I have excellent credit, but I'm not sharing my credit report with potential clients. Sorry, I'm just not.

Alan, i am truly surprised by that response.  First off who would go giving out their personal info.  And i don't see how bad credit would make a Realtor not good at their job.  Like you mention many have had ups and downs.  Not to mention what if they had medical bills they couldn't pay and they appear negative on their credit, that makes them a bad Realtor??????  thanks for posting this info, I agree. 

790 Alan, will you hire me? Ha ha.

Some of the questions on those platforms are out of this world.

TYhanks,

Mark

Alan~
I think this is crazy.  Many employers do pull credit reports on their potential employees.  But, is it really necessary?  I think it is a privacy issue.

Alan, 

Thanks for sharing.  I hadn't read the trulia response and would have definitely been caught off guard had a potential client asked me for my credit report. I do not agree with asking an agent for their Credit report as a way to determine their capabilities.  How absurd.  

Alan, 

Very interesting dialog.  I am good with sharing my credit score, as we are fiscally very conservative and still in good shape.  The one key here is motivation.  I do think it's critical to understand an agent's or another person who will make money off of you reason for buying or selling something.  It's important to understand how the person who is going to make money off of you handles themselves and what motivations might effect their logic in making decisions on your behalf.  

I would be concerned about someone on their last dime.  It may or may not affect how they handle my business!  Again, all of these factos are indicators, not gaurantees.  We try to do the right things for our clients - EVEN WHEN IT MEANS WE DON"T MAKE ANY MONEY!  However, this has been very good for our reputation, so we are still growing strong.  

Since so many other factors in life are actually based on one's credit score- getting a mortgage, insurance rates, employment issues, I am good with folks knowing my score.

Will be curious to see addiitonal comments.

All the best, Michelle

I wouldn't give my full report as that has confidential account numbers and such, but I wouldn't mind giving the summary page that shows the three scores as my scores are over 800. I'm proud of my scores, and many others are ashamed.

You mention some great agents have had tough times because of the market, but truly great agents should always have a book of business and be able to pay their bills.

Alan, Didn't I answer that in my second part? If they are a great agent, they should be able to have all their ducks in a row. If they can't juggle their current ducks, maybe that buyer or seller could then make their decision to not add more ducks to that row, in case it goes jagged and not straight?

I have impeccable credit, or so I thought until I looked into a possible refinance. Some b#%^*+#} has stolen my identity in Virginia and I know have bogus collections on my credit. Grrrrrr

This seems like a very odd request. I don't get to see their credit report and I am not sharing mine with them. I think this is totally out of line.

ALan, I understand, but you're not wanting to see the other side, and you gave an example that isn't what you said in your original response. I responded on your other post.

Wow, definitely bold!  I agree with you it is definitely irrelevant - client testimonials would definatley go a longer way.

Alan, no matter what my score is, I think it's prvate information that I don't want to share with anyone other than a mortgage broker. No matter what the score is, it gives zilch info about how well the agent does the job. 

On the other hand though, I know of 2 excellent agents with rather low credit score. (I don't know exact numbers, but I do know they are not excellent) This happened because of certain complications they encountered. one example was having joint account with a spendthrift spouse, another had to pay lots of legal fees to fight for child custody in a tough divorce, and the only way to pay was to take more and more credit. Now, in both cases these events prompted the agents to work harder than anyone, and excell to the highest level - to pay off these debts. I would refer / hire these agents in a heart beat over anyone else with better score. 

Just another reason to stay off Trulia and Zillow and the likes. They are our direct competitors. Don't feed the machine.

I've never had a client ask for that but I guess anything is possible these days. If someone asks for that then it is probably a client that you wouldn't want to work for anyway. Right? Refer them out.