3 ms·

> It’s not an equivalent system if borrowers can just conveniently forget to mention the other loans they didn’t repay Which is, of course, what we currently h

> It’s not an equivalent system if borrowers can just conveniently forget to mention the other loans they didn’t repay Which is, of course, what we currently have, except it's the businesses who are able to "conveniently forget to mention" instead of the borrowers. I pay myriad bills on time and in full every month, but only three of them--all loans--report my positive payment history to credit bureaus. Yet all of them, from mobile phone providers to landlords to utilities to insurance companies, insisted on being able to look at that payment history. They get the benefit of being able to evaluate me on an incomplete set of data; why shouldn't I get the return? (The answer as always is that we don't have any leverage. Simply saying "well, then don't use those companies" is a non-answer when every company does it the same way and all of them lobby government to keep it that way.)

willcipriano 4y ago
Many places will report a debt to collections but not also send in data that you've been making regular payments.
gruez 4y ago
>Which is, of course, what we currently have, except it's the businesses who are able to "conveniently forget to mention" instead of the borrowers. >I pay myriad bills on time and in full every month, but only three of them--all loans--report my positive payment history to credit bureaus Okay, but the reason for that seems to be due to practicality reasons rather than some sort of concerted effort to oppress consumers. The types of accounts that do get reported to credit agencies (off the top of my head: credit cards, student/car/personal loans, mortgages) have one thing in common: they all have high dollar amounts in at least one of: monthly payment, total owed, and available credit. Being able to stay on top of payments and/or not get into debt spiral provides a much stronger signal about your credit worthiness than you being able to afford the $100/month electric bill. Therefore, bills typically don't get reported, and presumably that's factored in the credit models. After all, the bills that you mention are mostly mandatory (eg. utilities), so it's reasonable to assume that if you don't have any such bills sent to collection, that you got those bills and paid them on time for all of your adult life.

willcipriano 4y ago

Many places will report a debt to collections but not also send in data that you've been making regular payments.

gruez 4y ago

>Which is, of course, what we currently have, except it's the businesses who are able to "conveniently forget to mention" instead of the borrowers. >I pay myriad bills on time and in full every month, but only three of them--all loans--report my positive payment history to credit bureaus Okay, but the reason for that seems to be due to practicality reasons rather than some sort of concerted effort to oppress consumers. The types of accounts that do get reported to credit agencies (off the top of my head: credit cards, student/car/personal loans, mortgages) have one thing in common: they all have high dollar amounts in at least one of: monthly payment, total owed, and available credit. Being able to stay on top of payments and/or not get into debt spiral provides a much stronger signal about your credit worthiness than you being able to afford the $100/month electric bill. Therefore, bills typically don't get reported, and presumably that's factored in the credit models. After all, the bills that you mention are mostly mandatory (eg. utilities), so it's reasonable to assume that if you don't have any such bills sent to collection, that you got those bills and paid them on time for all of your adult life.