Should I pay for FICO score?
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Should I pay for FICO score?
| Wed, 04-19-2006 - 6:37am |
Life is really tough..doesn't seem to get any better. We just can't get ahead no matter how hard we try. I had to file for Chapter 7 BK in October - it was discharged this month. (I hated to do this but it was due to circumstances I had no control over) My husband was unable to file - so we still have his bills - they have all been been turned over to collections and are showing as charged off. I don't know what we are going to do when they start trying to garnish his wages or whatever the next step is. Even after my filing we just can't keep up. Anyway I'm trying to make sure my credit report is showing things correctly. I have no idea what my credit score was before BK so I don't know how much it has dropped. Should I pay to find out my score? If so how much does it cost? Which credit agency should I request it from? Please offer some advice. I'm trying so hard to take one day at a time. We both work full time - but my DH was out of work most of last year...so there seems to be a years worth of bills to catch up on.

I wouldn't pay for it right now. You know its not going to be good. You aren't going to be able to buy anything on credit right now since your BK was just discharged. My brother needed about 2 years before he could get credit again. On a better note-he has since gotten a car and has a couple of credit cards he pays in full every month. He was married for a year and she opened a bunch of cc in her name and spent over $20K. He must have been money ignorant at the time as he didn't notice. But it happens. She also pretended to go to work every day.....
Are you paying hubbys past dues or are you just waiting for them to go away? I am not sure how that works but if you go to the DEBT QUESTIONS & ANSWER board those ladies know their stuff and they have a BK section of their board. They could probably help you alot.
Good luck!!!
I agree that I wouldn't bother paying for the score right now. Use the money you'd spend on that (probably around $10) to pay off some bothersome little bill, or to set aside for a tight month's small buffer.
The score isn't going to be pretty, and there's no sense fretting about it. You'll want to know your score in a couple years when your credit is improving and you may be considering buying a home or financing a car. But for now, it would just be one more thing to agonize over.
Maybe take the $10 you would spend on that and pamper yourself--an inexpensive haircut, or a couple cups of your favorite coffee, or a milkshake or two from a local ice cream parlor. :)
Good luck, and please keep hanging around, as this board will help in so many ways.
Blessings,
Heather
No! Do not pay. There's no need. It's law for everyone to get a yearly FREE credit report from the three top agencies. Just order it online. You can only get the free yearly. If there are discrepencies, you write the credit companies and these agencies to clear it up.
Equifax.com
TransUnion.com
Experian.com
Good luck. Even if you have a bad score, it's good to know what's on your report so you can fix it. If you have zero balances on cards, tell them you want them closed AND cancelled. This will totally shut the file down (and tell the credit agencies you've done so).
Just to clarify: Yes, you can get a free credit report once a year (and I LOVE the suggestion someone on here had of getting one from each agency every four months, since you can get one free one from each bureau each year). BUT it will not include your score. In fact, my experience has been that when I order the free report, they try to also sell me the score, and I have to decline it to avoid charges.
:)
Hmmm I ordered mine a year ago and I got my score for free from all three.