How To Read Your Credit Report: Fill & Download for Free

I read all the reports to determine the severity of the claims. I have worked in banks other than Wells Fargo and have known that there has always been cheating among employees when variable pay is involved. At times, the Sales Rep is just doing something dishonest like classifying the source of funds as new money rather then transferred or rollover from existing account.The identified problem at Wells Fargo was classified a cross-sell scam. This means that employees were padding sales quota by mining existing customer lists to open additional unauthorized accounts for same said existing customers. Likely, you should not expect to have been victimized if you did not already have an account with Wells Fargo. They already had your private data.The majority of accounts opened were unwanted Checking accounts and credit cards. Probably some add-on features like Overdraft protection. At times, the accounts were opened as internet accounts with less authorized signature or additional Identification requirements with the reps registering bogus email accounts on platforms like gmail. Accounts might have been opened paperless with these email accounts so customers did not receive immediate or regular statements.Since account opening was only monitored on the front end, Many Sales Reps did eventually try to cover up additional checking accounts by closing them in less than 3 months. Customers mostly became aware of fraudulently opened accounts when accounts were not closed and charged low balance fees and sent notifications. The knee-jerk reaction by Wells Fargo would have been to deny these complaints for refunds since the idea that their staff was doing something unauthorized was incredulous to them.Only after a number of complaints was the fraudulent activity detected. You would have to look at your credit report to determine if a credit card was opened in your name without you current valid address but using your social security number.

Here is how you open millions of fake accounts:Extra accounts for employees. On a slow day at the branch, bankers would open new accounts for other bankers, tellers, and managers within the same branch. Obviously the employees were aware of the account openings. I saw some employees had 100+ accounts in their name (many joint accounts too).Extra accounts for family members and friends of employees. Just like with #1, these accounts were opened on slow days to top off or even out a banker’s daily sales. Family members were somewhat aware of this activity. However, these accounts were different from #1 because they were harvested specifically for the marketing campaign called, “Jump into January.” This marketing campaign meant that every January managers were expected to deliver double sales: meaning 20 solutions per day per banker.Solution: Wells Fargo’s term for a sale of a deposit product or booking of a credit product.Important point: Because bankers only earned solutions for an approved loan/line/credit card, bankers focused far more time and energy towards opening deposit products like checking accounts, savings accounts, and debit cards. Wells Fargo’s sales goals did not reward bankers for submitting credit applications, only approvals. Time spent applying customers for credit products was not guaranteed to lead to a “solution.” Deposit products were guaranteed sales.Managers encouraged employees to meet this 20 solution expectation by recording names, addresses, and social security numbers of family members and friends. Employees would collect this information in the fall and then “sandbag”* those family and friend applications until January. Once the personal details of family members were input into the system, future fake accounts could be opened on slow days in the future.*Sandbag = to wait to record a sale until a desired time period.Identity theft: changing addresses, statement preferences, and email addresses to prevent the real person from receiving any normal notification. Example: a customer with only a mortgage at Wells Fargo can get a checking account for ‘free’ (no monthly maintenance fee). Bankers could open new accounts for these customers and have the e-statements sent to a fake email address. The customer wouldn’t notice until the mortgage was paid off or refinanced - and the banker would be long gone by then.Tying products together. Customers with good credit history received credit card offers frequently. Wells Fargo expected bankers to convert 35% of all credit card offers. When bankers were unable to meet the expected conversion rate, they resorted to telling customers that their new account “came” with a rewards card. Seniors were particularly targeted with illegal tying tactics - often they did not understand what a credit card was, that it required monthly payments, and that it was not required with their account. Some seniors and other customers undoubtedly had years of diligent credit building undone.Revolving door of accounts for existing customers. A new account had to be funded and open for at least 3 months before a banker would receive full credit (accounts closed within that 3 months would be retroactively subtracted from the banker’s total account openings. Monthly maintenance fees were not assessed for the first 3 months. As long as the banker diligently closed the accounts after 90 days, no fees would be assessed.) After the minimum 3 months, bankers would close the account promptly and transfer the funds to a different account. After 6 months from the original opening date, the closed account could be re-opened and the banker would receive full credit for a new account.Customers who signed up at work events. Wells Fargo strongly pressured bankers to arrange ‘break-room’ style meetings with employees of businesses who banked with Wells Fargo. Bankers would go to the break room of a business during lunch and sign up employees for ‘free’ checking accounts on paper applications. These meetings were too brief and never really offered the new customers a chance to understand the accounts. Many employees were not entirely fluent in English and thought the bank account was a condition of their employment - so they signed up and never complained or followed up.Promoting employees who were highly adept at these behaviors. Wells Fargo’s retail division only cared about the net results and promoted managers who could ‘hit the numbers’ in any way possible. These promotions helped to spread the illegal practices from their origin in Southern California to the entire company, nationwide.Retaliating against anyone who spoke out against these practices. When employees called the EthicsLine or HR at Wells Fargo, they were under the impression that they were protected by anonymity. However, HR and the EthicsLine took the complaint and forwarded it to the Division manager (one manager above the branch manager) along with identifying the employee. Meetings, dirty looks, and termination followed.High employee turnover prevented any accumulation of knowledge about anything- except how to hit the numbers to prevent termination. My region had 100% employee turnover every 6–9 months. Combining the high turnover with #8 effectively kept any groups of employees from joining together to report or stop these behaviors.Customers who trusted, but didn’t verify. Big Banks aren’t any different that your cable company. They may employ a trustworthy person, but their culture and products are rotten. Customers should read their statements carefully and watch their balances.Don’t believe the simple narrative that the customer was primarily to blame.

Short answer: no.Slightly longer answer: HELL no!Mattress retailers (and others) often provide “90 days, same as cash!” financing. If you pay the balance in full within that time, you’ll pay no interest. Few people do—so interest accrues retroactively from the day of purchase.When a retailer offers financing, it is a revolving account—a credit card with a high interest rate. What’s more, the credit limit will typically be for the purchase amount, so your shiny new Mattress Company credit card starts with a 100% credit utilization. That could cost you 50 points on your credit score.You should know a few things about credit scoring. Uncle Joe is here to help, so buckle up.First thing to know: your 755 score is just fine. Your credit report doesn’t have any recent late payments (probably none at all), you have a few established accounts, and your credit card balances aren’t out of hand. Your credit score is more than adequate for the best credit offers available.Second: When you look at a credit report containing your FICO scores, you’ll see a notation about “Amounts Owed.” This refers to credit utilization, which is the percentage of your credit limit outstanding on each credit card you carry. It covers only revolving debt (credit cards), not installment loans like car loans or student loans. Paying off a car loan will not improve your FICO score. Credit utilization comprises 30% of your FICO score. It is second only to your payment history, which makes up 35%.When the balance on any credit card exceeds about 30% of the credit limit, your scores take a significant hit. You’ll lose points even with 15%-20%, but far fewer than if you exceed 30%.Card issuers send balances to the credit bureaus at about the same time they send out monthly statements. Even if you pay your statement balance in full each month to avoid having to pay interest (best practice), the balance reported will be the one that affects your scores. If you have a balance of $1,500 on a card with a $3,000 limit, your utilization is 50%—even if you pay the balance in full. If you are trying to squeeze every last point in your score, pay the balance before getting the statement. The card issuers’ reporting schedule is the reason to pay attention to the next point.Request regular increases in your credit limit on every card you have. If you regularly spend $1,500 on your preferred card and pay it off each month, getting the limit increased to $15,000 means that your utilization will be 10% rather than 50% in the earlier example. Higher credit limits (along with low balances) lead to higher credit scores.If you have just one or two credit cards, you have “thin credit.” You can gain some points by beefing up your credit profile. Build up your “portfolio” to at least four active credit cards. Use them regularly and pay them off in full each month to avoid interest charges.There is no scoring benefit to carrying a balance on credit cards. None. Zero. Pay them off each month.You can gain some points by adding different types of credit—but don’t go into debt (or keep debt you can pay off) just to “build credit.” Your credit “mix” comprises just 10% of your FICO score. If you have a car loan or mortgage in addition to three or four active credit cards, you may pick up 10–15 points. But if you have a decent score—and you do—ask yourself why you’d want to pay money to get it higher.Here is how you can optimize your credit scores:Honor your financial obligations every time. Be fanatical about it.Maintain at least four active credit cards. Use them regularly and pay the balance in full each month.Request credit limit increases regularly. Using the cards often increases the likelihood that the card issuer will approve your request. I have been turned down for an increase only once. It was for a Capital One card I have had for 20 years and use infrequently. The limit is $6,200. They turned me down because I don’t use it enough to justify an increase. I have no problem with that reasoning, as many of my other cards have limits of $25,000 or more.Don’t close credit card accounts without a very good reason, such as a high annual fee. The age of your credit is the third-most important factor in your FICO scores, at 15%. A ten-year-old card in good standing is worth a dozen points or more.Finally, don’t stress about your scores. I keep an eye on mine through Credit Karma, although they don’t provide a FICO score—it’s Vantage, which is similar. I am not aware of any creditors who use Vantage instead of FICO. Still, Credit Karma is a good (and free) way to track your credit’s trajectory and get alerts of your credit profile changes. They also provide data only from TransUnion and Equifax, not Experian. Many banks and card issuers offer a real FICO score from one bureau. My Wells Fargo and Chase cards both send my FICO score from Experian.My scores fluctuate between 825 and 850. I have twelve active credit cards. I use two of them for most transactions but use the others often enough to keep them active. My oldest card is about 25 years old. The newest is two months old—a gas card I got for the discounts. My primary cards have limits over $25,000. My aggregate credit availability is north of $100,000. I pay the cards in full every month. I seldom carry more than about $20.00, so my primary cards get heavy use.The only debt I carry is a mortgage.Anyone can develop a high FICO score using credit cards alone and without ever paying a penny of interest. Contrary to what personal finance “guru” Dave Ramsey claims, a FICO score is NOT an “I-love-debt score.” You do not have to be in debt to have a high score.I hope this is helpful. You’re doing fine. Just keep it up, with maybe a few of the tweaks I suggested.