FICO SCORE

[Tenngal]

I was surprised that my fico score has dropped about 30 points in the last few years. The best I can figure out is that I am not making enough payments on enough debt. Mortgage has been paid off for years. Car has been paid off several years. Do we have to stay in debt to keep a high score? Any ideas?

[kib]

I've signed up for credit karma, they give me my score monthly for free and there's also an explanation of what and why. How much of your credit line you consistently utilize, the average age of your credit cards, how often you have a "hard pull" - the kind of inquiry a company might make before issuing a card or loan, for example, how often you've paid anything late, 'derogatory marks' - bankruptcies, foreclosures etc., and the total number of open and closed accounts you have can all have an impact on the score. If you create an account with Credit Karma they will tell you your score and why you received the marks you did for these things. I don't think they will go into the past, but they can tell you why your score is what it is in the present, and keep track of motion in your score. I trust them, never had a problem.

[catherine]

Yeah, I think you keep your max score by using your credit cards, but not too much, like under 30% of your available credit. I've heard DR say that with his no-credit-card plan, you eventually wind up with a credit score of 0, but I don't believe that. I think you're either a friend or an enemy in the credit world.

[iris lilies]

I see my score fluctuate a bit. The credit rating is not an exact science and it seeme to me that a flucituation of 30 points is nothing to be concerned about. That's 3% of my total score, big deal. Thirty points probably isnt enough to throw you into a different category.

i will say that I ve never seen my score at 800 or above, it hovers in the 760's to 780's. I was briefly annoyed by that but then learned that my friend, who pays three mortgages and is leveraged to the hilt, has a rating over 800. If thats what Ive got to do to get to 800 I will pass.

[kib]

I hover around 825 and it remains within five points or so, so I must have hit the sweet spot - lots of available credit that I don't use (my monthly bill is about 2% of my available credit and I always pay it off), plus no bad marks, plus spotless payment record, plus some cards that go back over 20 years. We also have a small mortgage that's being paid down quickly, and I think that has, ironically, increased my score. I have heard that having too much available credit can be bad for your score, but that really doesn't appear to be the case. Maybe it's only bad if you want to apply for more, not for the score itself. The only thing I don't score well on is how often there's a hard pull on my account, I apply for whatever card is going to give me the best deal, whether they're going to pull a report or not.

[ToomuchStuff]

Yeah, I think you keep your max score by using your credit cards, but not too much, like under 30% of your available credit. I've heard DR say that with his no-credit-card plan, you eventually wind up with a credit score of 0, but I don't believe that. I think you're either a friend or an enemy in the credit world.

Personally, I am pretty sure that he is correct, but I am not sure of his time frame (heard him guess on that). My reason for believing it, is I got a CC before I bought my house. After I bought my house (couple years in), my Credit Union changed associations, with the card suppliers and they informed people whose card expired in a couple of months (mine did), to get in touch with them, as they were sure they were going to miss people. I didn't and decided to go without for several years, until one day Sears offered me a card, and ok'd me because I had no credit rating. (my home was owner financed, so it didn't show)

[freshstart]

I hover around 825 and it remains within five points or so, so I must have hit the sweet spot - lots of available credit that I don't use (my monthly bill is about 2% of my available credit and I always pay it off), plus no bad marks, plus spotless payment record, plus some cards that go back over 20 years. I have heard that having too much available credit can be bad for your score, but that really doesn't appear to be the case.

this is me and I hover between 830-850. I panicked when I went on disability, I got a letter that one card was lowering my limit because of my change in income. I called them and they ended up upping my credit line by 10k, lol, senseless. I already have quite a few cards but was afraid this was going to start happening with all of them, it never did and my score went up after I got a few more cards (I always look to have one card that is 15 mos no interest and cancel it when the 15 mos is up, good for an emergency) and asked my established cards for a higher limit. So credit scores make no sense to me but whatever I'm doing, it's working. Have no car payment or mortgage.

[JaneV2.0]

I wonder where Credit Karma gets their money. exactly. When I bought my car a few years back, my FICO was 805, which allowed me to qualify for the lowest rate. I paid the car off in a year and a half. I'm vaguely curious as to what my score is now, but I'm wary of turning my SS# over to an unknown entity.

[kib]

Well, they have a service for finding good credit card offers, and they refer to the companies that offer the cards as "our partners". I'm guessing they get well paid to promote certain offers. This is the disclosure:

Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from which Credit Karma receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). It is this compensation that enables Credit Karma to provide you with services like free access to your credit scores and free monitoring of your credit and financial accounts at no charge. Credit Karma strives to provide a wide array of offers for our members, but our offers do not represent all financial services companies or products.

I understand your reluctance, I have heard that they are safe but can only vouch for my own experience, which has been entirely untroubling so far.

ETA: I have not received any unsolicited offers for credit cards or other loans either through mail or email. I don't think they're selling my info to their partners. You can also get a free credit report from the federally approved site - one per year from each of the "big three" - and for an extra $5 (IIR), they'll throw in your score. https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action

[shadowmoss]

I've used Credit Karma for maybe 10 years? I know one of the things they ding me a bit on is that I don't have enough credit accounts, but it says that it is low impact. Two of my credit cards now also offer my FICO score as a free service, Chase and CitiBank. They are not the same, and when I traded cars recently (no financing used) they checked and the score was lower than what any of the other services were using. At the time it didn't really matter as I wasn't financing, but I was surprised.

[Tenngal]

thanks for all the advice. Maybe I need to apply for another cc and just put gas on it, pay it off each month?
I am within a couple of years of buying another vehicle, so I want to qualify for the lowest interest rate.
I only have 3 cards. AmEX with a small balance I pay each month. JC Penny 0 balance. Visa with 0 balance and tied to my checking acct.

[iris lilies]

I've signed up for credit karma, they give me my score monthly for free and there's also an explanation of what and why. How much of your credit line you consistently utilize, the average age of your credit cards, how often you have a "hard pull" - the kind of inquiry a company might make before issuing a card or loan, for example, how often you've paid anything late, 'derogatory marks' - bankruptcies, foreclosures etc., and the total number of open and closed accounts you have can all have an impact on the score. If you create an account with Credit Karma they will tell you your score and why you received the marks you did for these things. I don't think they will go into the past, but they can tell you why your score is what it is in the present, and keep track of motion in your score. I trust them, never had a problem.

Thats how I find out my credit score, too. But I never read the yadda yadda, I really dont care about my credit score. Maybe I should read it next time.

[sweetana3]

And there are multiple credit reporting agencies. Be aware that the score you get can be different at each of the agencies and Credit Karma is apparently just computing their own credit score.

Those of us with good or adequate credit dont really care about scores. I should have the highest ever with my consistent use of credit and assets over time but wait, they dont consider income or assets. Actually a pretty limited way to measure the ability of a person to pay back a debt.

[Alan]

I should have the highest ever with my consistent use of credit and assets over time but wait, they dont consider income or assets. Actually a pretty limited way to measure the ability of a person to pay back a debt.


FICO calculates a score based upon: http://www.beatdebt.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/fico-chart.jpg (http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjol9a6oL7KAhVlnIMKHWDeDvwQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.beatdebt.info%2Fhow-does-fico-credit-score-work%2F&psig=AFQjCNF3FGdjp7VXwLDkYaoXJVrMFGTGMw&ust=1453580685958431)

[kib]

Credit Karma gives you your score as reported by Equifax, and as reported by Transunion. They don't give you your Experian score, the third of the big three.

[freshstart]

Those of us with good or adequate credit dont really care about scores. I should have the highest ever with my consistent use of credit and assets over time but wait, they dont consider income or assets. Actually a pretty limited way to measure the ability of a person to pay back a debt.

I was very surprised to be able to get so much credit when I had a huge income drop, getting higher limits and new cards didn't drop my credit score, that makes no sense. The amt of credit I ended up with compared to my income is absurd. They must look at your investments, too? Or they want you to become someone who doesn't pay in full every month

[iris lilies]

I was telling DH about this thread, and he whipped out his latest Discover bill that gives his credit score. It shows as 816. DH said his is sometimes as high as 826.

I Do not know why his score is sometimes 50-60 points higher than mine. My primary charge card is one Ive had maybe only five years, but thats a longish time. ? Maybe DH deliberately pays my charge card bills late, hmmmm.

[Reyes]

Mine hovers around 825. DW and I have the same length of credit history (approximately), no debt, pay our one credit card in full every month ,etc. Sometimes years her score is higher than mine and sometimes lower. It makes no sense (actually, makes perfect sense when mine is higher and not so much when her's is higher:-)

[Gardnr]

I've gone from 820 down to 760 or so. No debt. We use our CC and pay it off monthly.

We wanted to take advantage of a 0% cost to replace some 25yo broken down furniture and our mattress with a Temperpedic. Imagine my laughter when she said we only qualified for 1/2 of what we needed:cool: we laughed and we laughed... they were mortified to tell us this news. We could have written the check 12times over from our emergency fund.

So if you're going to be debt free be damn sure you have cash to replace anything that might go wrong or need replacing.

[ToomuchStuff]

I've used Credit Karma for maybe 10 years? I know one of the things they ding me a bit on is that I don't have enough credit accounts, but it says that it is low impact. Two of my credit cards now also offer my FICO score as a free service, Chase and CitiBank. They are not the same, and when I traded cars recently (no financing used) they checked and the score was lower than what any of the other services were using. At the time it didn't really matter as I wasn't financing, but I was surprised.


I've gone from 820 down to 760 or so. No debt. We use our CC and pay it off monthly.

We wanted to take advantage of a 0% cost to replace some 25yo broken down furniture and our mattress with a Temperpedic. Imagine my laughter when she said we only qualified for 1/2 of what we needed:cool: we laughed and we laughed... they were mortified to tell us this news. We could have written the check 12times over from our emergency fund.

So if you're going to be debt free be damn sure you have cash to replace anything that might go wrong or need replacing.

I have ONE credit card. Home paid for and was owner financed (not reported to agencies) and the last time I had a loan for a vehicle it was a small personal loan (quickly paid off, long off of any report). What my limited use of credit does do, it raise my insurance rates and things where they use your credit rate to calculate risk. I am actually a lower risk for them, but companies really seem to stupid to figure that out, unfairly.

[freshstart]

That really stinks. Not fair at all

[rosarugosa]

I get my FICO score for free from a Citibank credit card and it is currently 850 with reasons listed that I have no recent installment loan payment history and time since recent account opening is too short. So I think I might go ahead and sign up for some of those new card offers I received in the mail with attractive sign-on bonuses; I hate to pass up free money!

[iris lilies]

Today I looked carefully at the Credit Karma score that was recently updated for me, 784 and 794. The one area rated "very poor" is the number and kind of credit accounts, like shadowmoss. I have 2 credit cards, thats enough. I doubt that opening another credit card account would change much because it is the same "type" of credit I already have.

taking out a big fat mortage would proably throw me into to the 800+ score. But other than that I am at a loss as to how to raise it, and im back to not caring, anyway.;)

[sweetana3]

Toomuchstuff and iris lilies, I think we are rare and strange group to most agencies of all kinds.

No one but the IRS ever asked me to write a check or pay for anything right now. Even when we went to get new smart phones, the cost per month was just the cost of the phone divided by 24. Nothing added and no benefit to buy. Even my dentist apologized for the cost of a crown and tried to explain why it costs what it does. We must just look poor. He did not know that we just bought our new car with a check for the full amount.

I could never stand living from paycheck to paycheck and hated paying interest to use someone else's money.