I just spoke with my mortgage broker, who informed me that my credit score is 776. :) Which is a lot better than the 724 I pulled back in January. That's the good news - my awesome new credit score.
The bad news? As a young, single-income, first-time home buyer who makes less than the median income in Vancouver, I'm basically priced out of anything. My mortgage broker's words, not mine. Basically, she said that with my perfect credit and without any debt, I would get pre-approval in the blink of an eye. That being said, the maximum purchase price I can afford by myself is $230,000 with a 30-year mortgage, and a 5-year fixed rate of 5.54%.
Granted, the properties I've been looking at have been in the $205-220k range ... so I would still be okay ... but damn. I'm so far from where I want to be in terms of financial footing.
WTF! It's been 10 months since I've checked my credit score. Last March, it was 727 ... so how is it possible that it's now 724!? RIDICULOUS!
I have no new credit, no balances on any cards, no new credit inquiries (hard hits), and I'm now completely out of debt.
There's an error on my credit report though - it said that I had a 30-day late payment in May 2007 for a CitiFinancial credit card ... even though I closed that account (and it's listed as closed on the report) back in 2005. It's odd. I haven't even used that card since 2004. I'll have to dispute it.
But did that one error really affect my score that much? I'm really angry. Not that I think I'll need my credit score anytime soon ... but what if this fall, I find a perfect little condo that I want to buy? What then? You never know when your credit score is going to come back and bite you in the butt. And I know my score is okay, but it just doesn't make any sense at all. I've followed all the rules, and I was really hoping to get rewarded for all my hard work.
Hopefully once this blemish is corrected, my score will go back up. I'll check again in 6 months.
Also, for those Canadians out there who want a way to check your credit score for free (I haven't done this yet, but know that it works), please refer to a previous post I wrote last year, called Finally, a way to see your credit score for free.
So Employment Services called me yesterday afternoon. After asking me some ridiculous questions, she said she would have to contact my previous employers to verify everything that I had said was correct. She didn't know how long that would take, so she wasn't sure when my claim would be finalized. I really really hope this gets done by the end of the week.
I got a call from Shaw Cable today, and signed up for high-speed internet and basic cable for about $60/month. Plus, there's a promotion going on where I get a free modem. I'm happy with that ... and after reading all of your responses about whether you have cable or not, I think I'm going to keep my cable. I want to keep my entertainment costs to a minimum here, so if I can catch the game at home, that saves me from going out to a pub, or taking public transportation over to J's. They are coming to do the install on Monday after 6pm, which is super convenient because Monday will be my first day in my new place.
Also, I really really want to check my credit score. I haven't checked since last March when it was 727, but I'm scared. For some reason I feel like my score is going to disappoint me. But it's not like it can be worse than 727, right? When I last checked, I was still in debt. Now I'm not. And I haven't applied for any new credit, so it only makes sense that my score would be better. Hmm.
... but only if you're Canadian. And have a PC Financial Mastercard.
Maybe I've been out of the loop for a while, or maybe I didn't research hard enough, but I just found out that through my PC Financial Mastercard, they are offering a 30-day trial called Credit Alert where I can view my credit score & report (and have my credit files monitored every business days at both Equifax and Trans Union). After the trial, it's $14.99/month ... so as long as I remember to cancel my subscription to it before the 30 days are up, it looks like I'd be good to go!
I know that some of my PF friends in the U.S. were talking about a 30-day trial membership to monitor their scores, so I'm really glad Canadians have the opportunity to do the same as well.
I think I'm going to try this out in the fall, because I just recently checked my credit score. And while I'm dying to know what it is now, I doubt it's changed all that much in the course of 3 months. Plus, it's not like I'm going to need to start really monitoring my credit score for at least another year. Just as long as I pay all my bills on time, and don't open/close any accounts, my number should only go up from here.
I know this kinda sounds like a sponsored post, but it's not. I just really really like PC Financial, and all of the services they have to offer. I always recommend that people switch from their banks over to PC for free unlimited transactions with their chequing accounts, free cheques, as well as a 4% interest rate on their Interest Plus savings account. I just wish their GIC rates were comparable to those of Outlook Financial ... and I also wish they had a referral program like ING does, so I can make some $$ for all the free advertising I'm giving them ... but no bank is perfect, I guess. :)
So what are you waiting for? Go switch!
A recent reader made this comment:
ps said...Is this true? I thought the only way a chequing account would impact my credit negatively is if I had a bunch of overdraft on the account, or if I had bounced a cheque ... at least that's what I've been reading after Googling the heck out of it before I came to post on my blog. But after reading the comment, now I'm scared that I've closed an account that I've had open for over 20 years. Because anyone can open a chequing account, right? My mom opened it for me when I was just a baby.
If you have already closed your TD chequing account, then well, end of story. If you haven't, then don't, if you possibly can. The reason is that since you have had the TD account for so long, it is reflected in your credit score. If you close down your older financial association, you might hurt your credit score or so I've heard. You can find a lot more info on bankrate.com
It's not like I can do anything about it now since the account is definitely closed, but for future reference, I should probably know for certain what the answer is.
So, since I've decided to try and not spend money until the end of the month (except for necessities like groceries, gas, bills), I realize that this is going to be harder than I thought. I have three separate coffee dates with three of my very best friends coming up, so how can I avoid that? Maybe I'll suggest getting the coffee "to go" so we can walk around the water, and just bring a water bottle instead. But that'll only work if it's nice out.
I also lent a co-worker $1 yesterday. Does that count as spending? I don't expect to get the money back, and technically I didn't spend it ... but I'm $1 poorer as a result. I guess I should just pretend that it doesn't count, otherwise my NO SPENDING CHALLENGE will have ended on the first day, and that's just sad.
And speaking of spending, does everyone have to pay money to see their credit score? I paid back in March when I wanted to see mine, but I don't want to be a chump and spend the money again if I can just see it for free somewhere, or even pay a certain amount and see all 3 ... I think in the USA they have an option to monitor their credit score, but I have yet to see something like that for Canadians. I don't mind paying money to see my credit score, but when I'm paying something like $15 for just a one-time score with one of the three companies, it seems like a raw deal.
Well I decided to take the plunge and check out my credit score on Equifax. Since I'm looking to buy property in the next year, I want to be able to give myself enough time to fix any errors I find on my report, as well as boost my score. It's not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it's also not that great either. Okay, so it's 727. There, I said it. It's out in the open for the whole blogging world to see. Not that a lot of people read this blog, but you know what I mean. Anyway, I've noticed some errors in my report ... a few accounts that have been paid off, some closed accounts that still say they're open. I'll have to find my documentation and send it in so I can get that junk off. I think that once I finish paying off my student loans, and not apply for anymore credit, I'll be fine. 727 isn't bad, is it? I mean, I know it's not great, but it's not exactly a double digit number.
But as for my accounts that have been paid off and I don't use anymore, should I close them? One of them is a joint account that my dad helped me set up, and I really want to close that one off since I haven't even used it in like 3 years. But it's also my oldest account, so I'm not sure. I think I'm going to spend some time today researching up on credit scores, because I don't want to do anything that could affect my score in a negative way.
In other news, I'm finally going to see my accountant on Friday to file my taxes. I'm hoping that since I have a bunch of unused education credits from previous years, and I'm writing off a bunch of business expenses, that I get a good sized refund. I should, since I was still in school last year, but you never know!
