My guess is that money conscious people are more likely to read this article. These are the same people that are more likely to have a better credit score.

Or people are lying/exaggerating.

Credit is just one more way to control people, and these sheep in America follow it. If you have great credit good for you that means lots of debt is an option for you. If you have bad credit then lucky you, you can't go into debt BUMMER!!!

The best solution?? No credit pay cash and don't judge yourself or anyone else on a credit score THAT is SOOOO Shallow!!!

OK, the first step was to establish that 25% of everybody should not be extended credit. Now just you watch, step two will be a rant about all of the groups who are being discriminated against by the lenders who won't give them a loan!

Kirk, I don't need to lie or exaggerate. My credit score was 811 in May, 2010 when we went to get an auto loan for my husband. He was ticked off because his score was "only" 804. My husband and I have worked hard to get the scores we have. We didn't buy a McMansion; instead we bought a 1500 sq. ft. house with a mortgage we could easily afford. We don't use credit cards often and when we do, we pay them off when the bill comes in. We don't buy expensive automobiles and we pay the loans off in 2 - 3 years. We don't wear expensive clothes, we don't have a huge flat screen television in our living room and we don't buy the latest tech gadget the second it comes out (although my husband and I are both involved in the computer industry). We live within our means and have everything we NEED and some of the things we WANT.

People today are just too spoiled and have a sense of entitlement. They buy things they KNOW they cannot afford and worry about how to pay for all of it later. They buy a house that is way larger than they need with a HUGE mortgage to go with it. They buy fancy cars and have all kinds of "stuff" but no money in the bank. When any financial crises hits, they have no money to fall back on. I am in my late 30's and I can't tell you how many of my friends are in the exact situation I have just described. They think my husband and I are just "lucky". Trust me....luck has NOTHING to do with it!!

Thats all fine and dandy until both you and your spouse loose your jobs like we did and are once very affordable home and vehicles are no longer since we have lost them. Believe me we were living well within our means...

60% of lenders are bad for consumers... who's the real villian here?

I am among the unemployed after 35 years of working. The only good thing I can be glad about during this trying time, is that while I won't have much to retire on, I won't lose my house or car either. I have enough to pay both off.
The sad part of this, is because I won't have the two MAJOR loans open anymore, my FICO will plummet. I think that's a crock. If I pay OFF the big ticket items, that should bring me to a higher rating, not a lower one.

As for all of you bragging about your wonderfully high scores:

Labor Department says about 26 million people are out of work or underemployed, and millions more face foreclosure, which alone can chop 150 points off an individual's score. Once the damage is done, it could be years before this group can restore their scores, even if they had strong credit histories in the past.

I never thought in a million years, I'd be layed off the job that I was doing, but it happened.
You "better than the rest of us", had better get on your knees and pray it doesn't happen to you, or nobody in your family gets seriously ill, because that's all it would take for you to join the ranks of the low scores.

Lower credit scores are good for people. The less you buy on credit, the better your life will be.

Buy things you can afford. Credit cards, if you just have to have one, keep for unexpected oops, not shopping.

Get the cheapest car with the best factory coverage. You will be amazed how much money you have, if you stop spending it, before you make it.

Spend what you can afford. I pay off my credit card balance at the end of every month and don't pay those ridiculous rates. I don't blame the Banks alone for this problem it was all the people who took home loans they couldn't afford and have now flooded the market with foreclosures. Anyone can sit down and figure out how much money they have so they know what they have to spend. Don't buy new cars with payments that stretch your budget to the end. Don't put that vacation on the credit card. Learn to live within your means and not look over your shoulder and worry about the Joneses-they don't pay yoour bills.

Credit scores are a bunch of crap; many Americans just don't care anymore. I don't and mine is doing just fine. Frankly, if more people cared less then the banks would have to go with it and mend their greedy ways and serve the public on a more level field. This is just another form of intimidation in an effort to control the people.

Nothing wrong with a credit score of 0. It just means you don't need or want a loan.

Definitely some liars. One bozo, "throwingchains", stated his credit score was 900+.... his is probably more like 450.

Add onto that the politicians "building" the economy on said credit and you end up exactly where we are right now...reagonomics in action.

I totally agree, my credit scores are low, but I am working to be credit free, the only things I owe on are home, and student loans. I think this country should be stressing to live credit free and live within our means but that would take away there ability to rake us over the coals.

Mark 151...... -

I was thinking the same of ole Stein, what a jerk, no integrity. Then there are the two twin whores and scam artists, Glenn"Good as Gold" Beck, and that Billionaire Slob Limbaugh. Now Sarah Palin gets at least $100,000 to speak, Senator Orin Hatch wants to test anyone that receives government aid for drugs. Now who is going to do all this testing and how many millions upon hundreds of millions will it cost to do this testing? Could it be a favorite special interest business of the health sector? A entity that will reap the hundreds of millions to do this testing, that just happens to donate to Hatch's re-election campaign?

Thats how the game is played on capital hill, so transparent and cruel. A sadistic money making ploy that will keep Hatch in office and the testing companies will rack in $100,000 or more for every dollar which is "donated" to Hatch from the interested corporations, remember the corporations can give all they want now due to our wonderful pillarsof American justice The High Court (trust me they must be high on something). That is why these Senators, as Hatch is, are constantly referred to as "cheap whores" and not statesmen. They don't even get paid a fair share of what the beneficiaries, a mere pittance, will haul in of our tax dollars.

But what does Senator Hatch care as long as he stays in office. He voted against any extension of unemployment aid for jobless workers during the greatest job depression since The Great Depression. Sadistic, go find a job!!! OK, where?....Wal-Mart or McDonalds is your answer.

And the Band plays on.......and the wheels on the bus go round and round.......

Mark-1513044

Lets see, companies have secret formula to rate you, then they keep it hidden from you unless you pay them to see it. In the old days this was called a shakedown.

This all changed in the Bush years. EVERYONE is entitled to one free report per year from the government. You NO LONGER get punished for multiple inquiries to find the best loan rate. 3rd party companies exist to "sell" you a report you are entitled to due to the fact that so many people simply don't have a clue how to look up free information on the internet.

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (2003)

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=108_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ159.108.pdf

annualcreditreport.com is affiliated with this act and costs nothing. I do mine on my birthday so I can remember the next time it's free.

You are only partly right Allen. Yes, you get a free credit REPORT. You do NOT however , get free FICO scores. Those you have to pay for to see.

Allen -

You may not have a full picture or I could be wrong, I have not myself acquired a "free credit report", my understanding is you get a choice of one of the big three, and this is restricted to consumer reporting which would not include, court money judgements, liens, IRS levies and other non-consumer items. In other words you get a choice of one reporting agency and only consumer retail credit items. I may be wrong, this is what was told to me, you do not get the FICO scores and public records search. For example, say someone filed an eviction notice on you with the local court, an "unlawful detainer", the credit search is restricted to retail consumer credit and this would not show up.

I do know for mortgage loan purposes this does not fly you are required to pay for a "full merged" credit report, which includes everything from all three credit reporting agencies and the mortgage broker has to do the request, which is then double checked with a requested report from the lender usually in the last week during the signing of loan doc's (the mortgage note) or definitely before funding.

You can get a free credit report from all three reporting agencies once yearly. You also get updated when you win a dispute in your favor and then your score is included free. I am not a lender but let's look at reason. The only reason scoring came around was because people didn'y pay their loans back and lenders wanted a way to figure who they lent money to. The current housing mess shows how many people try to live beyond their means when given the chance. The Politicians didn't do this lenders and you did.

That was back when I was growing up and "savings" accounts paid 7% or higher. It was WORTH opening one then.

Now they only pay .03%. If you only are able to save $20 out of your paycheck, it isn't going to go very far and it isn't going to gain much either.

There's nothing to bring those savings up like there was in the "old" days, so if you didn't start 40 years ago, before the banks got their grimey hands dirty by taking from consumers hard earned money, you are out of luck. Everything you DO save at the bank, now has a handling fee, a monthly fee, an early withdrawal fee and on and on and on.

Face it, unless you're rich or have inheritances coming, middle class Americans are screwed.

That is because the government is involved. Instead of letting the market correct itself years ago we let the feds play around. The current situation was predicted. Don't forget the mortgage fallout. It was the government who started this during clintons adminstration. The government insisted loan standards be lowered so economically disadvanataged could qualify. The New York Times ran an article stating that when times turn tough this could cause a serious financial problem on the economy. So how do we resolve this? We insist on the government getting involved even more. When will we ever learn, when will we ever learn

No savings in this Country is a major drain. You don't have to put it in the Bank for low rates put it in money market funds-but save. We have become a MacDonalds nation for instant gratification and everyone puts it on credit. The first thing you should do with your paycheck is put part of it in to long term savings. This will also help your personal growth and security. This Country is looking for to many handouts. Wait for just the right job to come along when on the Gov dole. With two College degrees when I needed to feed my family I crawled into huge oil tanks and scrubed them with brushes. It was hot, it stunk and it was so dirty the smell stayed with you but I fed my family. No job is to low if it puts food on the table. This was lots of fun with an Accounting degree. Don't look to the Gov to change America we are America and we need to make it change.

It's good to hear you learned it before it got past you. People just don't realize how fast credit cards can beat them down.

Agree. Somebody mentioned 900, there is no such number.

Muggin. Too bad there isn't a rating system for irrelevant comments. You'd be right up there with the '900' FICO score holder.

There are scores that go up to 980. Reality is there are a lot of different scores other than the FICO score. Banks even create there own hybrid. I suggest before you comment and state someone is ate up you do your own research and learn the facts.

Well mousetrap, the story is specifically about FICO scores, so we are comparing apples to apple shere. FICO is the score used by the vast majority of lending institutions. Hence they don't care if your "score" from Bob's Bank is 980,000. Understand?

Banks only use FICO scores for lending and it is usually less than the score you pay for from a credit agency.

www.fico.com/en/Products/Scoring/Pages/default.aspx

a bunch of types of FICO scores

it also states FICO scores are available at the three major credit reporting agencies—as BEACON® at Equifax; FICO® Risk Score, Classic at TransUnion; and Experian / Fair Isaac Risk Model at Experian.

What the public does not seem to realize, EVEN AFTER the Great bank Robbery of last year, is that credit scores are just part of the scam the banks use to keep people broke, and sweating their payments.

Look at the methods listed by the posters here - pay your bills, your score goes down; don't pay, it goes down; pay late it, goes down, have no balance, it goes down.

Does this sound like a legitimate business? It's a SCAM.

The banks are NOT your friend. They are scheming, lying , cheating, thieves that do nothing for this country but run it into the ground. ALL THEY WANT is your money. If you don't have any to give them, they have NO interest in you at all. If you DO have money, they will try to separate you from it as fast as possible, then hit your eject button.

They should get a flat 10% interest a year. No late fees, (that's interest on interest) , overlimit fees, etc. Step over the line, and your executive team is executed , and your company is given to the next responsible management. Banks would get real honest, real fast.

The sweet spot for most + points per cycle is to have between 20 and 39% of your available credit used. I spent 8 yrs paying off all my credit cards, got a new one with $2K limit, told them if they ever raise the limit I'll drop them faster than they can blink, and I leave a $400 balance on it. I charge all my gas and groceries to it and pay all but $400 every month. It works. Trust me.

Over 80% is "overextended credit". Under 20% is a "deadbeat". Using over 80% of the max is as bad as not paying at all.

Allen, Why should I play this game? My husband and I paid off every CC we had. We kept only one CC for emergencies. Credit score goes down for being responsible.

The two questions I want to know:

1. Why don't I get the FICO score on my one free Credit report?
2. Why are we guilty until proven innocent when a bad entry is on our credit report? It's way too easy for the company to enter a bad debit to one's credit report.

Ritdog--

I am a banker in a communtiy bank. I can assure you we would love it if we could charge all of our customers 10%. We would make so much money that I could get one of those fat bonuses that the Wall Street bankers get. Our weighted average rage is in the 6.5% range. Yes we do have rates in the low teens if the situation warrants it. I suggest that all people consider what they really need instead of bashing someone for what they charge for the product or service. If you don't like the price or the related costs, simply don't buy the item. It is your choice. No one to blame but yourselves.

I agree Ritdog. I also believe a credit check before being hired for a job should be made illegal. It is as if the bank has say whether a person is hired or not. I have heard a great deal of students being denied jobs due to their college debt. My employer has no business knowing people's personal finances.

I meant to say, an employer shouldn't have access to people's personal finances. You work to perform a service. This knowledge is being used by employers to manipulate their employees. We are NOT slaves we are employees. It should be made illegal.

I agree Rubytuesday & Ritdog.. it's unbelievable how much power and influence the arbitrary bs fico "score" has in every area of life... WHY does it have anything to do with getting a job?... or even renting an apartment?.. I had a bankruptcy that was 4 yrs old at one point, and couldn't even move to a different apartment (because it was being jacked up $400 for a 1-bdrm to $1200/month!), since they assumed I wouldn't pay my rent.. this was after living in the same area for over 25 yrs.. I would tell the rental companies that I was NEVER even late on paying rent in all those years, and that it was always the first thing I made sure was paid and taken care of (a little difficult to survive if you have no roof over your head).. but it made no difference.. the b/k and the low score were branded on me like a scarlet letter.. (and before I get flamed for it all being "my own fault" - I was self-employed at the time as a web developer in the SF bay area and it was after the dot.bomb crash, so there was no work - of COURSE it was the bay area, where ELSE would a small 1-bdrm apt with windown only on one side go for $1200/mont??!!??? lol - it's why I ended up in Phoenix where we were told the b/k, and score, wouldn't matter since everyone else here had one.. )

Your philosophy promotes slavery.

KYEngineer:

Why? Because I believe that I shouldn't file bankruptcy and stiff companies I purchased items from. And here I thought I was doing the right thing. And I am nobody's slave.

I'm glad you don't owe me money, because I would probably never be paid back by you since your philosophy seems to be - charge (or borrow) but don't pay, file bankruptcy. Sorry but I was brought up to pay my debts.

I was brought up to pay my debts too. But now, after my job loss, and these big banks don't give a damn and don't want to help me (and I know they are under no such obligation to do so), then I have no problems stiffing them. I'm not going to suffer under some mantle of "do the "right" thing and pay off those debts no matter what it may cost". I refuse to slave away and give all my money to them, while living in some dirt poor place and not be able to put quality food on the table. My new mantra is: You wanna screw me, I'm going to screw you.

There is a means by which one can start over, and I have every intention of using it, and never making the mistakes again.

Sorry to hear about your jobloss. By the way, I don't live in a dirt poor plae and I put quality food on my table. I pay all the current monthly bills, take a portion of the balance left and send to the older bills, put part into savings, and go out with friends with the balance.

Everyone who has the philosophy of spend and then file bankruptcy is really contributing to the problem of higher interest rates on credit cards. I just can't get behind your mantra.

I would really look into the new healthcare law. I don't know when this line goes into effect but, you can't be denied anymore for pre-existing when it does.

I feel the same way, don't care if a single bank gets another buck from anyone, as far as i'm concerned if your already sunk max out your cards buying all the stuff you'd like to have, then put it all in the closet and file bankruptcy, you won't need credit after you buy all you'll need before you file, yes they let you keep your stuff cars-house-toys-furniture, they just wipe out the credit debts, and you can still buy a car with a bankruptcy, the fed's know we need to get to work so they have many dealers who will work with a bankruptcy, and besides everyones abusing the handouts from welfare and the food stamp office, and every form of free handout from the gov. we might as well get something too should'nt we, thats what obama wants isn't it financial equallity, but then again I buy with cash only, banks don't reap a reward from my pocket, why should they from yours, the only american dream i see anymore is dreaming of finding a loop hole to avoid your responsibility or being a banker under obama stimulating term

Every recession, depression is by design. The banks aren't making enough money...........Time for a recession, gotta lower those credit scores so when the minions come crawling back for a loan or credit card the banks can charge them a higher interest rate and raise their profits!

AMEN to that!!!

Ain't that the truth! We've worked on our credit score/report for 2 years and these companies still report false, untruths that we have to continually dispute. I think all three companies should be obsoleted, they're of no value and never the reports are never accurate!

We're in the same boat. My husband finished his doctorate last year. We have no credit cards or auto loans, are paying almost twice in rent what we could be paying for our own home, but lenders don't care that he's been in the school for the last 12 years. All they see is that number on the paper. What if the cancer treatments he's researching were dispensed according to credit score??

perhaps you should have considered not having five mouths to feed???

jerkwad! This has nothing to do with having 3 children; it's about the unfairness of the FICO scoring system and the way that it scams honest, hardworking people!

Actually it is a valid argument to mention having children while you are trying to go to school is not a sound move. I'm sure that child was not planned but, if 2 more came after it once again before finishing school then, to me, there seems to be a small problem.

I remember when my husband and I were first married, we had nothing and had to struggle for over 15 years before we could really buy a nice house.

Most young adults these days do not even know what struggles are. When I left home, I only had the clothes on my back. We did not even have a car for over two years.

When we purchased our first home it was a cheap used trailer that we had to fix up. We also never had a new car till I was almost 40.

But the most important thing we learned in life was to save and to understand that life owes you nothing and you can not look at your life as not amounting to anything just because you have to struggle to accomplish your goals.

Even today, we never use credit much, we do not believe in buying into a fad such as a cell phone for our kids or ourselves, just because it is popular. We live within our means and we treasure our family and the fact that we are all healthy and our small home is paid off completely.

I would suggest to you to start small and remember that most past generations knew that what they wanted to accomplish would not just happen overnight. They also knew not to try and live a lavish life just for appearance sake.

It is sad but in this world, it seems that material possessions have become more important than living a decent simple lifestyle with your life full of love for your family.

Actually, the corporations do have a sort of consumer credit score however most people forget about it. It's called the better business bureau.

Also, Wall street anylsts rate corporations credit scores as well with their buy and sell ratings on a company...........albeit obscure for the average citizen.

There are sites where people leave feedback, but as for banks, I tend to go with the ones who didn't use bailout $$. To me, if they needed a bailout, they are really bad at balancing a budget. And that's a HORRIBLE trait to reward in a bank.

There is such a means of penalizing companies. It is called taking your business elsewhere. It happens everyday.

Dam Tired of This ...

In response to your post ... I know the Better Business Bureau is out there, but I guess I should rephrase my statement ... what we really need to do is push for regulation on Credit Reporting Agencies ... stop the banks from reporting bad credit when a consumer pays down their credit card, or make it illegal to pass on financial information to prospective employers ... has the government even considered that this may be part of our financial crises? Qualified people are being turned down from jobs because of an illness that has left them in serious debt, or a divorce which has crippled their finances, or a foreclosure because of lay offs ... it is not a crime to have financial problems stemming from situations that are beyond our control ... how is it that these crooked companies have so much control over the average citizen's life and why isn't anyone in Washington DC doing anything about this????

How exactly do they expect people to get a job and pay their loans

They don't. They are looking for good employees. They believe credit scores show something about character and so. Should they have the right to do this?

Same with loans - the loan companies can't read your heart and good intentions - they use past history and weight that towards recent history. It is part of how much you make, your current debt load, and how the economy might treat you. How do you evaluate making a loan to someone? Aren't you concerned with getting it back?

Grinspoon.............Your logic is flawed! A persons credit history has nothing to do with them being a good or bad employee!

Then never lend or hire anyone..because anything can happen. Do you think people ask for cancer or ALS or strokes? Do you think good workers who loose thier jobs because the coporations are more concerned about the stock price than individuals that loose their jobs and income? How can you measure? So, with this logic a bad employee who never shows up, wastes time, steals, but had the fortunate luck of having money is deemed a better candidate (CHARACTER is the word?) than somone who has been a good employee but got a cancer diagnosis or has a child with leukemia and had to pay for 700 per month medicines AND keep food on the table AND gas in the car for doctors visits and anything else? Or what about folks who get laid off by no fault of their own? Can't pay bills so credit score goes down? How do you explain "risk"?

Grinspoon.............Your logic is flawed! A persons credit history has nothing to do with them being a good or bad employee!

I said THEY don't. It's your position that credit score and what THEY want as an employee or THEY feel is a good loan risk for the interest -are unrelated. They don't. It's their job and their money. Is this some form of illegal discrimination I have not heard of? Maybe we should make a law!

BTW, you got any data or link to show how horribly wrong THEY are?

Some states have made it unlawful to run a credit report for employment, and more are considering it. They should also apply that to insurance. I did a bankruptcy in 05, but have only had one ticket since 1969, and no accidents that were my fault.

I'll be running my credit reports again in a week or so, 2 years ago there were mistakes, but last year was correct.

Yes, Two states, Hawaii and Washington, already do so. The rest:

Employment Credit Report

Credit reports can be a valuable tool for assessing applicants who may occupy a position where business needs dictate a history of financial responsibility.

Universal Background Screening offers Pre-Employment Credit Reports from both Experian and TransUnion. An Employment Credit Report differs from a traditional credit report, in that it is tailored for use in an employment situation. For example, it does not include account numbers, nor does the "pull" count against the applicant's credit score.

Why to Conduct Employee Background Checks
Hiring the right people is often the single biggest hurdle facing business owners, and can put a company at its greatest risk - especially if a new hire is a wrong hire.

An organization's success or failure is often attributed to the quality and character of its employees. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 30% of all small business failure is caused by employee theft.

Certainty Enhances Security
Business owners and managers are more concerned than ever about the security of their employees, business assets, and personal safety. Consider the facts: The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that nearly 2 million violent crimes occur in the workplace each year.

Certainty Reduces Liability
As businesses face increasing liability from both civil and criminal prosecution, insurance premiums and damaging negative publicity, the concern over liability is justified.

The costs – in terms of money and reputation – are enough to cripple medium and large businesses, and can put small business owners out of business. The average award in a workplace violence lawsuit exceeds $1 million per case, according to the Workplace Violence Research Institute.

Certainty Improves Stability
High turnover rates, transient workers, and résumé fraud are just a few of the factors that have made it much more difficult for business owners and human resource professionals to feel certain that they are hiring the right people for their companies. Particularly in turbulent economic times, organizations are looking to maintain stability in order to keep costs down and increase worker productivity.

The Wall Street Journal reports that on average, at least half of all new hires “don’t work out.” It also reports that 34 percent of all applications contain outright lies about experience, education and/or the ability to perform essential job functions.

I've been an employee (damned good one, I might add), for the same company for almost 14 years....in the same business for 20 years. This makes the second time I've been layed off from this work.

My score is probably lower than it should be at this point in my life, but now that I'm layed off, what does a person do when there are no jobs to be had?

Using credit scores to judge people's character is WRONG. A bad score does not make a bad employee. Again, check my above employment history. I do not have an immaculate FICO score, but I've been a hard working, honest employee as long as I've been working...35+ years.
I don't hide behind walls texting my friends and expecting a paycheck for it. But companies would rather have those kinds of employees, than the ones who stood by THEM while they built their businesses.

Employers should NOT be able to look into your credit history, as it has NOTHING to do with how good an employee will work...especially the "old school" employees.

Well, Conway, unfortunately YOUR definition of "good character", or why a potential employer might consider a prospective employee's creditworthiness to be relevant, isn't relevant.

There is a proven corollary between employee income and employee theft, and the corollary becomes even closer with respect to employees who are faced with difficult financial circumstances, lack the creditworthiness to endure difficult downturns, and therefore turn to theft from the most readily-accessible source, their employers.

Combined with the fact that very few employers can even consider hiring an employee without also tacitly agreeing to expose themselves to considerable liability of there's ever a need to terminate the employee (even when cases of theft or deceit are easily-proven), the only person who would fail to see the merit for some employers using creditworthiness as a factor for consideration is a person who's never considered anyone's reality but his own, and his reality has never included the responsibility of providing an environment in which others might earn a living.

Fortunately for you, however, Twitter has no such restriction. It's too bad that tweeting doesn't do much for your credit score.

"There is a proven corollary between emplyee income and theft".. Really? Please provide evidence of this relationship. What you're actually saying is that poor people, or people having financial problems are inherently untrustworthy and shouldn't be employed. Only someone who's never considered anyone's reality but their own would make this statement.

Grinspoon97's post read like a promotional advertisement for FICO scoring. Say, that reminds me, don't they CHARGE companies to look at them, just like they do to us?

No wonder they're trying to insist how IMPORTANT they are for 'employment purposes'.

It's a RACKET plain and simple. The lending institutions and credit reporting agencies are holding all the good cards. You and I don't stand a chance trying to navigate this shell game that our country has become.