TransUnion Credit Score: How to get your TransUnion Credit Score

TransUnion Credit Score is one of the many scoring models used by businesses in lending money to customers. The TransUnion credit score is used to evaluate a persons creditworthiness. Your credit score is an indicator of your creditworthiness. The Transunion Credit Score is solely based on an TransUnion Credit Score model and it differs in some ways from other scoring models such as Transunion, Experian or FICO scoring model. Although each of these companies use most of the same evaluating parameters such as persons length of credit history, type of credit, revolving account, payment history, etc.

The above stated factors are available in your credit report, lenders and creditors use credit report information to calculate your credit score to get an insight to your creditworthiness. The score evaluation tells them how risky you pose to them , if they do decide to give you credit. The higher credit score you have, the chances of getting good credit at lower interest rate are high. With higher credit score you pose low risk to lenders. Let's first understand what is a Credit Score. 

What is a TransUnion Credit Score

Now we know why credit score is important and for what purpose it is used by lenders and businesses. The next thing to know is what is the scoring range and at each level of scoring range what it means to a consumer. The credit score range is from 300 to 850 (no-credit to excellent credit).

The TransUnion Credit Score is based on a proprietary TransUnion Credit Scoring model and is not the same as scoring model used by other credit bureaus.

This three digit credit number has become an important tool for lenders for credit analysis and for consumers it holds a personal report card. Even though each of three credit company use FICO mathematical scoring model and yet there scores differ from each other. This is due to additional checks and balances are applied to scoring model. You will always see some difference in few points between credit score from three  credit bureaus.

How is TransUnion Credit Score Calculated

The TransUnion credit score is calculated based on many factors that provide information on a consumer file. The factors which are used for mathematical calculations are length of credit history, type of credit accounts, Balance on accounts, available credit, payment history, any negative comments on consumer file and how many inquires are there on consumer file. Each of these factors is assigned a numerical value, and then weighted based on how prominently they affect your credit worthiness. More details information on credit score calculation is given below in Credit score table.

How am I responsible for my Credit Score

The credit score you are awarded by credit bureaus is based on your credit actions. How you take credit, how you pay and how you manage your credit. Any of these actions on negative or positive side impact your score and bring your score up or down. You can improve credit score at every level even when you are in good, bad or excellent credit score range. Of course building credit score at low score is multi-step process and time consuming but eventually with meticulous planning you will be able to fix your credit score. Read more on 'How to get your TransUnion Credit Score' and what factors impact your credit score calculation.

Important Credit Score Questions

Credit Score Questions	Credit Score Answers
What is a Credit Score	A numerical three digit number derived from Credit scoring model based on various factors by using credit report of a consumer.
What is a Credit Score Range	The credit score range of a Credit score is between 300 points to 850 points.
Excellent Credit Score	Credit Score from 720 to 850 - This is the range where everyone's credit score should be to avail low interest loans, good mortgage loan, premium credit cards etc.
Good Credit Score	Credit Sore from 679 to 719 - Although it keeps you out from premium deals but still good to attract lenders for good credit card offers and mortgage loans on reasonable loan rates.
Average Credit Score	Credit Score from 620 to 679 -  It gets harder when you are financing from private lenders, still you may get few deals in this range. Although creditors have designed lending programs for each of the score range and they differ on terms and conditions and the interest they carry.
Bad Credit Score	Credit Score from  up to 579 - If your credit score is below 579, that is not a good news. The financing options become narrow and the ones, which are available come with very high interest rates and penalties. This is the time to religiously look for credit repair help and rebuild your credit score.
No Credit Score	Your consumer file is not opened at credit bureaus. Mostly in the case of children and students.
TransUnion Credit Bureau	Trans Union - Consumer Disclosure Center Address: P.O. Box 1000 City: Chester, PA 19022 Trans Union Web Address Contact Number: (800) 916-8800 or (800) 888-4213
FICO	The Fair Issac company introduced FICO score in the year 1989. FICO score is used by banks, lenders and business for granting loans and credit to consumers.
Structure of FICO Score	Payment History: 35% : This is the major factor, which impacts your credit score. The Payment history covers information related to many factors Good Factors Payment history without any interruption Payments on multiple account Payment types Bad Factors Late payments Defaults Judgments Settlements Liens Bankruptcies Debt on accounts: 30% : This is about how much and what types of debt balance you carry. The type of debt, balance limits, mode of payments and the amount being paid one ach of these account. Length of Credit history: 15% :This is about how long is your credit history, the scoring model also looks at the accounts you have and how old they are. Inquires: 10% This is about the credit request you make with lenders and the decisions you get from lenders. The request you make at lenders for credit and in turn they make inquiry on your credit history or to check your credit score at credit bureaus is considered as hard inquiry and impacts your credit score.
Credit Scoring Factors	Type of credit accounts you have Number of accounts you have Available credit Balance on your credit accounts Length of your credit history length of payment history Note: Each of these factors carry a numerical number based on scoring evaluation and is used and weighted on credit risk index to evaluate consumers creditworthiness.

How can I check my TransUnion Credit Score

The checking your credit score on Transunion credit website is easy. You can check individual Transunion credit score or 3-in-1 credit score bundled in one package. The TransUnion free credit score and report is only for $1, when you sign up for monthly subscription. The trial period is for seven days and thereafter $17.99 is monthly fee for accessing your credit score and TransUnion credit report. The online access to TransUnion also comes with other features such as fraud alert, identity theft protection, credit report monitoring etc.

Please note the price and the product structure explained in this post may change in future, for more latest pricing, products and  how to get your TransUnion Credit Score, please visit official TransUnion website.

CreditRepair.com Review - Credit Repair services

CreditRepair.com - Credit Repair Services

Honestly, looking at the ads, emails and mailers I receive for improving credit score or for credit repair services, I often smell scam out of it. There ads so good to be true, 100 points increase in 30 days, surety about improving credit score from bad to good in just few weeks.

I recommend visiting FTC webpage for educating yourself on what are the signs of a Credit Repair Scam.



However to be fair about the companies which are in credit repair business and are transparent about there work and promise they make to users, I plan to review few companies.

In my series of reviewing credit repair companies , today, I will be reviewing CreditRepair.com company for Credit Repair services. My review process will be based upon site design, site navigation, transparency on product services, BBB rating and details, on site customer reviews, complaints and comments on internet about their services.

CreditRepair.com Credit Repair Services - Company Review

www.creditrepair.com- Company history, Product Services, Faqs, Contact Information, and Leadership involved
Type	Description
Origin (Founded)	Not known
Industry	Consumer Report Repair
Company status	Private
Address	600 Stewart St STE 1100,Seattle, WA 98101-1269
Phone	1-855-255-0263
CreditRepair.com Services	Credit Repair and consumer services Credit Repair items removed and worked by CreditRepair.com Collections --- Late Payments --- Charge Offs Liens --- Bankruptcies --- Repossessions Foreclosures --- Judgments
Leadership	Not available
How it Works	Three step Check, Challenge and Remove process - CreditRepair.com
Credit Repair Plans	$89to start
Plan Cancellation	You can cancel plan at any time with no obligation
Accessing Credit Reports	In order to access credit reports, CreditRepair.com requires you to provide them three credit bureau reports.
Service breakup	Step 1: Account Setup:- Company claims they instantly pull credit reports and let you identify the errors you want to correct. This sets the game plan. Step 2: Challenge:- Working with credit companies and information credit bureaus is the next step. Step 3: Change:- Monitor your changes. Note: I would like creditrepair.com to put more content on website to let users know process in details.
Navigation	The site navigation is good.
Secure site	I reviewed there internet site address, which starts with https, hence effort has been made to make this site as secure.
Account setup	$89 to start with.
Better Business Bureau(BBB) rating	A+
BBB Review	48 complaints closed with BBB in last 3 years | 34 closed in last 12 months  Read more on BBB
Internet Reviews	An old review from 2012  Better Business Bureau review

 CreditRepair.com Better Business Bureau Ratings

One of the newest kid on block. CreditRepair.com is in credit repair business form last few years providing credit repair services to hundreds of customers in America.  The firm definitely is legitimate business and has good BBB rating of A+.  After reviewing BBB web page for creditrepair.com, The current rating is "A+" and there are few customers reviews and complaints. Most of those  issues reported have been resolved.  The credit repair is slow process and to remove each wrong information or fixed errors in each credit bureau cycle it takes 30 days or more.

More on CreditRepair.com

It is a legitimate business and have reasonable good feedback from customers about fixing credit report. However I recommended reading their 'how it works' page and understanding  how there process works.


I would like to add CreditRepair.com customer reviews on my blog, if you have used Creditrepair.com Credit Repair services , please do send me your experience or comment on my blog.


Read more on CreditRepair.com - Credit Repair services

How to build a Good Credit Score

I wish we had quick remedy to fix credit score or improve credit score. There is no secret sauce to build a good credit score. It is a step by step process to monitor your credit report and look for the factors which have impacted your credit rating and start improving them methodically. Credit management gurus have often said again and again that best advice to improving credit score is to manage credit responsibly and over the time credit score will improve. However here are few important guidelines on "how to build a good credit score'.

Access and monitor Credit Report

The first step towards improving the credit score is to access your credit report for the details you want to verify and correct. Although you can access your credit report from credit bureaus but it will cost you few dollars. You can access credit report from credit bureaus operating in America. The three credit bureaus documenting consumer information are (Transunion(www.tranunion.com), Equifax(www.equifax.com) and Experian(www.experian.com)). Accessing credit report directly from these credit bureaus will cost you few dollars.


There is one more option to get your credit report absolutely free. The Annual credit report site set up by the big three credit reporting agencies in the United States, to furnish free annual credit reports, as required by federal law. The law provides help to consumers to download free credit report once a year from each of these three credit bureaus.


My personal strategy is to use free credit reports one bureau per quarter, that way I can get more updated reports in next three quarters. However if you are looking for a big loan or you are in middle of improving credit score than downloading all three reports will be a better option. Sometimes there discrepancies between credit bureaus and you don't want to take chance to leave anything behind without credit repair. Get your free credit report from Annual Credit Report.

Monitor and understand your credit report

Now you have credit report in front of you the next step is to understand the structure of report. The information to look for -      - Read through your personal information. How your identifiable information is documented such as name, address, phone numbers.

     - Carefully read your accounts (bank, credit cards), do they match with the credit account you have opened.

     - Check for payment status, do you see any late payments 30, 60 day etc. IF hey don't belong to you it is time to create dispute ticket with credit bureaus and have them removed.

     - What is your debit ratio? This is equation between the credit available to you and the balance you carry on each account. The more lower balance and good available credit on each account helps to raise credit score.

     - Look for any collection accounts, you may have paid those bills but information is still on your consumer file. Raise ticket with credit bureaus and have them remove it from your file.

     - If you have small balances on few credit cards, it may be better strategy to have them paid off and then use couple of credit cards with good low interest rate. Consolidating balance to few cards helps.

     - Look for old derogatory information on file. the old collection accounts, missed payments or late payments can stay only for seven years. If they are old accounts and passed seven year mark then it is time to have them removed from your file.

Setting up payment alerts

You will be surprised many of the consumers simply miss payments or pay late credit card bill because they forget to pay on time. Isn't that a sorry state? Regardless of any reasons you may have for paying late bills or missing payments a strategy to have payment reminder setting on your smart phone, online bill payment or on thing's to do chart plastered on your fridge is a very useful tip. Paying credit cards bills on time specially before due date will help you to improve credit score.

Consolidating Card balance

I already mentioned paying off small balances on cards and then using couple of cards with low interest rate is way to go .

Keeping old good installment or paid debt accounts

Having old installment or paid debt account such as auto, small loans actually gives comfort to creditors and kind of acts as good credit report. It sends positive signal to lenders that you are committed and sincere in paying off the debt. Having good old account them on credit report is absolutely fine.

Making multiple loan request

As long lenders make inquires without your approval and pull your credit report to analyze for credit offer, it doesn't affect your credit report. These type of inquires are considered as soft inquiries.
When you apply to lenders and  any denied credit request actually brings your credit score by few points. hence it is important to access your credit report and understand your placement of creditworthiness based on credit score. This will dictate how much credit you can get.

On time Payments

Paying on time, before due date, and paying more than minimum payment is sure process to improve credit score.

Watch for missed or late payments

Having missed payments or late payments is not the end of everything. Looking at your mistake talking to lenders and bringing your account to current is first step. Sometime lenders will help you to forgo the past payments or put you on low monthly installment program to get you back on track. Making sure going forward you pay bills on time,  before due date and paying more than the required minimum payments is sure way to improve credit score.

Type of Credit

Having mix of credit accounts helps in some cases such as mixing auto, credit, debit and retail accounts. it shows wide variety of account and the length of payment history on these accounts.

Retail accounts to raise available credit

Retails cards are good to shop at individual stores and get big discounts they offer. There is one more reason to have them. Recently, I got retail cards from North storm ($10,000), Macys ($4,000), and old navy ($2000). My intention is to keep available credit to lower my debit to ratio. (Note - On some retail cards if you purchase out side of store items you will be charged with a higher interest rate. For example on my north Strom credit card I get charge with x percent on in-store purchases and on other purchases I get charged with a higher rate. )

Credit score improving links

Finally, few credit improving links, where you can get information in details and proven ways on 'how to build a good credit score.'

• Credit score A, B C and Z at FICO
• Improve trick at Experian credit bureau.
• CreditKarma not only gives you tips to improve credit score but also provides you free credit report. Visit creditKarma.
• Information at Equifax Credit Score . Equifax
• Information at Transunion - What matters most. Transunion.
• Free credit reports at Annual Credit Reports





I appreciate your feedback and if you like to add useful credit links, ping me. Thanks in advance.

Credit Karma Review - How to get free Credit Score and free Credit Report

Well, let me be honest, I had never heard of getting free credit score or free credit report other than getting a free credit report from Annualcreditreport.com, which is a consortium of three credit bureaus. In order to give fair review I wanted to try myself as a customer and check facts about their free credit score ad free credit report.

The Credit Karma's enrollment is three step process. In first step customer is asked to enter login credentials, which completes the account creation process. In second step you enter full details such as name, address, phone and last 4 of your social security number. Finally in last step you confirm your identity and access to your credit score and credit report is immediately available for viewing.

Credit Karma three step enrollment screen

Now if you are following my blog post, you will notice that I have not been asked so far to enter my credit card number. This proves Credit Karma does provide free credit score and free credit report to their customers. Now the question is which credit score, and what credit report they provide to customers?




Now it turns out Credit Karma is in business partnership with Transunion one of three credit bureaus to provide credit score and the consumer files for customers. In essence whatever is reported on Transunion credit file will be shared with you and the credit score awarded is also shared with customers.








once I had access to my account, I could see credit score and credit report with details on my personal information, credit card account details and the loans I had taken in past. Credit Karma along with free Transunion credit score also provides the addition scores such as Vintage score, Auto insurance score, and Home insurance score. Out of these scores Vintage score is new scoring model used by three credit bureaus for consistency and accuracy and rest two scoring models are industry specific.


Not only there credit report and credit score is free but also you get access to report for indefinite period. Now the question is how do Credit Karma make money by giving free credit report and credit score to customers. They make money from the commission they receive form third party companies, business partners who offer legal, debt consolidation, loans and other financial services to their customers.


Overall I consider this as good thing to happen for consumers. First they are getting free credit score, free credit report from Credit Karma. Secondly they don't have to pay them for accessing credit report. In addition to this customers have access to their knowledge repository and credit help line. After reading reviews on there site I was satisfied and was sure this is a definitely a legitimate business and has come up out if the box idea to help and educate consumers on credit, lending, and credit management ways.