mcduck

Seeing the other thread just started, I felt this was worth mentioning separately as a word of warning to people seeking loans for their Zs

Be very sure your credit history is good before applying! Do not assume it is... check it out first!!! If there is something in error on your history, you cannot reapply to online lenders for 30 days or more!

I found this out the hard way last week. I applied for peoplefirst loan for my Z (due to arrive in two weeks). I was approved, but at a 14% interest rate!

Without thinking, I moved on to e-loan and they too approved, but at 12%.

Upon investigating with e-loan, I found there were two blemishes on my otherwise perfect credit. Requested a credit history (which will cost you if you request it before you have a problem, but I would say now, well worth the investment). I found the two items and both were in error!!!

Now, after several phone calls to the various credit bureaus, Sears (who somehow billed my closed Sears card 8 months after I closed it!), and HouseHold Bank (who had not updated my account history for them for over 3 months!), it looks like things might be getting corrected... but is was like pulling teeth to fix.
I literally called the two creditors half a dozen times each and am now waiting on letters stating there was an error and it has been corrected (3-5 days). After which, I have to fax them to all three credit bureaus and wait up to 5 days for the correction to show up. Hopefully, my car won't get here too quick! I can't believe I'm actually hoping my car won't come until the actual delivery date!

The worst part is that the online lenders have standard policies to not reconsider a loan for any reason for at least 30 days (e-loan is 45 days). So because a couple big corps screwed up, I cannot take advantage of online lending rates!

I hope no one else goes through this. With any luck, I can get my loan through my bank or a local credit union for 5.5-6.25% once everything is updated, but I would have much rather had 5% or less!

rep15

Mcduck, that advice cannot be given too often. Everyone must review their credit reports prior to taking out any loan. Great post. I hope all who are about to get a loan heed Mcduck's words.

abz123

Good post Mcduck. Everyone should check at least one credit agency before applying. The numbers at the different agencies were a little different.

I checked all three credit agency before applying. They were all excellent. I got sub 5% .

jreiter

iTrader: (6)

Absolutely. I actually work in the credit reporting industry, and I can't tell you how often people's credit info with the 3 big credit bureaus is incorrect.

A very important thing to remember is that there are *three* credit bureaus (Transunion, Equifax, Experian), and each lending institution you apply with might use any (or all) of the 3 to check your credit. To make things worse, your info can be *different* at each of the 3 credit bureaus. The bureaus do not talk to each other and synch up their info.

For example, you could have a perfect credit report with Experian and Equifax, but your Transunion report might have an error on it. So if you apply for a loan with 3 different banks, it's entirely possible that one of them could use Equifax and give you a good rate, another could use Experian and give you a good rate, and the third bank could use Transunion and thus give you a bad rate. This being the case, I'd recommend getting your credit report from all 3 and comparing them, as well as finding out which credit bureau your lending institution uses.

At this point, I guess I could plug my own company and one of the services we offer.
http://www.truecredit.com
We offer a "3-in-1" service which will show you all 3 of your credit reports on the screen simultaneously, so you can easily compare them. Sorry about the blatant advertisement. This post just seemed like an appropriate place for it.

abz123

There's always E*trade. Think they offer the same rates as the other two. Hope it all works out.

mcduck

ninepoint5...

yes, excessive checks of your credit history do not hurt your rating, but some creditors monitor how many requests there are for your credit history and may give you a worse rate or deny you if there are too many requests.

As I understand it, they interpret many requests as more possibilities to generate new debt, thus possibly making the debt they give you have greater risk.

Old Skooler

jreiter:

Guess you did good by posting here...I just ordered a report. The three-in-one sold me...

Well I am glad to see that this type of post finally has something new to say. Good info

Rocket2023

there are soft inquiries and then there are hard inquiries.

soft - means you have asked for it or some company asked for personal info in order to market to you based on risk profile. These do not adversely affect your credit score.

hard - means you have authorized a company to check your standing based on your desire to receive new credit from said company. This will affect your score. You want to limit these! Now, for capital goods (auto loan/mortgage) you can have a grouping of these over a period of time, usually 30 days and the count as one inquiry. All others, like for revolving credit (credit card) nail you each time and it takes about 90 days with no further activity to replace the 10+ points you just lost from your FICO/Emperical/BECON score.

drake3

Thanks, I just ordered one too.

I have this other service called Privacy Guard which is watching my credit file, they will send me a report, but I have to wait for it. I like the instant access of yours. I never really liked their service, but have kept it regardless.

Appreciate the info.

Drake.

okiebones

I've ordered the 3in1 report+ credit score in the past and will vouch in it's favor. Alot of information for a small price. I used the credit score when I initially ordered my Z and found the staff at the dealership very willing to "talk" once they realized I was serious and had some idea of what they discussed in regards to credit. Thumbs up on "Truecredit"

nizl

you know... I hate to be negative, but I sent in letters and faxes to the credit reporting agencies 2 years ago. i sent certified letters to correct erroneous information. They never fixed it. I called some people from the agencies and they told me to take it up with the city (who reported the bad info). The city said that they sent corrected information a year ago. The credit agencies have no record of the correction. The city has resubmitted the correction, and only one agency has fixed it. In short, I say F*** those facist pigs for being so quick to judge and never changing anything...your best bet is to NOT EXPECT THE RECORD TO CHANGE.

I applied to poeple first and they approved for 14%. Then I turned to lending tree, with my "bad" record and got 6.5%. I took this offer to my bank and got 6.0 from them, then took THIS offer to nissan and got 5.8%. I hate the credit companies and people first.

EDIT: I am RPGONZALEZ using NIZL's login....oooops. Nizl actually hooked with 4.5%!

Intrepid

FYI: Requesting your OWN credit report has NO effect on your credit score.

mcduck

RPGonzalez said...
I must say, it has been a real pain in the butt to get things corrected, but persistence pays off. The hardest part for me was figuring out the correct procedure. A series of 5 or 6 calls resulted in the information that you have to talk to your creditor/former creditor to obtain written documentation about the account in question.

Then, get that documentation delivered to you. Having the creditor send it to the credit bureau means it will be corrected... eventually... possibly as long as 60 days out. Once you have the letters in hand, the credit bureaus have processes by which you can fax or mail the documentation to expedite the corrections.

I was actually able to obtain letters from Sears and Household Bank stating the current account information and, in Sears case, that the derogatory items were in error.

Equifax and Experian reps told me that corrections will be made within 3-5 days of receiving my documentation which I am trying to fax today. I was unable to talk directly to TransUnion, but have an address to submit the documentation.

The toughest part now is getting through with the fax (not surprising... just guess how many people nationwide are also trying to fax info).

I'm not saying I'm happy about all this, but it seems everyone involved is trying to help me work things out.

Hopefully, I can update this thread in a week or so with the results of my endeavor.