite often (once a week or more). I also have an alert set with my Chase credit card so I get a text message any time a charge is made when the card is not present (like if I order something online-- or if a thief uses my card number to buy a plane ticket to Mexico), and I have another alert set to text me if there is a charge over $50 (you can set this for any amount). My credit card number has been stolen twice in the past 4-5 years, so this is not overkill.

I have been wondering about credit reports and this thread gives me the opportunity to ask a question that’s a teeny bit off the main topic, to wit: why is it such a FREAKIN’ big deal to GET your credit report? I mean, why is so SECRET from the account holder… it’s like getting to see your own medical records* used to be. *

I haven’t tried recently, as my credit is pure as the driven snow…:rolleyes: but I seem to remember that even so-called “free” sites weren’t really free. You had to give a credit card number up front or sign up for something. There are some commercials on TV these days from someplace called creditkarma.com that claims to be free.

8

That’s what led me to the annualcreditreport.com site. The FTC said it was the place to get your reports, for free. But it’s really just a site developed by the Big 3 report places, and there are ads on the page that’ll redirect you to the “See your score, just $4.95!”.

So I’m not really sure. Not sure why we need 3, why those three companies should hold such vast potential to wreck your life, any of that. It is a huge pain, and like I mentioned one of them has my name wrong. That might be the reason I’m getting robocalled, maybe Duke For Rat is a deadbeat - but he ain’t me.

9

Sounds like mistaken identity. You’d be surprised how many people in the US have exactly the same name as you.

Credit reports are useless. They just show you your activity. What really matters is to get your credit score. You can get it for free. Apply for a small personal loan from the bank (make sure it is small enough to definitely get approved, credit denial can hurt your score.) They will run your credit score for you, then ask them afterwards what your score is, and then say you don’t need the loan anymore.

Mine is the max, 810 or 820 or something like that.

The only reason to get your credit report is to see if somebody opened a credit card in your name, or there are old cards still on your record that you don’t use. Cancel those old cards because it affects how much you can borrow in the future.

10

Is this the only way to get your credit score? Can’t you get it on your own? (And if not, why not?)

11

You can pay to get it I believe, but this way is free.

12

I mean, is the only way to get your credit score, namely, to apply for a loan, etc.?

That seems a bit like using the method Jack Nicholson used to get chicken salad in Five Easy Pieces.

I don’t mind paying some small fee. Where is a good place to go to get my credit score?

13

Have you tried Credit Karma? It updates monthly and is totally free. I’ve been using them for 4 years now.

14

As I said above, I’ve seen their ad, but didn’t believe they were really free. I’ll check them out.

15

They really are free. There’s a lot of advertising on the site, but it really is free and quite useful.

17

If he legitimately has a credit agency after him, there should be an entry on at least one of the credit reports showing a delinquency.

The advice I read (and now follow), is to pull one of three free reports every four months. You want to monitor all three since not everything gets reported to all three agencies - but must stuff does, so if you pull one report every four months, you’ll likely see anything adverse that is there.

Oh - and they are free. You will have the opportunity on the company sites to pay for a credit score and/or monitoring, but there is no need to sign up for or pay for anything.

18

annualcreditreport.com gives me free credit reports from all 3 agencies once per year. If you want scores from Transunion or Equifax, those cost extra (except you can get a free Transunion score from creditkarma.com). Experian doesn’t make their scores available to the public.

Check your state’s consumer protection law and the federal law. You don’t have to listen to daily calls from a collection agency, even if you actually do owe them money.

19

The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires collection agencies to inform you if they have placed information in your credit report. If they fail to inform you, you can sue them for up to $1000 plus punitive damages and attorney’s fees.

Boiler room collection agencies like Midland usually don’t bother placing notes in your report because it costs them money, so they would especially not risk getting sued under the FCRA.

20

He was trying to get toast, not chicken salad.

21

I’ve received collection agent calls on two occasions. One was for a woman who used the have my phone number, the other was for someone who used to live at the same address. The last of the callers (for the first case) was looking for a woman who bought a car then didn’t pay for it. After the repo man offered to take me out to dinner (in order to see what kind of car I was driving I suppose) I had the phone disconnected and went cellular.