810 Score

[Anonymous]

Great info Andy!

I have one question.

It's possible to have only student loan on your report or only 1 cc(like my friend) and your score is like more than 700.

But can you get, for example house loan, just based your pure number?

Message Edited by cinoeye on 05-10-2007 11:21 AM

[Tuscani]

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cinoeye wrote:

Great info Andy!

I have one question.

It's possible to have only student loan on your report or only 1 cc(like my friend) and your score is like more than 700.

But can you get, for example house loan, just based your pure number?

Message Edited by cinoeye on 05-10-2007 11:21 AM

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A mortgage requires more than just a high FICO.. many things are considered DTI, income, overall file, ect.

[Anonymous]

I understand your problem Sam..I have a similar problem. Equifax and Experian and Transunion have given me between 803 and 813 credit scores but my scores are now trending lower and there is absolutely no clear reason why. TransUnion is the worst recently gave me a 790 score with last year being 803.  I pay credit cards in full (using only small portion of my credit card balance-about 1% per month is used at any one time) every month, have no late payments, paying off mortgage on 10 year loan without any late payments, have not opened any new credit in 2 years, have no recent credit inquiries, and the only clear reason they are giving is...short credit history..avg acct open 6 years and oldest acct  is 12 years old.

So what gives? I am really open to suggestion.. I realize 790 is not a bad score but why would is my score trending lower?

I am starting to question the validity of the scores when they get into the higher ranges. My score should be higher not lower.

[Anonymous]

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toddj1965 wrote:

I understand your problem Sam..I have a similar problem. Equifax and Experian and Transunion have given me between 803 and 813 credit scores but my scores are now trending lower and there is absolutely no clear reason why. TransUnion is the worst recently gave me a 790 score with last year being 803.  I pay credit cards in full (using only small portion of my credit card balance-about 1% per month is used at any one time) every month, have no late payments, paying off mortgage on 10 year loan without any late payments, have not opened any new credit in 2 years, have no recent credit inquiries, and the only clear reason they are giving is...short credit history..avg acct open 6 years and oldest acct  is 12 years old.

So what gives? I am really open to suggestion.. I realize 790 is not a bad score but why would is my score trending lower?

I am starting to question the validity of the scores when they get into the higher ranges. My score should be higher not lower.

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It's probably the "pond" or "bucket" problem.  All FICO scores are not created equal.  You are in the pond with the fish with the best credit.  But among those fish, there are many with longer credit histories than yours.  Their oldest accounts are 20+ years old.  So compared with them (and not with the fish in the next lowest pond), you are scoring lower.  Just keep swimming along and your score will rise.  Of course, once it's over 760 it's pretty much all academic ...

[Anonymous]

I appreciate your feedback...if I understand you correctly you are stating..that at present Transunion, experian, equifax are grouping us  by score. Since I am in the top (or next to top group) my "credit peers"  have longer credit history.  This means to a lesser degree my score could trend down lower simply because of who the other fishes in my pond are?

I guess I always thought they  took the different factors (length of credit history, number of inquiries, late payments, etc) and calculated your score using a formula. In this case your score would only go up or down if you changes a variable (made a late payment, got a new mortgage or vice versa continue to pay on time, etc)? 

The swimming is fairly simple. I am just worried my score is going to go down further for no good reason.

Although this has given me even more motivation to live a completely credit free life (with the exception of the strategic use of a credit card to purchase something and pay it off at the end of the month). I refuse to be held hostage to a credit score..They only have power over you if you need to borrow money.

[Anonymous]

My step father has an 850 score and he golfs for fun...

[Anonymous]

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toddj1965 wrote:

I appreciate your feedback...if I understand you correctly you are stating..that at present Transunion, experian, equifax are grouping us  by score. Since I am in the top (or next to top group) my "credit peers"  have longer credit history.  This means to a lesser degree my score could trend down lower simply because of who the other fishes in my pond are?

I guess I always thought they  took the different factors (length of credit history, number of inquiries, late payments, etc) and calculated your score using a formula. In this case your score would only go up or down if you changes a variable (made a late payment, got a new mortgage or vice versa continue to pay on time, etc)? 

The swimming is fairly simple. I am just worried my score is going to go down further for no good reason.

Although this has given me even more motivation to live a completely credit free life (with the exception of the strategic use of a credit card to purchase something and pay it off at the end of the month). I refuse to be held hostage to a credit score..They only have power over you if you need to borrow money.

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You are grouped by your features and history rather than by score.  For example, you may be in the group of people who have never filed BK, have 6 TLs, util is under 10%, have a current mortgage, etc.  Some people in that group got their first credit card 20 years ago, so their score will be higher than someone who just got into the pond. So as long as you keep doing what you're doing -- paying on time, not making an insame # of inquiries, keeping util down -- your score will eventually trend up because your history will get longer and longer, and eventually it will be longer than the new pond arrivals.

Don't give up on credit.  It plays a bigger role in our lives than you think.  Auto insurance premiums are now being determined partially by credit scores.  They have found a correlation between low credit scorers and a greater frequency of insurance claims, so you can keep your premiums down if you keep your credit up.  More employers are checking credit for applicants or for current employees seeking promotions.  If you ever want a job with a security clearance, they head straight for the credit bureaus after checking criminal records.  Want to start a small business? If you want funding or a surety bond, guess what they check.

[Anonymous]

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Fritz wrote:

My step father has an 850 score and he golfs for fun...

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And I'm sure he doesn't hang out here like the rest of us ... maybe we should take up golf  LOL ...

[Anonymous]

Sam, It's sometimes helpful to view the FICO negative reasons with the prefix: "You don't have an 850 because...." In other words, while you obviously have great credit, there are people out there who have longer histories than you and therefore compare more favorably and therefore have higher scores. Does that make a bit more sense?