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http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2330942 There is a .pdf file to download. Lots of interesting info. The abstract is below. Abstract: We analyze the effectiveness of consumer financial regulation by considering the 2009 Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act. We use a panel data set covering 160 million credit card accounts and a difference-in-differences research design that compares changes in outcomes over time for consumer credit cards, which were subject to the regulations, to changes for small business credit cards, which the law did not cover. We estimate that regulatory limits on credit card fees reduced overall borrowing costs by an annualized 1.6% of average daily balances, with a decline of more than 5.3% for consumers with FICO scores below 660. We find no evidence of an offsetting increase in interest charges or a reduction in the volume of credit. Taken together, we estimate that the CARD Act saved consumers $11.9 billion per year. We also analyze a nudge that disclosed the interest savings from paying off balances in 36 months rather than making minimum payments. We detect a small increase in the share of accounts making the 36-month payment value but no evidence of a change in overall payments.

Last months thread Mine is up from 744 to 787!

I got a Wal-Mart card in last month's spree so I tried to sign up for the free FICO and it says I have to unfreeze it. Does it have to stay unfrozen to work? I don't really feel like paying $10 to unfreeze/refreeze for them, but I would like to know how it works. Is this true with the other TU free FICO credit cards as well? I know you can bump TU but I want to control who can put HI's on my report.

Hello, I ran across the following article on myfico.com... seems to be very legitimate way of rebuilding one's credit score to 700+ post-bankruptcy. Please see: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/HOW-TO-From-BK7-discharge-to-700-in-24-months-or-less/m-p/1384075/highlight/true#M9218 If anyone has a successful plan that they have followed, kindly post. I am currently preparing paperwork to file my Chapter 7 Bankruptcy case; I plan to use this method post-discharge to rebuild my credit. If I posted this in the inappropriate place, I apologize. I am new and am still navigating this board. Best, MB

I just ordered my free annual reports - by mail. I also wanted to get my FICO scores but I can't see any way to get JUST the scores. Experian has a phone number to get a "score" if I have already ordered my report, but I'm pretty sure that's a FAKO - and I can't find any links for just scores on any of the others. Does anyone have any links or suggestions on how to get JUST my FICO scores from all 3 bureaus?

i have an issue with my Tu. I get it every month via Discover. Does anyone else have an issue with wild fluctuations month to month? Im going to want a car soon. Id rather walk in with a "good" credit score rather than a "fair" one. I have a friend who says his is the same every month. He has much better credit, I dont know if that makes a difference. Lets see. I use all my cards at least every other month. I pay off balances within two weeks most of the time. I do use one card much more than the others because it has a lower interest rate. My utilization rate has been 10% or less all year. Im kind of stumped and aggravated. *shrug*

HI: I am trying to put together a strategy for the next couple of months. My biggest issue is that I have no open credit, so my numbers are completely in the tank (508, 519, 517). My main short term goal is to get a new car. I am not in a giant rush, but sooner would be better than later. I've run my numbers by Marv Bear and he said that I can qualify with a large (4-5K) deposit. Either way however, I am faced with this hurdle of no open credit and the car loan won't help. I am wondering if I am better off holding off on the car and using some of my down payment on a secured card. Currently reporting: AAOA 4.5 years Current accounts: Amex AU (not showing up in FICO 08 scores I assume) GEMB - amazon account (this is incorrectly reporting as open. was charged off in '11. I can get this fixed and it will get rid of all the late payments showing on my account) Collections: 11 collections - most are over 2 years - most of these are on EX; TU and EQ are just showing a few 5 of those are medical - starting whychat's process. Utilization: w/AU reporting is excellent w/o is slightly bad until I get the GEMB account corrected, otherwise, no open debt Here are my thoughts. I am open to other ideas: American Express Oasis: I had an American Express Card back in the 90's that was paid off; When I became an AU, I discovered that there I also had an old business account that has $250 still due. Does anyone know if Amex would open with my history (not sure if this is relevant, by my FAKOs on CS with the AU reporting are mid 650s). If I can get into Oasis, even with a low number, my open date would be 1992. Are there any cards that don't pull FICO 08 that might show the AMEX AU? Secured card through US bank? Thanks for any help you can offer!

+40 to 721 My third 1992 Amex reported and I passed an anniversary on my student loan baddies. I also lost a few inquiries, but I doubt that is responsible for much.

Just got a denial for my DW to CLI her NFCU CC from $22K with total exposure $72K. Letter with denial says her score is 700 and lists the reasons it is not higher as: Serious Delinquency And Public Record Or Collection Filed Number Of Accounts With Delinquency Too Many Consumer Finance Company Accounts Length Of Time Accounts Have Been Established I'd like to identify the Consumer Finance Company Account(s) on her report. Looking at her report, my best guess would be that there is only one: Capital BankWhich was a secured credit card she had back in 2010 right after BK discharge, but I've got one too, but I've not seen that reason listed on my Equifax report as of yet. I have a July Equifax denial letter from Capital One that lists reasons my score is only 725: Serious delinquency, and derogatory public record or collection filed Number of accounts with delinquency Proportion of balances to credit limits is too high on bank revolving or other revolving accounts Length of time since derogatory public record or collection is too short Do my reasons have higher priority than Consumer Finance Accounts? Can anyone confirm that Capital Bank is considered a Consumer Finance Company? Is the the too many Consumer Finance Accounts only an Equifax FICO thing? Does the the too many Consumer Finance Accounts only apply to a particular revision of FICO (e.g. FICO-08)? Anyone know what version NFCU and Capital One use of FICO? How hard is Capital Bank to dispute off the report, it was closed in 2012 with the change of terms on annual fees?

I asked these questions in another forum under a certain pretense, but didn't get a reply. Instead of bumping the thread there, I will ask the direct questions here: I am a subscriber to this service. Once a year, they give me my 3 credit scores; However, they have recently (past year, give/take) merged with Equifax, and thus I get my Equifax score monthly. Is Mint Credit considered a FAKO, or an (at least) "partial FICO" because of their relationship with that one CRA? Anyone aware of the general accuracy? Anyone have actual experiences, pro or con with Mint Credit? I don't mind them but I'm not in love, so if anyone has better monitoring services (I pay $16.99 mo) I'm all ears. Please, no gratuitous sales here; it will benefit the board if you tell us WHY you like "your" service. thank you, all! DUN

If you want to contribute, ONLY use plain vanilla generic FICO® 8 like myFICO, Barclays or Walmart, what we refer to as Eq08, Ex08 or TU08. Do not use Bankcard or Auto Enhanced versions. If you have 2 FICO® 8 scores, average them, with 3, use the mid score like with mortgages. e.g. BobWang Mid-Score 833, Avg CL $20k

Just to get it out of the way, it's not a "something else happened" scenario. My gas utility reports to EQ and TU. EQ generally updates the balance monthly for whatever the bill is for the month (TU is more infrequent). Sometimes the same balance will display for a few months, then it will be updated. My balance has recently been reporting as $140 for the past several months. Now it has updated on EQ to $39, which is a 72% decrease. As a result, my EQ04 dropped 12 points and my EQ08 dropped 7 points. Does anyone know if there are any FICO intricacies that would cause an inverse relationship between balance and score on utility accounts specifically? This makes absolutely no sense to me.

Hi CB'ers. For a brief back story, my credit journey started 4 months ago when I joined this site and I've enjoyed about 40 point increases on average for all three FICO scores since then. I'm shopping for a house in the spring (fha loan) and I need some advice to maximize my credit scores and clean up CRs in preperation. My 3 ficos were inthe 590-605s when I joined here now they're in the 640-650 range. I removed approx 9 lates/derogs, paid off 3 cc's to reduce my util to about 45% of 12.5k (still plugging away and plan to be below 20% by home loan app time), paid off 13k car loan, and got a big 15k private student loan CO settled in full to avoid being served. I have a goal to be between 660-680 (due to my ongoing credit repair laboring) by mid october and I'm fairly confident I can get there. What I have remaining is 2 small collections ($75 and $300) I'm in the processes of PFD'ing, have about 2-3 more lates I have evidence to dispute, and here's the kicker......3 more private loan COs all around +/- 2.25k/ea totalling 7k. Based on a settlement I already did with the same OC on the other CO, and letter correspondence with them over the last 6 months, I'm fairly confident I can settle on these last 3 loans for 55-70%. Any FHA borrowing homeowner knows getting an FHA loan with COs over $2k is going to be next to impossible. That said, I'm hoping to take out a personal loan to settle these COs and clean up my reports. I intend to pay off the installment loan over the next 3-4 years (it was a student loan I intended to pay anyway, so I don't mind and it's well within my budget) I have poked around the boards and read some threads on personal loan lenders. Places like Lending Club and Prosper seem appealing, but I would also be open to debt consolidation or settlement lenders If need be. Would anyone recommend Prosper or LC for my situation?

Does DCU give out Equifax FICOs with accounts other than Credit Cards? I thought I read somewhere that they include it if you have a savings account with them, does anyone know if that's correct?

I received an alert from Equifax that my fico score increased from 788 to 816. My EQ 08 score from myfico is 814. I have 3 accounts reporting balances on EQ. It seems very unlikely that my EQ 04 score is 816. I'm wondering if EQ SW might have switched to FICO 9.

4 new scores x 3 credit bureaus = 12 new FICO scores "Fair Isaac, the company behind the FICO credit scoring system, announced the latest generation of their credit scoring software. The new suite of FICO scores, called FICO 9, is a standard redevelopment of their commonly used credit scoring models." http://www.creditsesame.com/blog/what-you-dont-know-about-fico-9/?utm_nooverride=1&ref=Newsletter_08-29-14&utm_campaign=website&utm_source=StrongView&utm_medium=email

Hey fellow Canucks, We need some more activity in this forum! I have to admit i am pretty green with envy at the credit card offers Americans get. They have such great bonus offers and so much selection,benefits, you name it! One thing that interests me is the free FICO scores more and more cards seem to be giving. Canada doesn't have anyone that does that do we?! Also, Americans have so many options for 3rd party sites that pull, most times for free! I wish those sites could be Canadian equipped, or someone made one for us. If anyone on here knows anything, could you maybe list some great cards for us?

http://t.money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/fico-recalibrates-its-credit-scores

This is from a Credit Sesame article in August 2012, so it's missing any info newer than that. I thought it was a good basic breakdown and also shed light on the differences of FICO models that come from each CRA. For instance, I didn't know why a score was called a "Beacon" score (EQ) vs. Risk Score (TU) vs. Risk Model (EX). I'm quite sure this is posted elsewhere (a thousand times, perhaps) on CB. But I wasn't patient enough to find it.

In my late teens I was out on my own and very troubled. I used to need weekly therapy visits and other various medical services, and though I had insurance through the community college I was going to, I often couldn't pay the copayments. I let the bills stack in a high pile in my living room, and going near them put me into a panic attack. Around 7 years ago I decided enough was enough. I checked my credit reports and found that my scores were in the low 500's, and I had 5-7 collections on each report. I also had a credit card with a $2k limit, which I had maxed out for car repairs years prior and was only able to make minimum payments on. In addition, I had some delinquencies for a Sallie Mae student loan, who offer zero forbearance options. And then I found creditboards and decided to do something about all of this. Updated all personal info, removed old info Opted out of marketing and pre-screening WhyChat's HIPAA process for removing the medical collections Waited 2+ years and disputed Sallie Mae lates Paid off Auto loan with no late payments Disputed other small non-medical collections like one from Verizon (they barely gave me time to pay an overdue bill one time and went straight to the CA's) And finally, used my tax return refunds and job raises to pay down the credit card 7 years later, all collections from my reports are gone. All delinquiencies are gone. My credit card debt is zero. Unfortunately, I have a huge amount of installment history due to my student loans (around $70k total) but they are all in good status. I recently checked my FAKO and FICO scores just to get a general idea. 7 years ago: All scores in low 500's After years of certified mailings, phone calls, and research... Jan. 2014, before SallieMae lates removed and CC not paid off EX: 691, EQ: 730, TU: 673 July 2014, all collections and lates removed and CC paid off EX: 780, EQ: 779, TU: 782 My medical debt was the biggest and worst part, I had over a dozen collections. WhyChat's process helped me. Thank you, WhyChat and creditboards!

Hi all, I posted earlier and have new information. I had my LO pull credit scores. I recently had a 30 day late report on a CC. The next previous date for a late payment was in 2012, before I did all automatic payments. I was approved for a mortgage in May but the deal fell through. Am looking now. The 30 day late report dinged my credit pretty badly- before I had "fair" credit but now it's iffy. According to my LO here are the numbers: XP 580 (+46) TU 605 (+36) EF 590 (+47). I will have 20% downpayment. Home I am looking at is listed at 320. LO says the + numbers show that if I reduce the balance of my credit cards, I will have a 620 and can qualify. In the meantime I am writing to Carecredit, where I had the late payment. Maybe they will remove it. I would like to know if these numbers are do-able. I can pay off the balance of the credit cards in two payments. I'm anxious because my house in on the market and now it may be that I can't get a loan for a new one when this one sells. Would appreciate advice!

Hi all, new here. I was approved for a conventional mortgage in May, with a credit score of 690. The seller backed out and that same week, I ended up needing to take care of an aging parent in another state; this was really stressful, and while I was gone, I made the unfortunate mistake of missing a payment with Carecredit. and now I have a 30 day late showing on my credit. It was a really bad oversight. Anyway, I am back in the market for a house again. I looked at CreditKarma and it says my score is between 639 and 665, which is a significant hit for one late payment. However, I checked a free Vantage score and it's terrible -- 587! My mortgage lender said he can work with the late payment, but I'm really worried that the loan will fall through because of this. Two questions: am I likely to get approved (I have 20% down), and what can I do to bring up my score quickly?

I'm trying to help a friend who is helping their brother buy a home. My friend has excellent credit ~780 FICO, but his brother has some serious issues on his credit report. Because of this, they purchased as non-owner occupied since his brother could not be added to the note. The hope is that in 60 to 90 days we can refinance with an owner-occupied loan at a more reasonable interest rate. The target of 60 to 90 days is due to concerns of possible rising interest rates. Their current loan is ~$500 extra per month due to it not being owner occupied. I see a two pronged approach here. First, find a lender that will allow adding the poor credit brother onto the note at a competitive rate given the excellent credit of the primary borrower, and also try to do some quick improvements to the brother's credit report in the next 60 days before his credit is pulled again. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good lender that might fit the bill? This is a super conforming loan amount with 20% down. Regarding the brother's credit, here are the issues I see thus far from a mortgage tri-merge report of which I have only reviewed two pages. Derogatory Tradelines: Bank of America, Credit Card / Charge Account, Comments: Cancelled by credit grantor account was 90 days. 11/2007 R4, 10/2007 R3. Opened 1/2005, Reviewed 4/2008, Date of Last Activity 4/2008, High Credit $19,000, 40 months reviewed, Balance $0, Past Due $0. Bank of America, Auto Loan, Comments: Current was delinquent 60 days past due, paid, closed. 01/2013 I3, 12/2012 T2, 08/2011 I2. Opened 2/2009, Reviewed 3/2014, Date of Last Activity 3/2014, High Credit $30,562, 62 months reviewed, Balance $0, Past Due $0. Chase NA, Credit Card / Charge Account, Comments: Account Close by Consumer, No lates recorded. Opened 08/1995, Reviewed 12/2004, Date of Last Activity 12/2004, High Credit $15,000, 90 months reviewed, Balance $135, Monthly Payment $135 (This one only appears on Equifax and TransUnion). Public Records: Experian: $4,123 Docket: <blank> Court: XXXX California City Rec, Filed: 2/22/2012, Released: 5/6/2012, Settled: 5/6/2012, Comments: Federal Tax Lien Released. Experian: $4,789 Docket: <blank> Court: XXXX California City Rec, Filed: 12/26/2011, Released: 4/11/2012, Settled: 4/11/2012, Comments: Federal Tax Lien Released. Experian: $4,123 Docket: <blank> Court: California County Rec, Filed: 2/22/2012, Released: <blank>, Settled: <blank>, Comments: Federal Tax Lien. TransUnion $4,789 Docket XXXXXXX Court: <blank>, Filed: 12/26/2011, Released: 4/11/2012, Settled: <blank>, Comments: Paid Federal Tax Lien. TransUnion $4,123 Docket YYYYYY Court: <blank>, Filed: 2/22/2012, Released: 5/6/2012, Settled: <blank>, Comments: Paid Federal Tax Lien. Equifax $4,123 Docket 2012ZZZZZ Court: 161VF00343, Filed: 2/11/2012, Released: <blank>, Settled: <blank>, Comments: <blank> Equifax $4,789 Docket 2012ZZZZZ Court: 171VS00291, Filed: 12/11/2011, Released: 4/12/2012, Settled: <blank>, Comments: <blank> Equifax $4,123 Docket 2012ZZZZZ Court: 171VS00291, Filed: 2/11/2012, Released: 5/12/2012, Settled: <blank>, Comments: <blank> The brother has two stamped recordings with the clerk of California County for the IRS liens "Certificate of Release of Federal Tax Lien". $4,123.78 for tax year 2006 assessed 10/2/2010 with a serial number that very nearly matches the docket number on the Equifax public record for $4,123 which is not released and is also close to the TransUnion public record docket of $4,123 that is released. $4,789.00 for tax year 2005 assessed 10/16/2010 with a serial number that does NOT match any public record entry on his credit report for Equifax but is close to the TransUnion entry for $4,789. I'm observing the following on the tradelines: The Bank of America Credit Card is almost 7 years old, looks like DOFD is 10/2007, so we should be able to get this off as obsolete on at least some bureaus. The Bank of America Auto Loan delinquency is very bad since it is so recent, occurring about a year and a half ago. The Chase CC is not a derogatory, but has been left hanging with a balance, yet this is a very old account, so I'm afraid of losing it if we dispute the balance, so imagine it should be left alone. For the public records: At the least, all should show as released liens, so with the letters, that should be easy, however, perhaps it is better to go for deletion somehow.I believe nothing has ever been disputed on any of these credit reports. Please offer advice on the best coarse of action here to get the biggest bang for the buck in the short term here. Let me know if more details are required. Thanks!

Hello all, I'm seeking any real-world, first-hand experiences with adding a Prosper or Lending Club tradeline to your credit report. What was the FICO impact - if any? In theory, since it's an installment loan, should have minimal impact (other than AAOA). But, I've been surprised before... hopefully it's not considered a "finance company" loan...? Would love to hear some actual experiences - did you get any immediate FICO movement as soon as the P2P tradeline posted? Thank you CB!