Clark Howard says

[namvet]

I'm sure most of you have heard of HLN's Clark Howard the money expert/financial guru.  Today he said he was on Credit Karma and he has a score of 769.  He went on to say that he doesn't understand why some people are trying to get into the 800 club because anything above 760 is only useful to boost your ego.  It appears he has been out surfing some of the credit forums.  Just a few years ago we measured credit risk/ego as anything above 720 was stellar.  So why is it so many want that 800+ score?

[drkaje]

There's no guarantee he's right.

I mean really, ignoring any personal stuff: If it were your own money getting loaned, what score would it take?

Do people obsess over scores too much? Probably. Scores pretty much tell lenders how likely they are to get their money back. Sure, they can be manipulated but what else is available to guesstimate risk?

[namvet]

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@drkaje wrote:

There's no guarantee he's right.

I mean really, ignoring any personal stuff: If it were your own money getting loaned, what score would it take?

Do people obsess over scores too much? Probably. Scores pretty much tell lenders how likely they are to get their money back. Sure, they can be manipulated but what else is available to guesstimate risk?

     Maybe not but based on my experience in the mortgage banking field i have to agree with him.  If i was loaning my own money?  Funny you asked that because we all asked each other that question when we got a questionable approval with a low score.  My answer to your question would be let's say 700+ would get my approval. 

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[Imhotrodcrazy]

I never tried to reach the 800 mark, it just happened.  I just pay all of my debts way ahead of  time.  I have a civil judgment showing on my EQ and TU reports that will drop off in 2 more years.  While I am not sure what those scores will be when that happens, it really doesn't matter to me.  However, what does matter to me is to continue to pay my debts well ahead of time, and everything else will fall in line.  

[drkaje]

@Namvet,

There are quite a few ways* people can make it into the 700 club. Paying on time, over time, is only one of them.

* Goodwill, disputes, aggressive credit monitoring, AU, hidden tradelines, etc...

[namvet]

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@drkaje wrote:

@namvet,

There are quite a few ways* people can make it into the 700 club. Paying on time, over time, is only one of them.

* Goodwill, disputes, aggressive credit monitoring, AU, hidden tradelines, etc...

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     No doubt!  I agree but Clark's point was you don't need to be in the 800 club to get any more benefits than a 760 score.   Ok, maybe he's upset because he doesn't have a 800 score LOL.

[llecs]

Lending-wise, it doesn't matter. Hitting 800+ is a matter of personal pride (assuming you  are aiming for it). On a credit standpoint, being in the 800s is a lot better than being in the 750ish range. Why? If you have a baddie hit, I'd rather have it hit when I'm in the 800s thus bringing my scores down to the low 700s vs. being around 750 and losing points down to mid-upper 600s.

[drkaje]

I'd really like to find out what interest rate 760 fetches on a mortgage or car loan.

[namvet]

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@llecs wrote:

Lending-wise, it doesn't matter. Hitting 800+ is a matter of personal pride (assuming you  are aiming for it). On a credit standpoint, being in the 800s is a lot better than being in the 750ish range. Why? If you have a baddie hit, I'd rather have it hit when I'm in the 800s thus bringing my scores down to the low 700s vs. being around 750 and losing points down to mid-upper 600s.

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  Good point!  Breathing room so to speak!  Can't argue with you about the braggin rights!

[MarineVietVet]

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@namvet wrote:

I'm sure most of you have heard of HLN's Clark Howard the money expert/financial guru.  Today he said he was on Credit Karma and he has a score of 769.  He went on to say that he doesn't understand why some people are trying to get into the 800 club because anything above 760 is only useful to boost your ego.  It appears he has been out surfing some of the credit forums.  Just a few years ago we measured credit risk/ego as anything above 720 was stellar.  So why is it so many want that 800+ score?

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I listen to CH sometimes and he can give some pretty good advice but I'm disappointed that he doesn't appear to know how pretty much useless those scores from CK are and I wonder if that score - 769 - is a TransRisk (not used by any lenders) score or a VantageScore (used by very few lenders).