dzial67

Hi

We're moving to the USA in November. My wife (USC) has been living in the UK for the last 7 years. We're trying to check her credit rating in advance of going back but all of the rating companies work on the basis that you are in the USA with a US address and telephone number.

Does anyone know how to do this from the UK?

fatbrit

Send it to parents, friend or a mailbox.

meauxna

It can be done online, and Missus should already have a US address/contact for her domicile information. I got my reports online and delivered to my email.

chartreuse

Yep, that's what SWMBO did. She'll have to pay for them (annualcreditreport.com blocks IP addresses outside the USA) and they'll ask her some "security questions" like "Which of the following banks do you have a mortgage with" which may challenge her memory if it's been 7 years, but it's doable.

lapin_windstar

Yeah, but you need a US IP address (at least ime) and usually the free US proxies don't let you use https connections, so...

Did you do yours from within the US or from outside?

chartreuse

Only for the free reports, from annualcreditreport.com. The paid for reports will sell you them anywhere in the world...

OP - as a first step, your wife could try creditkarma.com - don't know if it will work from outside the USA, but (if it does) it'll give her a genuine FICO score based on her TransUnion report, for free.

ian-mstm

The word "genuine" is misleading in this instance.

TransUnion FICO scores run from 400-925. Equifax FICO scores run from 300-850. So... having a FICO score of 825 is misleading unless you know which company generated the score. From TransUnion, it's a good score. From Equifax, it's an excellent score. Why is this a problem? Because it's the Equifax score that is most promoted in TV ads and in Bank/Trust Company promotions.

For comparison, a TransUnion FICO score of 855 is about equal to an Equifax FICO score of 770.

Regardless, I agree that it's important to know where you stand!

Ian

chartreuse

Actually, not. AIUI, creditkarma gives you an actual FICO score, calculated using Fair Isaac's algorithm, rather than a "FAKO" score of the type that the credit reference agencies give out (and which you're referring to). CRA generated scores should not be called FICO scores - because they're not.

That's why I said "genuine".

fatbrit

People obsess far too much about the actual number. Pay your bills, have a balance of credit lines that are not over-extended.....and you'll be fine once you've built the history up. Whether you're a 750 or a 780 is totally pointless in the real world.

dzial67

Thanks Chartreuse

worked perfectly and we have a good score!

brittinfl

Try creditkarma.com, they don't give you a credit report, but will give you score as often as you want and it's free

fatbrit

The score is neither here nor there unless you're an underwriter. However, you do need to see what's actually there in your report to check for mistakes and/or fraud.

If you want to know your score, the free calculator here gives you as accurate a figure as you need to know. Notice the questions are hints on how to improve it -- run your own scenarios.

If you want to check the data in your credit report, it's also free here courtesy of you federal government. Run one every four months and you're checking your data as often as is really necessary unless you qualify under one of the psychosis listed in DSM.

brittinfl

Didn't find that site to be very accurate...

fatbrit

There were two. Which one?

brittinfl

This one, the FICO score calculator. http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/...alculator.aspx

The "free" credit report you can get is great if you want to see what's on the report, but it doesn't give you a score and for some that's important. The free sites also try to get you to sign up for everything and then is you forget to cancel before the end of the trial, they charge you monthly until you notice and opt out. A couple of great site with good forums about saving money etc are fatwallet.com and slickdeals.net