Credit Karma fined $3M by FTC for misleading consumers with credit card offers

Re:Credit Karma fined $3M by FTC for misleading consumers wi... by gnopgnip on Monday September 05, 2022 @04:01AM (#32721680)

The banks don't just look at your credit score. They want you to be able to repay, and to be able to collect if you default. A regular job in the US, or 2 years as an independent contractor or self employed would qualify you for an unsecured credit card without a cosigner at most banks and credit unions.

One trick if you have family that trusts you is to have them add you as an authorized user. Then their multiple year old account history for that account will be part of your credit, bringing up the average age

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Re:Credit Karma fined $3M by FTC for misleading consumers wi... by NavinF on Monday September 05, 2022 @04:17AM (#32721759)

> their multiple year old account history for that account will be part of your credit, bringing up the average age

Sorta. The most popular credit score (some version of FICO) ignores authorized user accounts so this doesn’t improve AAoA nor credit utilization. I guess too many people were taking advantage of this hack back in ~2012 lol.

I suspect it’s still useful for initializing a credit report so you don’t get stuck having to verify your identity/address and improves your odds with the bank’s internal risk assessment.

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Re:Credit Karma fined $3M by FTC for misleading consumers wi... by gnopgnip on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @06:26PM (#32744019)

Fair isaac 08 and other newer scores no longer factors in authorized users. But 2, 4, 5 are what federal law requires lenders use for mortgage approval for most loans, they haven't approved the newer scores yet. https://www.fhfa.gov/PolicyProgramsResearch/Policy/Pages/Cre...

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