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What Would Jesus Buy? A Nintendo Wii for His apostles' down time, me thinks. ›
$25,000 dessert? I bet it tastes like crap. ›
Coal miner. I'm speechless. And he's smoking. ›
Broken camera. Would you get yours fixed? ›
GlassBooth. Sorting through candidate positions broken down by category. Very cool tool. ›
Black-OPs bunny. This is just wrong. Gotta love the Internet. ›
Montecito residence. Beautiful lines, spacious interior, slightly Mad Max'ish (which can be a good thing). ›
An (obviously) old Iraqi banknote. Saddam seems to happy. ›
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The ghosts are here, at least in Thailand. Worth watching just for the weird factor alone. ›
"Do Not Call" violators seriously violated. Muahaha. ›
Qi Zhong Stadium in Shangai, hosting the Tennis Masters, opens up like a flower. Amazing! ›
Breaking down the history of Pentagram. Thank you Curtis. ›
"Why do so many companies risk destroying their design heritage - one of their most valuable assets?" Fear of risking being, oh, how do you say, unique? [do] ›
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Said elsewhere:
By month:
April 5, 2007
This is annoying. This shouldn’t be so difficult. There shouldn’t be so many obstacles to overcome. What am I, running a marathon? Something as simple as a credit score shouldn’t be so difficult to find.
But of course, it is.
In managing my assets and keeping on top of my finances it was time to check my credit score. “Ho-hum, this should take five minutes”, I said in a naive tone. That’s about as inaccurate as pig flying over a Miami sunset.
What I experienced is quite possibly the most poorly-designed, poorly-executed set of web sites and services I’ve ever seen. I felt completely blind throughout the process. It’s sad. Really sad. Being a designer, I’m looking for the path of least resistance in all forms of communication. Simple and engaging communication. Credit report services are neither of these.
Instead of venting further, I wanted to share my experience and what I learned. If anything, to have a reference point in getting your credit score in an easy manner.
First off, let me scream to the heavens: “You’re entitled to your credit report for free!” Don’t listen to anyone that tells you otherwise. Realize, however, that your credit report and credit score are two seperate entities. Sort of.
Your credit score is Mr. Big. It defines you and the degree of fairness you’ll receive when it comes to applying for credit cards, loans, mortgages, et cetera. In a world of capitalism, these three digits define you. Sucks, huh? There are numerous ways to raise and lower your score, but you’ll have to research those points yourself. Common sense plays a large role, though. No paying off your debt? Negative hits. No debt and paying your bills on time? Positive hits.
To get back on topic, your credit report is a map of your credit history. If your score defines you, your report details you. It’s essential in determining why you have such a low or high score. Mine was pretty overwhelming. It’s a lot of information to take in. However, once you break it down and research each item, everything becomes a lot more clear.
Okay then, with that covered, back to my original topic. Credit scores. My God they’re difficult to obtain. In fact, once you know where to look they’re incredibly easy to obtain (and practically free), but the road from A-to-Z can really blow.
I don’t quite understand why this is the way it is, but it is. There are three companies that record your credit score:
They each provide their own unique scores and reports. Why three? Don’t know. Why do the scores come out differently for each? Don’t know. Is it a pain in the ass? Most definitely.
The first thing you’ll notice when you visit each site, they’re all as confusing as a chess match upside-down, underwater, and blindfolded. Yes, this is an accurate depiction of how I felt while navigating around each site. What I really hate is the way they group reports and scores into all these bogus “specials”, which coincidentally will cost you a small payment each month. Now that’s what I call a doo-doo sandwhich. Don’t eat it.
It took me the awhile to even figure out how to get nothing more than my credit score. I don’t want a 3-1 Plan, a Report and Score Monthly Plan, Report Only Plan, 6-month Review Plan, none of that. I want my score. As a designer I was fairly disappointed in each web site and the way they provided (or lack thereof) of each service. I ended up having to call TransUnion simply to find out where to get my score, only. I ended up calling three different numbers, and each person had a thick Indian accent. Do I have a problem with India? Not in the least. Do I have a problem with countless automated phone services and mindless drones reading me excerpts from company help books? Yes.
Equifax told me at one point I had to send them a check, two copies of my driver’s license and a utility bill. Christ, it’s easier to get married.
All this misdirection, poor communication, and lack of support all help these companies make a profit off of our helplessness. All for a credit score.
So, here’s what you do…
Their main web site leaves much to be desired. The information is all there, but it’s rather muddled and too many options to “sign up for”. Yet you can get your credit score for free, except it’s on a totally different site.
Visit CreditExpert. They provide you a free one-month trial of…your credit score! Just remember to cancel your membership once you’ve written down those three simple numbers.
Cancel your membership quick. After the 30-day trial, they’ll automatically bill you 90 bucks. We don’t want that. Of course you have to dig a bit to even find where to cancel. Aggrivated me = poor design on them. Just call them up toll-free: 866-252-8811.
These guys can go suck a muffler. Poor web site design. Minimal information. Confusing. Numerous phone calling. Really don’t like these guys. Not to mention the fact that they gave me the lowest score. Boo!
Yet again, entirely different web site to obtain your score. Same drill. Sign up to get your score. This is a slightly weird process, though. After speaking with three seperate, non-helpful individuals, I somehow opened an account. I honestly don’t know how it happened. When you log in to your account it automatically takes you to a “Buy this product” page. Lovely. There is a link to view your credit score. Bingo. Nothing fancy (in fact quite ugly), but you get your digits.
I don’t think you have to worry about canceling your account right away, if at all, since you never actually purchase anything. I’ll probably kill my account in the next couple days. Don’t want that hanging out there in the breeze.
One more time, folks. Yet another web site to attend. This is my favorite out of all of them, thankfully. Free one-month trial for ScoreWatch (a fancy name for your credit score). Once you sign up, the navigation is superb. The account section is well designed and all your information is readily available. Extremely easy to find your score. They even offer some side benefits worth looking into during your 30-day trial. Namely, specific negative hits on your score.
Just like before, cancel it before your 30-day trial period. And as usual, no clear way to opt out on the site. Call ‘em: 800-319-4433
That’s about it, folks. While this isn’t specifically an article related to design, the mere fact that all this nonsense revolves around three companies that do not provide clear communication makes it design related.
Note: By all means, please contribute. This is based on research I did after a couple days. I’m sure there are even easier ways to do these things. God knows I’d love to hear ‘em. Thanks.
Blake said:
Josh: I can only base frustrations in the system on my own experience. And I had a helluva time figuring out how to get a simple credit score. I'm only now learning about credits scores and how they're effected. Not necessarily an aspect of my financial life I care to think about, but I figure if I don't rack up huge debt I'm in the clear.
CreditScore said:
It's funny how I found this site. I was frustrated after looking over the 3 major credit reporting companies. I clicked every link they had, yet only found services offering this and that, then this and that + this other thing, etc. I thought I would send them an email. Looking for an email address is like walking into a maze and making four left turns.
So, I decided to search online and ta da, I found this site. Why can't we just go to their site, click "Buy Your Credit Score" and that's it? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$...that's why!
Somebody Might Say:
Joshua Lane said:
About 5 or so years ago, I ended up getting the credit report from Equifax to see my credit history and what my actual credit score was. The process was actually pretty simple a straight-forward at the time (not sure how it is now). Funnily enough, I still get the occasional "buy our product" email from them.
I've also heard that each time you apply for a credit card/loan/etc and a credit check is run on you, there's a window of time where you can request a copy of that report, free of charge. I'm not sure how you go about getting that report, but it could be worth looking into... unless I'm completely wrong about it.