The city listed above is only one location of only one bureau, but they are all guilty.
It's time somebody had the courage to do something about this.
These credit bureau's have a secret formula that keeps your credit scores low so you and I have to pay higher interest rates on everything. In addition it can cost us a job or an entire career.
They use scare tactics to convince almost every company now, be it a bank, employer, apartment complexes, and now even insurance companies that you need their service to lower your risk of fraud and loss.
At the same time, they only take into account (for the most part) the things that would lower your credit score, not raise it. Example:
They say, and quite legitimately, that people who commit insurance fraud have poor credit.
So they've convinced insurance companies to check credit and charge rates based on your credit score, not your actuarial risk. But, do the credit bureau's raise your score if you're a college graduate even if studies show people with degrees pay their bills better than those who don't? No.
They won't tell you how they compile the scores, because that way, you could raise it and no one would have a need for their service over time.
Then they sell you that you should pay them a monthly fee to check your credit score.
They can lower your score by 100 points if you've had what they call "too many inquires" over a 2 year period. Two years???
Who cares who checked my credit (or how many times) 18 months ago? Why should this have anything to do with what my house payment or credit card payment is? Maybe I was shopping around. Maybe I came into some money, but wanted to keep it in the bank and try to buy things at low interest.
Speaking of which, do you have any idea how many millionaires there are with credit scores under 700? A bunch because they don't look at that.
You know who has 830 credit scores, old ladies on fixed incomes that's had the same single credit card for 30 years, that's who.
Anyone who lives a life is going to have inquires, and yes, even bankrupties.
What happened to companies making a credit decision based on an interview and checking references.
Now, it doesn't matter how ethical you are, how much money you have in the bank, how much you make or how much edcation you have, we've all been reduced to a single number.
Oh, and isn't it funny how we have 3 credit bureau's, but they all report a similar score? Isn't collusion illegal?
Anonymous
Anycity, District of Columbia
U.S.A.