# Equifax and Transunion - Poor Impressions



## Maj34 (Oct 7, 2011)

I just need to vent here.

These two companies keep records of us, effectively allowing institutions/loaners/creditors to "Judge us", which affects our financial and thus personal futures.

I have to say that, based on my experiences with both these companies in the last 24 hours, I'm not impressed with either of them!

About 24 hours ago I decided I wanted to know my credit score. I picked TransUnion. Here is the sequence of events that took place: 
- I create an account, select a "product" namely a credit report+score, and enter my payment info.
- They then try to verify me. First they asked me to name the company I worked for in 2012. I enter it and get asked a second question. This time, they ask me to enter the company I worked for in year "XXXX". That's right - a series of Xs. I tried guessing various companies, but to no avail.
- Eventually they kick me out, saying that they've mailed me a confirmation package.

I think it's very low that the company:
- Charges you before they can verify you. If they cannot verify you, it becomes a paper report. You can get a free report from them via mail! I paid for a instant report! (You can even get report+score in the mail for less than the online instant report!)
- They make you save your credit card information with the company.
- There is no warning that "IF we can't verify you, you'll have to wait for a confirmation package"
- There is an "auto-renew" feature that gives you constant access to your report/score. I searched and searched but cannot find where to turn this off.

Tonight I thought I'd try Equifax. I went through the sign-up procedure. Unlike Transunion, providing a S.I.N. is manditory with Equifax. I think this is pathetic since many of their customers are probably worried about ID fraud.

I entered my S.I.N. reluctantly, and my payment information, and clicked "Purchase". The web page froze up for about 3 minutes until eventually it crashed. Now, upon revisiting, it tells me they are having trouble understanding which product I am trying to buy, and asks me to select a product from the main page. I start to do so, but it forces me to create an account again that already exists! Also, it asks for payment again whereas I already see the charge on my Mastercard.

Anyone have similar experiences with these companies? 

If this was Amazon, Indigo, or Walmart.ca, I wouldn't be upset. I just expect a VERY HIGH level of integrity, website function/security, from these companies and I'm really feeling let down by them both. Hopefully the backend of their software (that holds our security information) is more functional than the front-end (I.e., website).


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## Maj34 (Oct 7, 2011)

Hey - why not - I'll reply to myself.

I also think it's sad that these two companies are so commercialized. Go ahead and try to find out how to buy a single credit report/score with TransUnion - nope, they hide that in favour of selling you a monthly plan. Try to find out how to set up a Fraud Alert with Equifax - nope, they want you to buy credit protection.

Bogus.

I think these companies should be heavily regulated and non-commercialized, and not allowed to use classic-but-sleazy gimmicks to get you hooked into a monthly payment because you got an ID theft scare.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

I use both as I indicated in the other thread and you can reset your password and it should show order history in your account. The questions are sometimes difficult but usually in my case if I don't know the answer it is usually none of the above is the answer. With transunion you can login and delete the credit card info once you get the first month.


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## Maj34 (Oct 7, 2011)

marina628 said:


> I use both as I indicated in the other thread and you can reset your password and it should show order history in your account. The questions are sometimes difficult but usually in my case if I don't know the answer it is usually none of the above is the answer. With transunion you can login and delete the credit card info once you get the first month.


Thanks Marina, 

I will definitely log in and delete my CC info.

I did get logged in with Equifax, but it did involve calling in to verify myself, and also enduring a big sales push about their credit monitoring service.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

welcome to the party ..
credit bureaus have been awful since they were invented
believe it or not they are actually a lot better than they were say 15 years ago when you had all kinds of bad information and could do nothing about it, and they were impossible to deal with
even worse than the cable companies used to be


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## alingva (Aug 17, 2013)

why do you need a credit score? you can get your credit history for free (it will be mailed to you) and if your history is good - your score should be good (not always necessarily because there are other important factors in the score except of the history as utilization ratio or how many times you applied for credit in the recent months)


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## Maj34 (Oct 7, 2011)

Alingva - you really answered the question for me! I feel I needed the score because I don't necessarily understand all the factors that go behind it (really no one does since FICO is proprietary). But ultimately, it's the score that's important when I go mortgage shopping. It's the score that lenders are interested in, so it's the score that is important to know.

I don't agree that you can estimate your score based on your report. In my case I had one late payment on a visa, I've messed up by closing old accounts and as a result the average age of my accounts is on the low side. I don't have a variety of credit types. All these factors would lead you to believe my credit is just average, yet it's in the 800s.

Now that I know it's good, I have a starting place, and I'll be content to monitor my credit health via the free mail reports in the future.


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## alingva (Aug 17, 2013)

1. some banks lock the rate, checks credit history and it does not affect your credit score because they do soft credit inquiries (RBC, for example). ask your broker/bank if they can do a soft check, only hard ones reduce your score
2.* Banks do not care about your score to apply for a mtg* (believe me!), they care about your history, you can have 540 because you had 13 inquiries in the last month and never missed a payment. It applies for mtg applications only, in all other cases they do care about your score.
3.if you missed a payment for less than 30 days - it will not be shown in your credit history report, sometimes even 30+ days are not reported
4.your score does not change the rate you get from a bank, 740 or 680 or even 830 will not make any difference. Again, applies to a mtg application only


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## Maj34 (Oct 7, 2011)

Alingva, 

1. I have no concern about getting dinged when a bank or anyone else does a hard check. These are typically short-lived negative impacts anyway.
2. My sources say differently. A bank does care about your credit score. And you should too - you might get a mortgage, but not the best rate if your credit score is lower than mine. Here are 3 (of many) references: 
a) http://www.theglobeandmail.com/glob...-have-a-stellar-credit-score/article10947039/
b) http://business.financialpost.com/2013/03/26/how-to-get-the-best-deal-on-your-mortgage/
c) http://www.milliondollarjourney.com/how-to-improve-your-credit-score.htm
3. Agree. But there is no reference above to a payment less than 30 days!
4. Disagree. Your score will affect the rate you get from a bank. It's just the ranges. Surely there is no difference with +/-5, but at some point, vastly different scores mean vastly different things.


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## alingva (Aug 17, 2013)

Please read my previous comments and do not read the newspapers, your score has nothing to do with the mortgage rate you get, if you qualify - your rate is the same whether you have 900 or 680. if you do not qualify - your rate does not matter. And review your sources


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## Maj34 (Oct 7, 2011)

Sorry, I don't know you, so I'll have to take my chances with The Globe and Mail, Financial Post, Million Dollar Journey Blog, and just about every other source on the internet that I've read!


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## alingva (Aug 17, 2013)

i tell you this from my experience giving people mortgages 
go to any bank and ask them what rate you get if you qualify. very simple verification and you do not need any newspaper for that. The bank will never tell you XXX% rate IF you have 900 score. You either qualify and get the best rate they offer or you do not qualify and the rate does not matter. I want to emphasize again, it applies to mortgages only.
If banks decide what interest rate to charge based on your score - they would be out of the business tomorrow.


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## alingva (Aug 17, 2013)

I want to add that you have to have good score to qualify, for sure you score is important. But even if you have 580 (which is bad) you will probably qualify for a mtg with any bank. If you apply for a loan - you get better deal with a better score, when you apply for a mortgage the only question banks ask is 'do you qualify?'. if the answer is yes - you get the same rate as a client who has much better score.


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## Maj34 (Oct 7, 2011)

Ok Alingva, 

Your points are noted. They do sit in a sea of conflicting information, whereby a person like myself would rather choose to have a good credit score than a bad one.

I did use mortgage as an example above, but it was only an example. Your original question "Why do you want to know your score", is because I'd rather have a good score than a bad one. And I'd rather have an excellent score than a good one - since it gives me a buffer to absorb a possible mistake in the future. I don't care if it's mortgage, line of credit, or a pawn shop loan. 

Besides, what happens if interest rates go sky high in the upcoming years, and supposing you are right (about mortgage lenders not using credit score), what if lenders choose to START looking at credit score in light of the higher risk of loaning money. If you were a bank loaning money (and not working for the bank - you ARE the bank) would you rather a person have a 900 rather than a 650?


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## tygrus (Mar 13, 2012)

maj, you are giving too much "credit" to those reports. If you have a bank that you have been with a long time, they know how to vet those reports and they aren't all that they rely on. Make sure there are no blatant errors on them and don't worry about it.

Truthfully, lenders care more about backing assets than a silly score system.


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## Maj34 (Oct 7, 2011)

tygrus said:


> maj, you are giving too much "credit" to those reports.


Maybe, maybe not. Starting out on this journey just 2 days ago, I just wanted a basic "credit health check". I didn't want to learn the intricacies of how lenders decide credit-worthiness. I didn't want to then self-assess myself, all while guessing how a lender would view me. I'd go as far as to call myself the every-man when it comes to this. And I believe the everyman doesn't want to spend hours researching conflicting/contrasting information such as the info found in this thread. Instead, I want something solid. I want something quantitative. And it exists! It's my credit score?

Is it the be-all-end-all? No, I'm sure it's not. But it's good enough to give me an indication.



tygrus said:


> Truthfully, lenders care more about backing assets than a silly score system



Again, maybe you and alingva are correct, but it conflicts with every article, blog, and other piece of info I can find on the topic. I'm sure they care a lot about other things, but my opinion (based on eclectic sources all over the web) is that credit score is important.


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## alingva (Aug 17, 2013)

Maj34 said:


> If you were a bank loaning money (and not working for the bank - you ARE the bank) would you rather a person have a 900 rather than a 650?


 No, mortgage is a collateral loan, it does not matter because if you do not pay - you lose your home. Not many people want it.



Maj34 said:


> 'd rather have a good score than a bad one


 It is better to be healthy and rich than sick and poor.


Maj34 said:


> I don't care if it's mortgage, line of credit, or a pawn shop loan.


 It is better not to borrow. Ever. The reason banks/CU/brokers give mortgages to everybody is because they want to have slaves for 25 years.


Maj34 said:


> Besides, what happens if interest rates go sky high


 Very very unlikely. Canadians have debts to the eyeballs, if the Prime goes to 6% tomorrow you would better have a gun than a mortgage, people will not have money to eat.

Not to the topic but a suggestion, please take a conventional and not a collateral mortgage (i.e. do not deal with TD and some other banks)
http://www.canadianmortgagetrends.c...-takes-heat-for-its-collateral-mortgages.html
http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/episodes/2013/01/decoding-mortgages.html


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## Maj34 (Oct 7, 2011)

We're far enough off the topic of this thread, and so far into the realm of subjective opinion, that I think it's best to let this thread die.


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## SpendLessEarnMore (Aug 7, 2013)

I've done it twice this year getting instantaneous Equifax credit score and report for free. No waiting for the credit report to come in the mail which doesn't come with the score. Granted it's the Equifax score and not the FICO score some if not all banks use. But at least it'll give you a picture where you stand and you can track your progress 6 months down the road. Cancelling is surprisingly easy. 

https://www.econsumer.equifax.ca/trial_en.html

Previously I've tried getting my TransUnion report but can't seem to get past the verification so I've given up totally never to be seen by me.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

alingva said:


> ... 2.* Banks do not care about your score to apply for a mtg* (believe me!), they care about your history, you can have 540 because you had 13 inquiries in the last month and never missed a payment. It applies for mtg applications only, in all other cases they do care about your score ...
> 
> 4.your score does not change the rate you get from a bank, 740 or 680 or even 830 will not make any difference. Again, applies to a mtg application only


There seems to be some other factor involved as well. When I went looking to confirm the rate at work plus employee discount was worth it by applying at four other institutions, work plus three others were within $5K of each other. The last one was something like $35K less they were willing to give me.

When I asked about it, the errors by the credit bureau showed up as the only thing they were willing to point to was my total available credit. Based on the amount, the credit bureau had recorded my car loan as the monthly limit on the CC from the same institution. 


Cheers


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## MRT (Apr 8, 2013)

to beat a dead horse here...

I will 2nd the point about your credit score NOT mattering in terms of what rate you get for a mortgage. I left the industry a short while ago, but that was practice for the 10yrs I was in it.

Only some b-lenders and private lenders have a matrix whereby their rate offered indeed adjusts based upon credit score. This is NOT the case at the big banks or with other major lenders. If you meet their minimum credit score, you qualify for their 'best' rate...period. Yes, there will always be outliers who have some extra-special relationship with a bank/lender, who can obtain an 'unheard of' rate...but I'm referring to common practice.

Credit score can impact what rate you might be offered for other products, such as a PLC or loan, but not mortgages.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

The calculation of credit scoring in it's present form, only provides the lender with a snapshot of the past history of 6 years. After that period of time, negative items on the credit report are wiped away and only positive items remain for a total period of 20 years.

Many people who default on debt, and declare bankruptcy or a consumer proposal acquired their debt by use of a "high" credit score. That is after all, how they acquired all all that debt upon which they are defaulting.

To counteract this problem..........the credit agencies recently announced they are introducing new software calculations which try to be more predictive of the "future" and the scores will be based more on total debt loads, number of accounts etc. The changes will impact all credit scores, with some people finding their scores will drop, while others will have their individual scores rise.

Lenders, especially banks, are also reluctant to lend money to people whose income is deemed creditor proof, like pensions or LIRAs etc. If the bank has no way to garnish the wages of the borrower...........they aren't particularly interested in lending to them.

A retiree I know went to the bank with an 801 credit score and was turned down for an unsecured LOC because 2/3rds of their income was pension based.

They owed a small amount on 1 credit card, owned their car, and had no other significant debt..........but they didn't own a home...........therefore no security for the line of credit.

Lending also depends on motivation of the lender. GM sold GMAC and used other others for their auto loans. The credit score requirements of the lender were significantly higher than those traditionally required by GM and eliminated a lot of potential buyers, so GM went out and bought another lender, lowered the credit score qualifications, and started leasing and selling cars to a broader audience again.

Credit scores and lending seems to ebb and flow with the economic times.


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