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Credit score
galenblade
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Two questions.
I'm on the hunt for a new apartment, and the broker/owner of a place I'm interested in is asking for a credit score. She provides a link to a place where I can get a free report.
1) Is this a scam? Seems legit, everything spelled correctly, comprehensible email reply. But I don't trust a random link someone sends me, if it's asking for stuff like SSN.
2) Should I know my credit score when going about this? I've always worked with brokers before, and they ran a check for a small fee (like $20) after I had seen the place. I have decent credit, but don't know the exact #. And if I do need this, what would be a reputable site to go to to get it?
I'm on the hunt for a new apartment, and the broker/owner of a place I'm interested in is asking for a credit score. She provides a link to a place where I can get a free report.
1) Is this a scam? Seems legit, everything spelled correctly, comprehensible email reply. But I don't trust a random link someone sends me, if it's asking for stuff like SSN.
2) Should I know my credit score when going about this? I've always worked with brokers before, and they ran a check for a small fee (like $20) after I had seen the place. I have decent credit, but don't know the exact #. And if I do need this, what would be a reputable site to go to to get it?
galenblade on
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If that site if different from the site the apartment complex sent you then I'd get worried. Also, it seems like they wouldn't just trust your score and that they would be doing an independent check, wouldn't they? That seems a little fishy to me.
Shouldn't this person have the ability to pull your credit themselves?
edit: Stah, it's annualcreditreport.com
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http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/credit/rights.shtm
From that site:
You can order your free annual credit report online at annualcreditreport.com, by calling 1-877-322-8228, or by completing the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mailing it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.
When you order, you need to provide your name, address, Social Security number, and date of birth. To verify your identity, you may need to provide some information that only you would know, like the amount of your monthly mortgage payment.
That won't give you your credit score though. Those are something they try to charge for.
But, you can get a seven day trial from Equifax to get your credit score. It's a one dollar fee then $14.95 per month if you don't cancel. You have to cancel over the phone and it takes about 15 minutes. They go through deals and savings to monitor your credit when you try to cancel you trial account. So, I guess it's a dollar to learn and maybe 20 to 30 minutes of your time to get. Just be firm with them when you cancel and don't cave. Most people don't need a credit monitoring service.
URL she gave me was:
http://www.free-score-today.info
Rudimentary Googling didn't turn up any red flags.
That said, I have never had to provide a credit score to any landlord or management company when trying to rent. It IS common practice for the landlord/management to do a credit check on you, and this is usually covered by the application fee (if any), but it seems weird that a legitimate, non-shady landlord would require you to go to some random site to get your credit score.
Edit: Although, as Djeet said, that link does seem to just resolve to annualcreditreport.com which is the legitimate site to get your free credit report, and will provide a link/means to purchase your credit score. That makes it seem less like a scam, but it still seems weird that they would have you go out and do this yourself. Every landlord or management company I've dealt with has done credit checks themselves.
if you think about it, it doesn't make sense for the potential tenant to look up their own score and then submit it to the renter. there's too much of a chance for the potential tenant to just forge a good report/score if their credit sucks in reality.
steam | Dokkan: 868846562
Don't let the broker/owner try and charge you any processing or paperwork fees. The reason those exist is so that A) the place can make a quick buck and
If you're getting your own score and giving it to them, don't let them charge you for any "processing" Deposit and First months rent should be it.
Just my .02
www.creditKarma.com
Edit: Gives you a credit report AND score.
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Off limed for partial truth.
It gives you a score, for free, but it's not as accurate as annual credit report. It either just pulls one score or puts them all together, but it can leave stuff out.
Oh ho ho. I got it now.
I just copied the domain, not the full link. When I clicked the full link in the email, it sent me to a different domain, with several redirects to (eventually) goidentityprotect.com.
Yeah, this is definitely a scam. Or at least HIGHLY suspect.
Ah, yes... I actually had seen that site before (and signed up) and completely forgot about it. Don't know how accurate it is overall, but for me it's low if I compare it's graph over time to the last time I saw my official scores.
One thing though, Credit Karma links up with a lot of advertisers to bring you "AMAZING DEALS" and it will put your spam folder on overdrive. I averaged an additional 20 e-mails a day in my spam folder, and five that got through to my inbox when I signed up.
Again, it's an awesome service, but it ballparks your score so it's not 100 percent accurate and it will send you junkmail.
You're right that it's not 100%, but it's good enough for a free service. I've been using these guys just to see about where I'm at since 2008, and I haven't gotten any spam so....i dunno about that.
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