Free Credit Report
There’s a new website Credit.com that I saw linked from BoingBoing. You give them your address and social security number, and they give you back some general indicators of how good your credit is. Very easy to use, and the results, I believe are quite accurate.
For example, I was dinged for not having an auto loan or a mortgage–OK, so having less debt is bad? The explanation they give you is interesting:
You don’t appear to have a healthy mix of accounts on your credit report.
You could be doing better in this category if you had a more diverse list of accounts. And, if you have finance company accounts on your credit report that could be hurting you as well. Finance companies are generally considered to be higher risk lenders who target higher risk customers. As such, consumers who have finance company accounts on their credit reports could suffer lower scores.
If you ever have a mortgage that shows up on your credit report then you will do better in this category. The reason is that studies show that consumers who have mortgages are more stable than consumers who do not. And, credit scores will reward you because of that stability.
They had some interesting statistics too, such as how long you’ve been “in the system” in terms of credit age:
7 years of credit history
Youngest account is 7 months
Oldest account is 85 months
Average age is 44 months
Neat stuff. Again, as it’s totally free, I really recommend checking out Credit.com. Leave some comments on this post and let me know what you think. Many credit reporting online companies are scams looking to steal your information and resell it–this one doesn’t seem to be.
Windows 7 Preorder Coupon Sale!
I just preordered Microsoft Windows 7 Home on Amazon, because right now it’s over 50% off. For just $49.99 (58% savings) you will get it delivered to your door on the official release date of October 22, 2009 (if you’re a PRIME member, which I am).
As fas as I can tell, the only difference between Home Premium and Professional is that you don’t get their virtualization for XP software support (which is probably like VMWare Fusion on the Mac), no automatic backup features, and it’s missing some enterprise Active Directory thing called “Domain Join” that I doubt I’d ever use. So I’m not paying any $ for that.
One advantage I’ll get out of this is the ability to (a) run DX10 for the latest games, and (b) 64bit support, so finally I can run all 4 GB of RAM properly without PAE and any other proprietary crap. Right now my 4GB only shows up as about 3.4 anyway. Also, SSD support is much better in Windows 7, from what I’ve read. So my Intel X25-M will continue to serve me well!
Update: If you missed this, but you are a student or know a student, you can get a super cheap deal ($10 cheaper!) by visiting the Windows 7 Student Discount Page. It’s $30 for Windows 7 Pro, and another $13 to get a physical DVD.
T-Mobile Early Termination Fee Class Action Lawsuit
I just got a great postcard in the mail. This last year I was charged a $200 early termination fee by T-mobile, after Wendy had to cancel her plan and move back to Shanghai. Now, there’s a class-action lawsuit which is promising to refund $125 of the contract fee! Awesome!!
A proposed Settlement is pending in a class action entitled Milliron v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., No. 08-04149(JLL) (ES) in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. The lawsuit alleges that T-Mobile violated state and federal laws by charging customers a flat-rate early termination fee (”ETF”) in its wireless telephone service contracts. You are part of the lawsuit if you are a current or former T-Mobile wireless subscriber who paid or were charged a flat-rate ETF from July 23, 1999 to February 19, 2009, or if your contract for service included a flat-rate ETF from July 23, 1999 to February 19, 2009.
If you can prove you paid a flat-rate ETF, or T-Mobile’s records indicate you paid a flat-rate ETF, you may submit a Claim Form and receive up to $125.
You can go visit ETF-Settlement to read the details, and/or apply for a claim. I already did, as I received a postcard in the mail. However, if you meet the class-action criteria (pretty much anyone screwed by a T-mobile early termination fee), you should also fill out the form.
