Anyone want to take a stab at Credit Score?

[GwynnInTheHall]

Was that deliberate?

absolutely

Fwiw, I'm trying to find some charts about correlative causes regarding bad credit. It's proving to be difficult.

[Don Quixote]

Was that deliberate?

You betcha!

I had (or have) lousy credit due to problems strictly of my own making. I rectified the problem for the most part (cut back my gambling by 90%+) and paid everything that I knew I owed over a year ago, after inheriting some money. The problem is that despite my paying all that money back, my credit score won't move a bit from its "fair" status. How do I resolve this? It's not as if I'm going to need credit soon, but I would like to have a better capability.

Here's one I don't understand--I was setting up a CD "ladder" (Certificates of Deposit with various maturities, one year, two years, etc., with the one-year CD rolling over into a five-year when it matures, and so on), and one of the banks I applied to rejected me because of my poor credit. I was trying to GIVE them my money, and they refused it because of my bad credit. WTF?? The bank where I had three CDs was then happy to issue a fourth, which was fine, but why would a bank refuse DEPOSITS because of the depositor's credit rating?

[revo]

Here's a good article from Smart Money (August 2010) on why insurance companies use credit scores:

http://www.smartmoney.com/spending/deals/guess-whos-looking-at-your-credit-report-11056/

and another one from MSNBC:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35103647/ns/business-retail/

Clearly, it's a controversial practice. The insurance companies make claims but can't substantiate it with hard data -- at least none they want to reveal publicly.

[GwynnInTheHall]

Here's a good article from Smart Money (August 2010) on why insurance companies use credit scores:

http://www.smartmoney.com/spending/deals/guess-whos-looking-at-your-credit-report-11056/

and another one from MSNBC:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35103647/ns/business-retail/

Clearly, it's a controversial practice. The insurance companies make claims but can't substantiate it with hard data -- at least none they want to reveal publicly.

Thanks man, I'll read em when I get home from work. I'm big on being accountable for my actions and have resigned myself to do without credit because of my terrible scores (due to some bad decisions financially and a stubbornness to say FU to the man, ya know?)

But I've never gotten in an accident, never had more than a handful of speeding tickets (mostly 20+ years ago) and yet, pay some damn high rates because of my credit score. But- meh, I'll deal with it until I dolt have to anymore.

Jut not liking the fact that your past credit mistakes not only cost you in terms of interest rates and inability to by things over time, but now also is impacting unrelated areas, which almost seem intended to keep those who've transgressed from crawling out of the hole (no car, no job) But maybe that's too tin foil hat, ya know?

[chancellor]

Jut not liking the fact that your past credit mistakes not only cost you in terms of interest rates and inability to by things over time, but now also is impacting unrelated areas, which almost seem intended to keep those who've transgressed from crawling out of the hole (no car, no job) But maybe that's too tin foil hat, ya know?

Well, if you're giving those in senior management roles credit for being that smart, yeah, that's too tin foil hat for me.

[GwynnInTheHall]

Well, if you're giving those in senior management roles credit for being that smart, yeah, that's too tin foil hat for me.

Can't argue with that.