Having a solid credit score has been important for quite a while now, but it’s actually becoming more important these days as lending tightens up. There’s a reason that the Fair Isaac Corporation — the organization that calculates the credit score that most major lenders rely on — ha...

Just like I figured, the reason Experian won't sell you your FICO score anymore is because of a contract dispute with the Fair Issac corporation, and I'm guessing it has to do with the rollout of FICO '08 USA Today reports: Steven Wagner, president of consumer information services at Experian, says ...

Your credit score. It's amazing how one little score can have such an impact on our finances and how misunderstood that number can be. We'll debunk five common myths about it right here, right now. Myth: You have only one credit score. You actually have three scores, one from each of the three burea...

It looks like after March 1, 2009 quondam Washington Mutual cum Chase customers won't be able to get their FICO scores for free anymore through their bank. Those people in the picture look pretty excited about yet another WaMu feature being taken away. Woohoo, indeed. [Chase] (Thanks to Luke!)...

Do you want to be one of over eight million identity theft victims? No, but most of the services sold by "identity theft protection" companies you can get for free. Here's how. Identity theft protection companies love touting advertising statistics like "8.4 million adults were victims of identity t...

Filed under: Personal finance, Commodities, Housing, Recession, Financial Crisis This post is part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst in Money 2008 feature. Consumers took it in the chin so many times this year, it's surprising many of us are still standing. Consumer credit for student lo...

Did you know that when a company checks out your credit report, it can damage your credit score temporarily? It depends on if the inquiry is "hard" or "soft." Hard inquiries ding your score, soft don't. If you're going to get a mortgage or a car loan, a few points difference translates into a big ch...

After ordering my credit report, I found that there were two bills sent to collections in 2006. Upon further investigation, I discovered that these were for unpaid cable bills and cable equipment that was never returned by my old roommates after I moved out--what do I do? My credit report lists two ...

This article was syndicated from: Wealth Junkies The Real Credit Crunch: Is Your Credit Score Suffering? Banks and lenders are working hard to cover their own tails. They’re reducing credit limits even for reliable customers on everything from HELOCs to credit cards — even on customers with ...

And maybe a Congress that gives a damn....