Free FICO scorers from credit union

[Anonymous]

Thought this was really nice of my credit union to start offering free FICO scores every month.  So I signed up and my score was 825.  Which I think is great considering it was 801 6 months ago.  Now what is really wierd is that it gave me the following message below.  It kind of cracks me up.  I did finance some golf clubs and a bike the past 6 months on zero percent.  It was 2 new accounts but that made my score go up.  

1. You have a consumer finance account on your credit report.

   Consumer finance companies typically grant loans to people with poor credit histories. Their customers often cannot get loans from traditional lending companies such as banks or credit unions. These are often high-interest loans because the consumer finance company is assuming more risk by lending to people with less than perfect credit. The fact that you have a consumer finance company loan on your credit report means that you represent a higher risk to lenders than someone with no consumer finance loans. Even if this consumer finance account is closed, it will still lower your FICO score. However, its impact on your score will lessen as time passes.

   Actions you can take: You should try to stay current with all of your payments and avoid opening any new credit accounts that you don't need.

1. You've recently opened too many new credit accounts.

   Your FICO score was hurt because you recently opened too many new credit accounts. Opening several credit accounts in a short time period may indicate a risk of future repayment - especially for people with short credit histories.

   Actions you can take: Avoid opening more credit accounts at this time and as a general rule, if you don't need or plan to use credit, don't apply for it.

[KingAdrock]

Are you sure these are FICO, not FAKO? I ask because a true FICO of 825 is absurdly high. To have a score like that you should have no negatives of any kind...

[Miner]

I thought when you get scores that high, you start getting weird and contradictory negative quotes.  Such as having the same thing count both as a positive and a negative thing at the same time.  Several people here have complained about that.

[Anonymous]

Are those your only non-mortgage installment loans? Having one in your mix can sometimes add 20 points and would override the very minor negative of a CFL.

[Anonymous]

I also have a truck loan so only 3 loans out right now besides the mortgage. 

It's definitely a FICO score.  Experian.  The consumer finanance company is American General which I used quite a few times over the years to buy my bicycles with 0% financing.  American general doesn't do 0% financing unless you have great credit.  

[Junejer]

Honestly, the actual affect that a CFL has on your FICO score is overstated on these boards. I have even done so in the past. But, I know people (and know of people) who love to use the darn things and they have scores in the high 700s and low 800s.

[haulingthescoreup]

Those are classic carps that you get when your scores are that high, and they're reaching for things to grump about.

The CFL thing is usually the last criticism they can think of.

And people with high scores typically don't app that much, so you get spanked (lightly) for that, too.

What's odd is that I could swear reading that beginning fairly recently, 800+ scores no longer get negative comments.

Other than that one thing (and that might be a FICO Experian deal; you know how EX is), these are the negatives that I would have expected.

Very cool of a CU to give out FICO's!

[jsk300]

---

@KingAdrock wrote:
Are you sure these are FICO, not FAKO? I ask because a true FICO of 825 is absurdly high. To have a score like that you should have no negatives of any kind...

---

825 is high, but my GF has over 800 FICO with all 3 CRAs, with 835 being her highest.  Her lowest is 807.  It can be done! 

[Anonymous]

I too, find it hard to believe these are actual real FICO's.   Aside from 825 being unlikely and too high, saying "you have open too many recent accounts" should keep most of us from cracking 800.....

What Credit Union is this, so we can check it out? 

[Anonymous]

http://www.psecu.com/About_Us/News/Press_Release/2008/20080929.html