Duncan Roberts

I also don't think home warranties are a scam, depending on your house and appliances. I know somebody who has got thousands of dollars of plumbing work, new toilets and the like under a 'free' warranty, it was something like a $50 deductible. My mum has one and has got 2 new dishwashers, a new freezer and a new oven plus a lot of fixes on appliances on something like a fiver a month. True she has been paying for almost 15 years, however the cost she would have had to spend is far more than she has paid. If you have a brand new house with brand new appliances, that's not worth it. An old house with old appliances, defiantly worth it in my opinion.

Duncan Roberts

Not really. My wife had average credit and dint know why. When she finally got her report it showed about 4 credit cards under her name registered to her old addresses that weren't hers. I'm not worried about people using cards I have, more the stuff I don't know about.

Bob

aye, well getting a regular report's a good thing, but paying money for a service to keep track, that's pretty much a waste of money though.

Duncan Roberts

I know it differs from state to state but in OH you can only get a free one once a year. A year is a long time especially as in a few weeks some little twat can ruin years of work getting a decent score. Having the ability to check your report whenever you want and getting notices when something is updated on all 3 reports gives some good tools to help yourself and give you some peace of mind. When you add up the cost of getting your report from each source say every 3 months, it soon adds up.

Bob

that's the thing, you can get one from each of the credit people once a year, you don't have to get them at the same time, one every 4 months is plenty.

Longy

Even if get 3 over the year, if there is an inquiry made under your name that you don't know about it could be months before you see it - and thats if you do see it looking through all the info in the report. Having something like MyFico you know almost straight away. Its well worth the $9 a month - especially if your credit isn't great, and just for peace of mind of knowing immediately if anything dodgy is going on.

Bob

true, but looking over your history everyday, be a bit like a hypocondriac...not much you can do about it that your credit card couldn't fix for free anyway.

Duncan Roberts

But they don't always show the same things. Case in point, the credit cards that were not my wifes were on the experian report but not the equifax or trans union ones, they all had balances and none had been paid in months. Also, most companies checking credit scores wont check all 3, they will just check 1. If you have a problem with that one, then you are shit out of luck. I'm not trying to say what you are saying is wrong, just from personal experience there is a case for paying for unlimited access to all 3 bureau's reports and scores.

Longy

You don't have to look over it, they do it for you, you setup alerts, you get an email every now and again, you look and see what it is. Done.

Deedee13

ok, u all have my interest !! And confusion. I suppose I am one of the lucky ones to come over from Germany, where credit isnt as rife as it is in the UK and def here. People use cash or just a debit card from their bank account. So this credit score is all new to me. I have already thought about getting hubby to get my name on his credit card because i heard it would give me a running start. But how do u get a credit score, and I realise that it appears to be very important here to have a good one, but what is a good one, and how do i get it? Do I need to get something on credit and pay it off all at once, or monthly . I know, how can someon be so dumb huh. But this is another world for me. How does it increase in score? How does it maintain its score? How do I protect my identity for this credit stuff?

Bob

there's a good thing about credit in the wiki...

you need debt potential basically to increase your score, in the US, unlike most other places, it doesn't increase your score paying your utilities off on time, but to not pay them on time could ding your score.

You get a credit card, and you don't have to leave a balance on it to build your score...easiest route is either piggy back off someone else with a good score, to transfer an AmEx card, or a secured card to start you out.

Don't go applying for a bundle of them at the same time either, a couple cards are plenty, to many and you'll get a shite rate from the bank...plus too many enquiries into your history dings your history a few points, but a few hits in a couple days from insurance or loans people would only count as a single ding.

Tracym

If you add someone to your credit card - do they just get the benefit of that credit card on their credit score?

Or does your entire credit history become theirs also?

I'm suspecting the former - but does anyone know for sure?

snowbunny

If you are *married* and living in a community property state, in general, if you add someone to your credit cards, they will build up their score faster, because YOU are now responsible for their bills as well as your own.

If, like me, you've been exposed to a SSN leak you get free credit monitoring for a year.

Tracym

I realize that, re. helping build up credit.

What I wondered was - say for example I have 3 credit cards. I add my new husband (when i get him) to one of them.

Does he just build up credit because of that one card? Or does he inherit my entire credit history?

And yuck, SSN leak - I had something wierd happen with an address, and that was scary enough.

snowbunny

In general he inherits a chunk of your credit history -- what is it these days, the last three years? (can't recall how much they keep on file). However if he were to try for credit on his own (without you as a co-signee) he would have a more difficult time until he builds his own (having had a card in his name for a period of time).

A lot of this is seemingly voodoo.... essentially, scour your reports and challenge anything adverse; take out small loans and repay over time but promptly; own vs rent.... there are many factors taken into account.