Credit Score

[InVinoVeritas]

Are you sure this is safe?  I feel weird submitting my ssn, mother's maiden name and cc number.  And this won't hurt my credit score in any way shape or form???

it's safe (i've done it without negative consequence), and checking on your credit occasionally isn't going to hurt your credit score.

[_BP_]

Some facts for you guys:

1) Checking your own credit score does not hurt your credit at all.  You can do so a million times if you want.  Best case, go to myfico.com and buy all three reports.  This is the official site.  Then check your credit carefully, any thing that looks fishy you can have it reviewed.  Your creditors have 30 days to prove that any deliquent information is accurate.  If they can't, or just take too long to prove it, it just falls off your credit report.  Sometimes this is all you need to do to improve your score.

2) If you are going to be hunting for a loan, complete your search within 30 days.  Yes, every time a lender checks your credit score, your score decreases somewhat.  However if those checks are done in a concentrated time period, the reduction in credit score is minimal (since the computer algorithm adjusts for the fact that you are loan hunting and thus say 5 credit checks might only have the effect of 1 credit check on your score if it's done within a concentrated time period.  But here's the clincher: The effect of the credit checks by lenders does not decrease your credit for 30 days, hence you are not penalized just due to the fact that you are searching for a loan.

HTH

[Oneof2]

Im wondering how having a really high limit on credit cards will affect getting loans.  Although my credit score is good, my report shows two credit cards that my mother gave me when I was in college and both of them are showing big limits. Will this negatively impact how much money lenders will give me?

[InVinoVeritas]

oneof2 -- having a high credit limit by itself isn't a bad thing, so long as your balance doesn't get close to the limit -- it's a sign that you may be at risk of overextending yourself.

lenders will be more concerned with any defaults, collections, or accounts that are in arrears.

[_BP_]

Im wondering how having a really high limit on credit cards will affect getting loans.  Although my credit score is good, my report shows two credit cards that my mother gave me when I was in college and both of them are showing big limits. Will this negatively impact how much money lenders will give me?

If your score is good, then you're golden.  Really high limits per se does not affect your ability to get a loan, though some lenders might ask you to close those accounts for fear that you might run them up as soon as you get the loan, especially if you have a history of maintaining high balances on those accounts.  It's really not an issue though, like In Vino Veritas said, now if you had really high balances on those accounts, that would be a different story.

[Oneof2]

Its weird to me that theyre still showing up on my report.  My account has been closed for over a year.  The only reason I can think of for why they're still listed on my report is that my mom's accounts are still open. Do I need to be concerned or just let it go since my credit score is still good?

[_BP_]

Its weird to me that theyre still showing up on my report.  My account has been closed for over a year.  The only reason I can think of for why they're still listed on my report is that my mom's accounts are still open. Do I need to be concerned or just let it go since my credit score is still good?

Oh I see what you mean.  I wouldn't worry too much about it, but if it concerns you enough you can pull your reports and have them update their records.

[InVinoVeritas]

i have a bunch of closed accounts on my credit report.  oracle -- does it really matter that they're on there since they've been closed for a while?

in any event the accounts don't seem to have affected my credit score.  i checked yesterday and i'm 750+.  the balances i've carried on my credit cards seem to have helped.

[ormachea]

In response to the earlier post about checking out loans being bad for your credit:

Any credit checks within a two week period (except for credit cards) appear and are calculated as only 1 check. Pulling your own credit report also appears as 1 check. Having a few of these every once in a while is not bad and would not really hurt your score.

If you're in a region that doesn't have access to a free credit report yet, I'd suggest applying for a loan you don't think you could get and then using the denial to request a free copy of the credit report.

[Oneof2]

Thanks for all your help, In Vino and Oracle.  I think Im going to start applying for my loans soon.  I would like to have the money early to facilitate my move.  Do you think thats possible?