Understanding Equifax Credit Reports
2010
Why is my credit so bad?
I pulled my FICO score on Equifax and it’s really low (589). My only negative credit history in the past 7 years is a Discover card listed as “charge-off” (they admitted it was a mistake on their part but claim it was too long ago to change). All my other student and personal loans are marked “pays as agreed.”
I did notice numerous accounts that were actually my parent’s–if I understand the FCRA these are not supposed to be on my credit report.
Nevertheless, I don’t see what the heck Equifax is talking about: it says I’m using 101% of my revolving credit, but my one card (with a $5000 limit) is zeroed. I only keep it around for an emergency. What gives?
I went and filed a dispute in September, but now it’s December and Equifax has apparently done nothing, because when I pulled the score nothing had changed from 3 months ago. What’s the deal?
Have you had your parents co-sign for anything that you’ve gotten on credit, like a car? If they were put on the note as a co-owner instead of a guarantor, which is what happened to a friend of mine, their credit can show up on your credit report. My friend had her dad co-sign for her car, but they put him on the note as a co-owner and she didn’t realize it until he filed bankruptcy and the bankruptcy showed up on her credit report! It went away when she paid the car off, but talk about a headache.
Did you send the dispute to Equifax with a return receipt so that you know someone signed for it. Maybe you should dispute with Transunion first, as they were fantastic when I disputed something that was wrong. They had it off of there in two weeks, Experian took a month to correct a mistake, and Equifax took for darn near bloody forever to do the same thing! Keep sending them letters, threaten to get an attorney involved. You’d be surprised how fast their heads will spin when they get that threat…heck if that doesn’t work, have an attorney send a letter on your behalf. That won’t cost that much and will probably make them do something.
BTW, if Discover card admits that the chargeoff is a mistake and shouldn’t be on your credit report, you should try to obtain a written statement of this and send it to the collection agency who is pursuing it. It is not too late for it to be taken off, but they cannot take it off if they are not the ones reporting it. If they are reporting it, they *can* indeed remove it.
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