Comments for

A World Where A 340 FICO Is "Excellent"

2008-10-31T20:13:18Z

At first glance, this ad for CreditReportAmerica seems to have the credit score system reversed, with 350-619 listed as "excellent" and 750-840 listed as "poor"...but then you realize it's actually a graphical depiction of the system shady mortgage brokers used to get when whoring up the sub-prime mortgage orgy. Travel blogger Mark Ashley says he spotted the ad on the frontpage of Yahoo Finance. At the bottom, the ad says the service does not include credit scores. Remember folks, the place to get a free credit report is annualcreditreport.com.

Comment from boricuachick on 2008-11-01

2008-11-01T05:39:05Z

AAA is now offering a free credit report/monitoring to its members. One of my credit cards provides my FICO free every month. I like to keep an eye on my credit report/FICO.

Comment from kwsventures on 2008-10-31

2008-11-01T04:48:06Z

A 340 FICO means you don't ever pay anyone back. You smell like a bad risk. Of course, Obama, will "spread the wealth" and give you someone else's money soon because you have a heart beat. You won't have to pay that back, either.

Comment from strathmeyer on 2008-10-31

2008-11-01T03:02:29Z

No love for "I Don't Know"?

Comment from thefastest on 2008-10-31

2008-11-01T00:57:14Z

@GuinevereRucker: Yes. That was mentioned in the writeup...

Comment from clevershark on 2008-10-31

2008-11-01T00:11:36Z

By the logic of that graph 0 should qualify you for a Centurion card!

Comment from lukobe on 2008-10-31

2008-10-31T22:04:54Z

@TMurphy: What happened? Simple: they knew they couldn't do without a designer, but they thought they could save money by doing without a copyeditor/proofreader. Smooth move, CreditReportAmerica.com. (And yes, I am an editor.)

Comment from TMurphy on 2008-10-31

2008-10-31T21:53:32Z

@Squot: On the front page I took this to be just some image someone made up to make fun of the lending industry. With this apparently being a real ad, I am now simply confused.

Comment from SleepingSheeple on 2008-10-31

2008-10-31T21:47:34Z

@Trencher93: Individuals are not allowed to see their true FICO scores. Only companies that order the "real" credit report gets the "real" FICO score. The reports individuals receive have a note in the fine print that this is an "Educational" score.

I read this book by a guy that used to work for the reporting agencies, and he explains alot more about how the agencies are still jerking us around.

[search.barnesandnoble.com]

Comment from johnva on 2008-10-31

2008-10-31T21:17:46Z

@Trencher93: Yes, that would definitely count as an inquiry. A hard inquiry, in my opinion, is not worth it unless I'm getting some kind of bonus worth at least $125 or so. FICO scores cost $10 or so at myfico.com, so I think you're better off just going there. They aren't going to include the special-purpose algorithms, but it's not really necessary to know that information, in my opinion. Your regular FICO will get you in the ballpark, and then when you apply for real for a mortgage or whatever you can just get the special-purpose scores like you said.

Comment from Trencher93 on 2008-10-31

2008-10-31T20:59:01Z

Remember you PAY for the proprietary FICO score. Plus there are other algorithms besides it. I'm not sure you can get these numbers without hitting your credit score -- you could pretend to want to buy a house, and the agent will shunt you off to their in-house mortgage guy, who will run all the numbers and pull your credit and give you (by law) copies of everything he pulls from the three credit companies. I'm not sure if this counts as an inquiry or not, but it probably does. Anyway, you walk away from the house and keep the papers for free.

Comment from GuinevereRucker on 2008-10-31

2008-10-31T20:49:54Z

Notice the little * at the bottom that says, "Report does not include FICO score."

Heh.

Comment from Squot on 2008-10-31

2008-10-31T20:47:07Z

I still can honestly say I don't understand what this ad is going for. Since it doesn't mention the crisis, is it supposed to be ironic? Is it just wrong? O_o; Confusion, thy name is me.

Comment from humphrmi on 2008-10-31

2008-10-31T20:35:45Z

@Trick: Why work so hard to look legit, when you can be obviously shady and then say the victim got what they deserved?

Comment from Trick on 2008-10-31

2008-10-31T20:25:11Z

Wow, are companies even trying these days to not appear as they are going to rip you off?