I just got copies of my credit reports and two of the three agencies have my old employer listed as my current employer. The third has no employer information. I’ve been in my current job for more than 6 years, so I’m not sure why their information is so stale. Should I fix it?
I was thinking I should because if I apply for a loan (I’m thinking of refinancing my mortgage) it could raise questions if the employer I list doesn’t match what’s on the file (at least I guess it could raise questions, I don’t know for sure).
However, it hasn’t affected my ability to get credit over the past 6 years, so I want to make sure nothing negative will happen if I fix it. Is there anything bad that can happen to my credit from fixing the name of my current employer?
I’ve heard that changing my employer can make it look like I’m new to a job and that may have a negative impact on my credit score. Is that correct? The source I heard it from (my uncle) is not exactly reliable! I’ve been in the job more than 6 years, so it’s not like I’m new.
The good news is there was nothing incorrect on my credit file and my FICO score was quite good! There were a couple department store cards that I’ve opened that have 0 balances but I’ve never closed them. (I think I opened them when stores were running promotions to get the discount on purchases and then paid them off without actually closing the accounts.) Once I close those, my score should get even higher! The biggest negative on my account was a lot of available credit.
The “employer” records in the credit report are not generally believed to be a factor in your score.
I would not bother changing it, personally. Most credit issuers probably realize that half of the time the “current employer” listed on there is inaccurate.
The two employers listed on my reports are the two that I had when I applied for three different mortgage loans. I don’t recall any other creditor asking about my employer, so it wouldn’t be reported to the credit reporting agencies.
Not necessarily. I recall hearing a consumer finance guru saying that one factor in your score is the ratio of card debt to available balance - the lower the better. So, if you close out those cards, you hurt your score. It’s better to use them once in a while to keep them active.
In my opinion, and it’s is strictly an opinion, I’d say fix it. It’s always better if it’s correct (even if it doesn’t necessarily factor toward your score), and in case it ever does matter you’ll probably want to fix it now instead of trying to move mountains at some credit agency while trying to meet a deadline with a creditor.
I’ve never seen a creditor take a credit reporting agency’s word on your employment.
They either take YOUR word on your employment, or they ask for a letter from your boss.
Fix it ASAP. The following is personal experience:
When I was starting out in the work force I was working through a temp agency. Eventually I gained full employment in a regular company (as opposed to a temp agency).
For 2 years I kept getting turned down for credit cards which confused the heck out of me since I was earning good money and had very little debt (just a small student loan).
When I went in to see about a car loan, the loan officer was going through my credit record and asks me if I still work for (Temp agency). I told her I hadn’t worked for them for years. So she changed the info to show my current status and job.
Got the loan (on the spot) plus got credit cards AND all sorts of other goodies that I had been denied (credit wise) for years.
Moral of the story: Work history DOES have something to do when it comes to getting money from a bank.