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Denied with a FICO 749

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BonPecheur
Established Member

Denied with a FICO 749

I just applied for a CC with a mainstream company and was denied with a score of 749. Reason given, "collection account". I do have one still on my CR, but thought with a 749 I would be approved. Am I being naive ?
Message 1 of 12
11 REPLIES 11
jausanka
Frequent Contributor

Re: Denied with a FICO 749


@BonPecheur wrote:
I just applied for a CC with a mainstream company and was denied with a score of 749. Reason given, "collection account". I do have one still on my CR, but thought with a 749 I would be approved. Am I being naive ?

Apparently, in the mainstream company's eyes, yes.  A FICO is one part of a credit decision but most reasonable lenders will take many things into account, including time since last negative, number of new accounts, income, debt, AAoA, inquiries, etc.  A FICO score (assuming that's a real 749 FICO, not a FAKO) in the mid 700's is very good, (congratulations, by the way), but some banks rely on more than just that info.

A lot of 19 year old kids with very little history and very little income have high FICO's, but are not a "safe" credit risk in the eyes of many lenders.. And many people with high FICO's, but also recent delinquencies or collections pose a very high risk, even if it has not yet reflected in their FICO scores...

 

How old is the collection?  Is it paid or unpaid?  Does the original credit report a past due balance?  How many accounts in good standing do you have? AAoA?  Inquiries?  We may be able to direct you to a lender who would look at your risk more favorably...

Message 2 of 12
BonPecheur
Established Member

Re: Denied with a FICO 749


@jausanka wrote:

@BonPecheur wrote:
I just applied for a CC with a mainstream company and was denied with a score of 749. Reason given, "collection account". I do have one still on my CR, but thought with a 749 I would be approved. Am I being naive ?

Apparently, in the mainstream company's eyes, yes.  A FICO is one part of a credit decision but most reasonable lenders will take many things into account, including time since last negative, number of new accounts, income, debt, AAoA, inquiries, etc.  A FICO score (assuming that's a real 749 FICO, not a FAKO) in the mid 700's is very good, (congratulations, by the way), but some banks rely on more than just that info.

A lot of 19 year old kids with very little history and very little income have high FICO's, but are not a "safe" credit risk in the eyes of many lenders.. And many people with high FICO's, but also recent delinquencies or collections pose a very high risk, even if it has not yet reflected in their FICO scores...

 

How old is the collection?  Is it paid or unpaid?  Does the original credit report a past due balance?  How many accounts in good standing do you have? AAoA?  Inquiries?  We may be able to direct you to a lender who would look at your risk more favorably...


Thanks for the response !! The collection is almost 3 years old and unpaid. I have sent them a PFD and am waitingto hear back. I have 12 accts in good standing. Two inquires. According to the MyFICO dashboard, I have good payment history, good amount of debt, great length of credit history and good amount of new credit. I have grew my score from 603 to 749 over the past year and want to keep improving.

 

Any lender you can direct me to that you feel would give me a shot at a CC , I would appreciate it !

Message 3 of 12
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Denied with a FICO 749

I'd hold off until you get the collection taken care of, AND your credit reports have the updated info.

Never go looking for credit until you have your reports as clean as you can make them. Smiley Wink
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 4 of 12
blacklotus
Regular Contributor

Re: Denied with a FICO 749

Haulinthe... I find your posts very informative and I read this thread but wasn't going to reply until I read your post.

 

If you notice my recent MyFico scores I pulled yesterday are wierd.  One has an old judgement (over 7 years) on it that I just PIF because they kept reaging it (it wasn't even a very large amount it was under $1000) that hasn't been deleted off that report yet.  The other report does not have it on there! I think you can figure out what is what!  I swear to God those are actual MyFico scores from yesterday.

 

I just Western Unioned that old judgement like less than a week ago (PIF).

 

I'd just like to add that being denied with a prime score might have something to do with which report the credit card company actually pulls.  If your score is 749 is that the same across the board? 


Message Edited by blacklotus on 03-04-2010 04:28 PM

TU Fico 736 EQ Fico 730 (December 2012)
Message 5 of 12
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Denied with a FICO 749

I hope you get your reports untangled soon!

Lots of people don't realize this, but FICO scores are a small part of CCC decisions. In fact, many CCC's have their own in-house scores.

Lenders are generally looking at your reports. They all have things that hit their "no-way" buttons --it might be a BK under X number of years old, or the presence of a 90-day late, or unpaid collections --you name it.

It's reasonably useful for all of us to share FICO scores on approvals and denials, but we all have to be aware of how different the underlying reports can be. For instance, one person might have a 700 FICO, representing some old lates in the past on multiple accounts, and maybe 15% util, and someone else might have a 700 FICO that one week ago was 800, until a brand-new collection hit. Lenders are definitely going to regard these applicants differently.

It very much depends on which report is pulled! That's why there is so much chatter here about who pulls what. Smiley Wink If you have negatives on one or two reports, but not all three, it's wise to confine your apps to lenders who pull the cleaner report(s), until the negatives fall off the others.


eta: and your scores aren't going to be the same for all three reports. Back when we could pull all three, including EX, I don't remember seeing one single post by anyone who had the same score for all three CRA's. I saw maybe a half dozen where two matched, but never three.

First of all, the underlying reports are usually different, at least slightly, and then second of all, each CRA commissioned a different formula, which gives slightly different weight to the factors on your reports. My three young adult children each have identical reports on their three CRA's (each kid has 3 identical reports, not all three having 9 identical reports!), but they all three have different FICO scores among their three reports.

Hope that makes sense --I know that all those three's get things confusing! Smiley Tongue Think of the three CRA's as being three different professors/ teachers grading your essay. One pays attention to content, another to research, and a third to well-reasoned argument. You're probably going to get three different grades, and that's on the same essay. Imagine if each professor/ teacher got a different essay, and then applied their different judgments to each. Your grades would be all over the map. The same applies for your FICO scores.
Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 03-04-2010 04:44 PM
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 6 of 12
DI
Super Contributor

Re: Denied with a FICO 749

July 2009 AMEX denied me for having an old charged off account reporting while having a very high score.  August 2009 after getting the charged off account deleted, AMEX approved me for $2000. So if the company is AMEX and you get your reports cleared from negatives reapply. 
Message Edited by DI on 03-04-2010 06:52 PM
Message 7 of 12
blacklotus
Regular Contributor

Re: Denied with a FICO 749

AMEX gave you a CL of $2000?  Sounds low for you.  If you don't mind me asking what is your highest CL?

 

BTW I'm sick of AMEX I apped around summer 2009 and was declined.  I apped in Jan 2010 and was declined.  I won't ever app with them again. 

 

Sidenote:  I'm waiting in the mail for a Visa card from my CU.  It has a CL of $2500 but with no introductory rate.  So since I still have an intro 0% rate on my ChaseFreedom I was "preapproved" for in DEC 2009 I will, effectively, use my credit union Visa card like a charge card because I don't want to pay interest.  It totally doesn't have the prestige of an AMEX but I could give a rat's butt. 

Message Edited by blacklotus on 03-04-2010 05:13 PM

TU Fico 736 EQ Fico 730 (December 2012)
Message 8 of 12
DI
Super Contributor

Re: Denied with a FICO 749


@blacklotus wrote:

AMEX gave you a CL of $2000?  Sounds low for you.  If you don't mind me asking what is your highest CL?

 

BTW I'm sick of AMEX I apped around summer 2009 and was declined.  I apped in Jan 2010 and was declined.  I won't ever app with them again. 

 

Sidenote:  I'm waiting in the mail for a Visa card from my CU.  It has a CL of $2500 but with no introductory rate.  So since I still have an intro 0% rate on my ChaseFreedom I was "preapproved" for in DEC 2009 I will, effectively, use my credit union Visa card like a charge card because I don't want to pay interest.  It totally doesn't have the prestige of an AMEX but I could give a rat's butt. 

Message Edited by blacklotus on 03-04-2010 05:13 PM

I got an increase to $2600 in October.  I expect a big increase in April.  My highest limit is my Kroger 123 which is $5300.  I expect Discover to match that in April.  So in April, I'm expecting several CLI's.

Message 9 of 12
blacklotus
Regular Contributor

Re: Denied with a FICO 749

I apologize if I'm changing the thread too much.

 

My citi platinum select has a valid date of 06/09.  They started me at $3000 CL.  In Feb. I got an auto CLI (luv button soft pull) $1600.  That's my highest limit at $4600 and best card.  I'm still getting 0% APR on it.

 

I think the luv button was there before but I didn't know what it was there for until I surfed these forums. 

Message Edited by blacklotus on 03-04-2010 05:36 PM

TU Fico 736 EQ Fico 730 (December 2012)
Message 10 of 12
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