Wanderer wrote: FRANKN now that is scary ... how in the world can the credit bureau make such an error? Surely there is a social number difference. Based on my own experiences ... hope you have an easier time getting the bureau to correct the file as they can be so obtuse!

That is what we said! I have no idea how that happened. I will let you know how the process goes, but I have to say I am not looking forward to it.

FRANKN now that is scary ... how in the world can the credit bureau make such an error? Surely there is a social number difference. Based on my own experiences ... hope you have an easier time getting the bureau to correct the file as they can be so obtuse!

Interesting. Random side story, but my wife just ran her credit and found out she has her brother listed on there somehow. Not quite sure how he got on there.

It seemed as if there was a lack of complete information from some source that was being referenced so I wanted be clear on what was really in the market place.

Wanderer wrote: There are three regular credit bureaus with Experian, Equifax and Trans Union being the three. All are equal in their reporting. On the secondary market there are many obscure credit and information gatherers that are questionable in their accuracy and lack of consumer friendly approaches to correcting errors (some won't correct errors so the only real option is to freeze them). In answer to your question, I have worked with all three. Equifax is by far the hardest and most stubborn (dumb and stupid could even be used). Experian and Trans Union usually would act on "disputes" in two to four weeks and sometimes two days. For me to completely clean up my credit reports it took persistence and two years (I did get it there with patience). Equifax took repeated hammering on but, they finally gave in and corrected their mistakes (I am a Pit Bull on credit bureaus). Now in fairness, some people sail right through with updates and disputes with the bureaus in a few days. Results seem to fall YMMV.

WANDERER, were they just slow in responding or did they disagree with what you were saying / recommending

There are three regular credit bureaus with Experian, Equifax and Trans Union being the three. All are equal in their reporting. On the secondary market there are many obscure credit and information gatherers that are questionable in their accuracy and lack of consumer friendly approaches to correcting errors (some won't correct errors so the only real option is to freeze them). In answer to your question, I have worked with all three. Equifax is by far the hardest and most stubborn (dumb and stupid could even be used). Experian and Trans Union usually would act on "disputes" in two to four weeks and sometimes two days. For me to completely clean up my credit reports it took persistence and two years (I did get it there with patience). Equifax took repeated hammering on but, they finally gave in and corrected their mistakes (I am a Pit Bull on credit bureaus). Now in fairness, some people sail right through with updates and disputes with the bureaus in a few days. Results seem to fall YMMV.

We were told to check TransUnion and Experian when we were rebuilding our credit. At the time these two were the top agencies out there. I haven't used them in years. Any one used them lately??

Free credit reports are definitely going to be off, but I am surprised they are off 100 points. I agree something may be missing.

If you are getting different scores from different reporting tools, it sounds as though some of your cards may not be reporting to some of the bureaus. If you start with Equifax and pull your credit reports from each of the main three, you will be able to see which cards are missing from which reporting companies and get them to update. With a difference of 100 points it sounds as though something big is missing from one of them.

People reference free credit scores from Chase, Discover, Credit Karma and of course the free annual credit report as starters. Note, Chase and Discover free credit scores are right on their first page on the web and you can go in from there. Several banks include a monthly or semi-monthly credit scores as part of their card holder benefits. Much to my surprise my mortgage company is now offering me free scores.

I was just checking out my credit score today to see where I'm at and you are right, Wanderer, my FICO score is the one that seems to be the closest to what the bank is getting. What I would like to know, is where can you go to check what is on your credit report for free? If you can't, what is the best company out there to do this with for cheap?

It says in my credit report that a degrading factor in my score is having low credit limits. That I understand, however what is considered NOT low. Several of my cards have $1000 limit. Having multiple models all telling you different scores is ridiculous. One says 617 and another says 716. Nevertheless, this board has been extremely helpful in my rebuilding.

Understand your frustration and confusion. True credit scores are a challenge to find. In my search and comparison, "myfico.com" has been the most accurate over time. There are the Vantage Scores, the Plus Scores, FICO Scores and then other suppliers. It seems confusing because it is! When my bank pulled FICO Scores from all three bureaus for my home loan, "myfico.com" was the only score provider that exactly matched what the bank obtained. Go figure? Equifax gets pretty close. How do I know? Pulled all three credit bureaus within a few minutes of each other to compare the results (it cost me some serious change to do the comparison of the three seperate bureaus). When all is said and done, each lender may use their own risk scoring model software and access one of the major bureaus and analyze the results for their own outcome. Anotherwords, your guess is as good as mine!

It says in my credit report that a degrading factor in my score is having low credit limits. That I understand, however what is considered NOT low. Several of my cards have $1000 limit. Having multiple models all telling you different scores is ridiculous. One says 617 and another says 716. Nevertheless, this board has been extremely helpful in my rebuilding.