topic Re: those with credit scores near or over 720 in Understanding FICO® Scoring

those with credit scores near or over 720

freeneasy2001 — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:38:53 GMT

For those with credit scores around 720 or above. Congratulations. My Transunion and Equifax credit scores are 705 and 702 respectively. So im on the right trail i believe in joining the club.

My question for this group is how many dings do you have on your credit report, and what type are they?

Personally i have three late pays 60 days or more, 1 collection, 1 inquiry in the last year, So by knowing whats on your report on a summary levell, hopefully i can guage how close i am to making this 15 point increase in my two FICO scores. Any help you would give me would be appreciated.

Re: those with credit scores near or over 720

FrugalRican — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:39:55 GMT

Dings as in baddies?

Or dings as in overall inquiries?

If you meant baddies, then I have none.

Inquiries, just 2.

Re: those with credit scores near or over 720

pakman92 — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:53:57 GMT

freeneasy2001 wrote:
For those with credit scores around 720 or above. Congratulations.   My Transunion and Equifax credit scores are 705 and 702 respectively. So im on the right trail i believe in joining the club.

My question for this group is how many dings do you have on your credit report, and what type are they?

Personally i have three late pays 60 days or more, 1 collection, 1 inquiry in the last year, So by knowing whats on your report on a summary levell, hopefully i can guage how close i am to making this 15 point increase in my two FICO scores.    Any help you would give me would be appreciated.

My report is clean. DW's one accoutn with 60 day late (5 years old)

Re: those with credit scores near or over 720

freeneasy2001 — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:45:41 GMT

you shared in your response some remarkable increases of about 100 pts on your equifax to 40 to 60 on the others. how did you achieve should large changes in your fico over perhaps 4 months or more?

Re: those with credit scores near or over 720

freeneasy2001 — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:50:14 GMT

i was usings dingies to refer to baddies, such as late pays and collections. I currently have one inquiry for a refinanced home mortgage which should go off shortly dated 3/17/11., but baddies for cosigned student loans of my son and one outstanding collection.

its possible the student loans will go off soon and a collection not scheduled to be removed until august of 2013.

Re: those with credit scores near or over 720

To-Be-Continued — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:52:56 GMT

0 Baddies.

TBC

Re: those with credit scores near or over 720

FrugalRican — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:53:50 GMT

I upped my score by having a charge-off removed from my CR. It was the only one I had. That and bringing down my overall utilization from 50% to 36% to 28% helped considerably.

Re: those with credit scores near or over 720

Idiotsavant — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:37:12 GMT

I have 2 30 day lates from 2005 and 2006 and 5 inquiries: 2 from this year and 3 from 2010. I have 0% utilization and $6k left in installment loans (I think that is what they are called).

Re: those with credit scores near or over 720

GregB — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 17:06:56 GMT

720 Classic FICO is just about exactly the median score.

Almost impossible to get there with a collection or other major derogatory.

Inq is not your problem, nor is older 30-60 day late.

Re: those with credit scores near or over 720

RobertEG — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 19:59:00 GMT

FICO tailors its scoring algorithm based on a general "categorization" of your credit file. That tailoring is referred to as "rebucketing" on this site.

Just what those buckets are and their specific effects are deep, dark secrets known only to Brother Fair Isaac. However, two general categorizations are fairly apparent.

First is a "clean" credit file, and second is a "thick" credit file.

A clean credit file refers generally to one having no major derogs. 30-lates, unless multiple, wont put you in a dirty bucket, and the same most likely also applies to 60-lates, particularly if old. Kinda murky, but little question that a collection will keep your file "dirty."

While still in a dirty bucket, scores up to the low 700 level seem to be about the max. So I agree that moving into the 700+ level will be tough until your credit file become void of major derogs. Then the fruits of the labor will be easier to reach.

Consumers with "thin" vs "thick" credit files are much harder to risk-analyze. "Thick" files generally refer to those with at least 3 active trade lines and multiple revolving accounts. Until that degree of predictive data is present, it is tough to do a solid risk analysis. I would surmise that anyone who has reached the 700 level will already have a thick credit file, leaving the "dirty" to clean up.

With a file containing multiple 60-lates and a collection, I would predict that further upward movement will be difficult until at least the collection is gone.

I would put all my efforts into the deletion of the collection. Steps to remove it will be very difficult unless it has at least been paid, or you are willing/able to offer a PFD as incentive for deletion. How old is the collection? Paid or unpaid? Have PFD or GW offers been made?

Re: those with credit scores near or over 720

Idiotsavant — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:54:25 GMT

Excellent points, Robert! As someone mentioned in another thread, you should be a mod.

Re: those with credit scores near or over 720

marty56 — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:39:15 GMT

I have a major derog which is a 6 year 4 months old (120 day late) and my highest scores were in the upper 760's. I have a long credit history and AAoA 12 years so IMHO I benefit from score buckets to get a 760+ score.

Re: those with credit scores near or over 720

Booner72 — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 23:19:50 GMT

Idiotsavant wrote:
I have 2 30 day lates from 2005 and 2006 and 5 inquiries: 2 from this year and 3 from 2010. I have 0% utilization and $6k left in installment loans (I think that is what they are called).

You must have really long AAoA or something great bc those are quite the scores with lates in 2010. Congrats!

Re: those with credit scores near or over 720

tcbofade — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:01:01 GMT

RobertEG wrote:
+1
FICO tailors its scoring algorithm based on a general "categorization" of your credit file. That tailoring is referred to as "rebucketing" on this site.
Just what those buckets are and their specific effects are deep, dark secrets known only to Brother Fair Isaac. However, two general categorizations are fairly apparent.
First is a "clean" credit file, and second is a "thick" credit file.

A clean credit file refers generally to one having no major derogs. 30-lates, unless multiple, wont put you in a dirty bucket, and the same most likely also applies to 60-lates, particularly if old. Kinda murky, but little question that a collection will keep your file "dirty."
While still in a dirty bucket, scores up to the low 700 level seem to be about the max. So I agree that moving into the 700+ level will be tough until your credit file become void of major derogs. Then the fruits of the labor will be easier to reach.

Consumers with "thin" vs "thick" credit files are much harder to risk-analyze. "Thick" files generally refer to those with at least 3 active trade lines and multiple revolving accounts. Until that degree of predictive data is present, it is tough to do a solid risk analysis. I would surmise that anyone who has reached the 700 level will already have a thick credit file, leaving the "dirty" to clean up.

With a file containing multiple 60-lates and a collection, I would predict that further upward movement will be difficult until at least the collection is gone.
I would put all my efforts into the deletion of the collection. Steps to remove it will be very difficult unless it has at least been paid, or you are willing/able to offer a PFD as incentive for deletion. How old is the collection? Paid or unpaid? Have PFD or GW offers been made?

That is a GREAT post, but somehow, it doesn't seem to apply to me.

I have both a "clean" and a "thick" file on all three cr's.

(no baddies, no lates...45 accounts listed)

I'm stuck in the low 600's due mostly (I think) to utilization.

Re: those with credit scores near or over 720

shawal16 — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:44:49 GMT

I would like to get to 800 but it seems I say in the mid 750s. I have never been last or have any baddies. I have 4 inquiries. I think my problem is age. My longest account was opened 8 years ago, and my average AAOA is 4 years.

Re: those with credit scores near or over 720

Idiotsavant — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 02:40:43 GMT

Booner72 wrote:
Idiotsavant wrote:
I have 2 30 day lates from 2005 and 2006 and 5 inquiries: 2 from this year and 3 from 2010. I have 0% utilization and $6k left in installment loans (I think that is what they are called).
You must have really long AAoA or something great bc those are quite the scores with lates in 2010. Congrats!

No, my inquiries were from 2010. Lates about to fall off. My AAoA is only 10 years

Re: those with credit scores near or over 720

TNTransplant — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 02:50:07 GMT

tcbofade wrote:

That is a GREAT post, but somehow, it doesn't seem to apply to me.

I have both a "clean" and a "thick" file on all three cr's.

(no baddies, no lates...45 accounts listed)

I'm stuck in the low 600's due mostly (I think) to utilization.

I think you are exactly right - high utilization is a killer to good scores.

My credit profile is very close to yours (60+ accounts, no baddies, no lates, AAoA around 5 yrs, etc.). I started out in Jan '12 with scores in the mid 600s and an overall utilization on my revolving debt of around 80%. I am currently down to about 50% overall utilization, and my scores are now high 600s (EQ - 680 and TU - 699).

I don't know how accurate the myFICO score simulator is, but it is projecting that if I can decrease my revolving debt to less than 10% utilization within the next 12 months, my score will be in the 755 - 805 range. This would be awesome if true!

Re: those with credit scores near or over 720

tcbofade — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:36:52 GMT

TNTransplant wrote:
tcbofade wrote:

That is a GREAT post, but somehow, it doesn't seem to apply to me.

I have both a "clean" and a "thick" file on all three cr's.

(no baddies, no lates...45 accounts listed)

I'm stuck in the low 600's due mostly (I think) to utilization.
I think you are exactly right - high utilization is a killer to good scores.

My credit profile is very close to yours (60+ accounts, no baddies, no lates, AAoA around 5 yrs, etc.). I started out in Jan '12 with scores in the mid 600s and an overall utilization on my revolving debt of around 80%. I am currently down to about 50% overall utilization, and my scores are now high 600s (EQ - 680 and TU - 699).

Thank you for your opinion...I too started out around 80% and am down to 61%....and hope to see the high 600s when I get under that magic 50% line... :)

Re: those with credit scores near or over 720

freeneasy2001 — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:34:36 GMT

a new equifax credit report has bumped my score from 702 to 79 as the result of 1. removal of one inquiry (more than one year old), 2 the removal of a paid collection from 2005, and 3 the removal of 2 derrogatories being a student loan currently having an unpaid balance of approximately 60% of the initial balance (i knew i shouldnt have cosigned my sons loan, and 3 removal ofa derrogatory from 2007 which was also paid.

Now im left with one student loan also having a balance of 60% of the original loan and one collection scheduled for removal in the summer of 2013. I have no inquiries still on m;y equifax file, and just one on my experian record to be removed in august of this year.

In additional my utilization is under 1% from the balance on one major credit card. Since I will have to take out a loan next spring or summer for a car loan, im seeking to have no more credit inquiries until that time.

im hoping that they ll remove my current student loan derrogatory, since that same private student loan company removed a derrogatory in March, 2012. Large payments will leave both student loans fullly paid off by the end of 2012 (good riddens).

while my 709 equifax score is from a new report, perhaps my transunion score will increase accordingly, similar to the 7 pt. increase by equifax. Im hoping it wont be long until m;y fico scores are in the 720 range.

Re: those with credit scores near or over 720

Client9 — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 17:36:39 GMT

I am at 752 and 796. I have a 60 day late from November of 2006 and one inquiry. I am at 7% utilization. I think it was Eperian who now loks at ALL installment loans as a bad thing on that scale picture. I have a car and truck loan and a student loan all totalling $15000. That didnt use to be there on that scale thing