Customer Reviews

Credit Scores and Credit Reports: How The System Really Works, What You Can Do (Second Edition)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is of little surprise here that reviewers trend towards either a 1 or 5 star extreme. This book assumes a sophisticated audience with deep interest in the subject matter - and for such readers, it provides sharp insight as to the nuances and reality of credit scoring, what a score means to consumers, and how scores and reports may be manipulated for better or worse by a variety of parties.

There is also some very necessary coverage of an often ignored fact... credit scoring and report data collection lies in the hands of a small group of privately held, for-profit companies that have limited accountability to consumers and a heavy lobby presence. This scenario provides the potential ingredients for corruption and abuse, just as it would in any market where profits and lack of transparency are allowed to cohabitate.

For most consumers, a credit score is mysterious and rather arbitrary - while constantly changing, for most of us, a score is only seen and important when it makes or breaks major transactions. This book tears away the veil, and in a methodical fashion.

This quickly earns Mr. Hendricks a "must read" recommendation to mortgage brokers, loan officers, independent lenders, consumer advocates, small business owners, certain among lawyers, privacy awareness groups, accountants, and anyone else whose business model, clientele, or personal dealings are directly influenced by credit ratings. The book is well-suited for reference, but can quickly be read from cover to cover, and is one of the most comprehensive and current works on the subject as a whole.

Keying from another review, a consumer wishing for a brochure style summary to help quickly convey quick answers to basic questions may another work is more accessible for such needs. This is a dense, thorough approach, and is not explicitly geared for the self-help crowd. Keep surfing if you are in the market for "The Idiot's Guide to Why They Repossessed My Car."

Audience issues aside, those reviewers who have suggested Mr. Hendricks' work contains errors state this without examples or reliable supporting data, and appear to have a personal agenda in their biased assessments. There certainly do exist many gray areas in the world of credit reports and scoring - for example, the formulas used to create scores are generally unpublished and proprietary - but the author demonstrates experience and strong, often first-person research and citations that guides educated guesswork when required - and any such gray areas are consistently noted as precisely that by the author.

Dear Amazon customers,

Please take note that the three negative "reviews" were by people who failed to identify themselves or explain what was wrong with the book. More, each one of them only wrote one review -- of my book. I'd challenge any of them to a debate over how credit scoring and credit reporting works, but I'm sure they wouldn't have the guts. This book is for regular folk and professionals alike who want understand how these all-important systems work. Many readers have thanked me for its accuracy and reliability. Naturally, the book is critical of some of the major companies that are known to pollute credit reports with inaccuracies(a possible motive?).

See the review by Michelle Singletary, syndicated columnist for the Washington Post -- here's one passage:

"So what should you do to become more informed? To start, I suggest you read Evan Hendricks's book "Credit Scores & Credit Reports." (Iit) is an extensive manual that includes just about everything you will ever want to know about the system and then some ... (And) you know what? Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance can cost you money." -- Michelle Singletary, Columnist, Washington Post(Announcing it as "Book of the Month" In her "Color of Money Book Club)

As a mortgage lender I knew this book would be a necessary read. The first half of the book talks about the in's and out's of the FICO scoring model. The information is extremely useful for both consumers and those in the lending industry. However, the second half of the book just repeats over and over the same things. 'id theft causes emotional trauma' is talked about at least 15 times in different examples and it starts to get useless. Additionally the author goes through dozens of court cases, papers written, and quotes different people on things regarding the credit industry. Again its just turns into a repetetive and useless history lesson. I rated it 4 stars though just because there aren't many good books on the subject, and this one did contain some great gems of information.

He not only explains the costly effects of our severely flawed credit reporting system, but he paints a remarkable picture of the incredible maze most have to travel when simply trying to maintain an accurate credit identity. It appears that Mr. Hendricks has ruffled a few feathers in the credit industry -and for that, we should all be thankful! Give Me Back My Credit!

Very well thought out book. Well structured and a must read if you are a consumer in America - otherwise the system could be hurting you...

Plenty of eye openers in the book...Well worth the price...

My only negative comment is it can be pretty technical and have a lot of legal verbiage, but with the subject's context, it has to be...

I disagree with the one comment saying it was repetitive...the only insight we have to the intrical parts of the credit system is through legal cases...so the history is very important...if anything, I'm anxious for developments to take place to fix the system...

It's another one of those topics where just because you're born, you have to be aware of it and understand how it works...

A great book with important and useful information!