Credit Scores for free

Preparing for life after work. RRSPs, RRIFs, TFSAs, annuities and meeting future financial and psychological needs.
BRIAN5000
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Credit Scores for free

Post by BRIAN5000 »

Anyone check their Credit scores lately, using, " Borrowell has joined its competitor Mogo in providing free credit score checks that will have no impact on your credit rating", as reported by Moneysense magazine?
This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed
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Shakespeare
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Re: Credit Scores for free

Post by Shakespeare »

Free Credit Score - Personal Loans for Canadians from 5.6% APR | Borrowell

Note you have to register.

I'm not really interested in my credit score, although I know it's high from my RBC transfer some years ago (they gave me the maximun).

I don't use credit other than to pay the card off in full each month.
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Re: Credit Scores for free

Post by cedeebee »

I attempted to register, received the confirmation email, then noted the following message back on the website: We're sorry, but we're unable to give you your credit score, as we were not able to verify your identity. :/
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newguy
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Re: Credit Scores for free

Post by newguy »

cedeebee wrote:we were not able to verify your identity. :/
Maybe take off your sunglasses!
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deaddog
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Re: Credit Scores for free

Post by deaddog »

You have to wonder why they would offer the service for Free. :?

I suppose that they will try and up sell you their premium service.

Always suspicious of “Free”.
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Insomniac
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Re: Credit Scores for free

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deaddog wrote:You have to wonder why they would offer the service for Free. :?

I suppose that they will try and up sell you their premium service.

Always suspicious of “Free”.
That's what I think, too. Once they have your personal data, they will spam you.

Anyway, why do you need to know your credit score? If you need a loan, the lender will check it for you.

Not sure if the number is meaningful. I got a year of free credit monitoring after the Home Depot leak. At one point my credit score dropped by 90. I had been on vacation and nearly maxed out my Amazon Visa so my score dropped. Of course, I paid the card off right away and a month or so my score was back where it started. Whatever...
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Re: Credit Scores for free

Post by milton »

Took five minutes to register. They verify your identity with three credit questions (i.e. in 2013, you opened a line of credit from bank x, y, or z?). An email is automatically generated, you click on it and account is activated. Took ten minutes altogether to get credit score. Then they offer to make you a loan. That's how they stay in business.

I had been curious about credit score a ways back. Checked into getting a free report from Equifax, but the process wasn.t worth the pain. The way Borrowell has it set up is piece of cake. Now that they have my info, every quarter they send an update on the credit score and another invitation to borrow money.
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deaddog
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Re: Credit Scores for free

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milton wrote:Took five minutes to register. They verify your identity with three credit questions (i.e. in 2013, you opened a line of credit from bank x, y, or z?). An email is automatically generated, you click on it and account is activated. Took ten minutes altogether to get credit score. Then they offer to make you a loan. That's how they stay in business.
What kind of interest rate are they offering?
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cannew
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Re: Credit Scores for free

Post by cannew »

Do Canadians use Credit Score like the US? Never had a credit problem, more like trying to stop from getting requests to increase our limits.
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Re: Credit Scores for free

Post by milton »

deaddog wrote:
milton wrote:Took five minutes to register. They verify your identity with three credit questions (i.e. in 2013, you opened a line of credit from bank x, y, or z?). An email is automatically generated, you click on it and account is activated. Took ten minutes altogether to get credit score. Then they offer to make you a loan. That's how they stay in business.
What kind of interest rate are they offering?
Based on a credit score of 799 (Borowell gets this from Equifax), they are offering $35k at 6.2% percent for 3 years or 6.9% for 5 years. There's also an 'origination fee' on top of that: $350 for the 3yr term and $1400 for the 5yr term. It pushes the rates up to 6.82% and 8.33%.

Quite a lucrative business when prime is at 2.7% :shock:
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Re: Credit Scores for free

Post by queerasmoi »

Is a report attached to this too or simply a score?
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Re: Credit Scores for free

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queerasmoi wrote:Is a report attached to this too or simply a score?
Just the score.
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Re: Credit Scores for free

Post by GreatLaker »

There is a big thread over at RFD on this. I really don't care what my credit score is, but I tried signing up out of curiosity, and got the error they could not verify my identity. I guess that's a drawback of working for CSIS.

http://forums.redflagdeals.com/borrowel ... e-2004197/
Hi there,

Rob from the team at Borrowell here.

We think it's really important for people to know what their credit score is. We think fairness and transparency is really important, especially when it comes to financial services. We will never share or disclose your personal information to a third party without your explicit consent.

What's in it for us? We hope that some people who get their scores will get a loan with us. In the near future, we're planning to recommend products and services from trusted partners who would be able to help you save money. Those partners would pay us if you decided to take their product or service. Don't worry - we will never sell your personal information.

We don't like spam either! We plan on sending information that we think will be useful to consumers - like tips on how to improve your credit score, or offers that are tailored to your financial profile. But if you're not finding them useful, you can always unsubscribe. We'll still let you know when your score has been updated.
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adrian2
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Re: Credit Scores for free

Post by adrian2 »

For the free score and report from TransUnion, a painless registration at http://www.creditkarma.ca is all you need.
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ghariton
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Re: Credit Scores for free

Post by ghariton »

Thanks, adrian2.

My credit score is 849. I wonder what brought it down. Probably the number of old credit cards listed, although all the previous ones show zero balance (as they should). I guess that's the one drawback to shopping around for the best credit card.

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Shakespeare
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Re: Credit Scores for free

Post by Shakespeare »

Well, mine is 845. The max is apparently 900.

As usual, the only people that can get credit are those that don't need it. :wink: :wink:
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Re: Credit Scores for free

Post by Jo Anne »

Mine's only 842. :cry: My husband however, has all of us beat with 856.

I have no idea what we did to have such high scores.
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Re: Credit Scores for free

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I have no idea what we did to have such high scores.
You didn't borrow. :rofl:
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Shakespeare
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Re: Credit Scores for free

Post by Shakespeare »

Credit Score Scale: What is a "good" credit score?
The standard FICO credit-scoring scale goes from 300 to 850, with higher numbers reflecting better credit.
fico-credit-score-range.png
(We should probably normalize from 900 to 850 for comparison. That gives me about 798.)
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adrian2
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Re: Credit Scores for free

Post by adrian2 »

ghariton wrote:My credit score is 849. I wonder what brought it down. Probably the number of old credit cards listed, although all the previous ones show zero balance (as they should). I guess that's the one drawback to shopping around for the best credit card.
Keeping old cards actually helps in two ways:
1. It's increasing the average age of accounts.
2. It lowers the proportion of credit used over credit limit.
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Re: Credit Scores for free

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

adrian2 wrote:For the free score and report from TransUnion, a painless registration at http://www.creditkarma.ca is all you need.
Whenever I see something for "free", I'm left to wonder what it costs me in terms of the information I have to provide? Have you looked over the Credit Karma - Privacy Policy and Terms of Service to make sure you understand the cost of "free"? Clearly there's a business model here that makes it worth Credit Karma's time and effort.
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Re: Credit Scores for free

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Peculiar_Investor wrote:
adrian2 wrote:For the free score and report from TransUnion, a painless registration at http://www.creditkarma.ca is all you need.
Whenever I see something for "free", I'm left to wonder what it costs me in terms of the information I have to provide? Have you looked over the Credit Karma - Privacy Policy and Terms of Service to make sure you understand the cost of "free"? Clearly there's a business model here that makes it worth Credit Karma's time and effort.
Why Credit Karma Is Free and How It Makes Money
So What’s the Business Model?

Since Credit Karma is a for-profit business, not a charity, how does it make money? Rest assured, it’s not from selling the information you share in order to get your credit reports from its site. According to the description on the company website, its revenues come from tailored, targeted advertising by financial companies on creditkarma.com. Its business model is based on finding a win for everyone – the consumer, the financial institutions that advertise products and Credit Karma’s own bottom line.

Credit Karma has more than 60 million members as of November 2016 and recently launched in Canada. Credit Karma is able to do robust analysis and apply algorithms so that the advertisements consumers see are specific to them. For the financial advertisers, that means “we can make better matches and overall deliver more qualified consumers to these banks,” according to Ra. Based on agreements with its financial advertising partners, Credit Karma gets paid for this lead generation. Disclosures on the site alert consumers to this.
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Re: Credit Scores for free

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

Thanks. But I still remain highly sceptical and cautious to provide my personal information. YMMV
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Re: Credit Scores for free

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Peculiar_Investor wrote:Thanks. But I still remain highly sceptical and cautious to provide my personal information. YMMV
You can always pay TransUnion. That's what I did when I first set up my own business, The cost back then was about $15. It might have gone up, but I doubt it would be by much.

I don't need credit any more, and haven't done so for over fifteen years, although my file does show an inquiry by TD some three years ago. (I wonder what they wanted.) But for those who still need credit, or who might need it in the future, or who plan to rent in future. etc., it's a very good idea to take a look. In particular, there may be errors, resulting in a low credit score, that you may be able to correct.

Oh yes, you can see who's been checking up on you.

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Re: Credit Scores for free

Post by OnlyMyOpinion »

Are most folks just checking out of interest?

I have never known what my credit score is, or checked it - ever.
I considered trying the site but reconsidered after PI's post.
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