'Core Score' Digs Deeper Into Your Credit History
BOSTON (CBS) - Your credit score is the key to borrowing money.
Whether you need a mortgage or you are buying a new car, that number will dictate how much you will get and what your interest rate will be.
Now, there is a new kind of credit report called a core score and it digs much deeper into your history.
It looks at things like rental applications and evictions, pay day loans, even utility payments.
The new score is intended to give lenders a better idea of who is asking for the money and their ability to repay the loan.
WBZ-TV's Paula Ebben reports.
So where do they get all this information?
According to credit expert John Ulzheimer, it all comes from the public records system.
"Traditionally credit reports only pulled three types of public records; bankruptcy, tax liens and judgments," he said.
Now they are looking for all kinds of additional information.
Core Logic, the company which provides the numbers, would not go on camera, but in a written statement said: "Borrowers who would typically have insufficient credit history in traditional credit reports could now have some new opportunities."
Ulzheimer agrees. "The addition of this type of non-traditional information is going to help some people have a credit report who have never had a credit report before," he said.
But Chi Chi Wu, attorney with the National Consumer Law Center in Boston is concerned about people who have a legitimate reason not to pay a bill.
"If there are mice running around, if you don't have any hot water, you're allowed to not pay rent under certain jurisdictions," she said.
"Is the new credit report going to reflect that?"
Ulzheimer still believes the new reports will help both lenders and consumers.
"Now consumers who deserve the credit are going to get it. Those who deserve it at competitive terms are going to get competitive terms and those who frankly don't need to be saddled with that type of debt are going to be denied," he said.
Just like the traditional credit bureaus, you should check your Core Score for errors.
Core Logic allows consumers one free credit report every year.
