Our Forums' FICO High Achievers: Who has at least one FICO Score of 760 or above?

[vanillabean]

Why do people shop around? Why don't they window-shop around? It's very possible and riskfree.

[gbwhite1]

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@paramed3 wrote:
Lilybee first sentence out of my mouth at bank DO NOT PULL MY CREDIT that is why I kept them locked. I went in AT&T store guy ask me for my drivers license to ck on switching from sprint to them. He put it in a machine I said what are you doing he said it checks your credit. I grabbed my drivers license out of his hands. How could that pull my credit ? Anyway he would not have got it I had to unlock them for toyota dealer to pull when I bought truck. Safe to keep locked but you get no credit offers at all. I have not gotten a credit offer in years. I use to get them all the time with bad credit. Go figure. Has to be locks. Now with unlocked I don't feel safe. Everyone wants a fee to lock them.

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I understand your fears about this. I recently had my ID stolen and it scared me to death. It tooks months of hard work and effort to get the ID Theft off my record, but I stuck it out and managed to straighten things out. My credit scores are all over 760, not by a lot, but enough that I know I'm in good shape should I need a loan or purchase something. Don't be afraid, just remember to cross your t's and dot your i's and you'll be fine. Yeah, they all have fees, it's part of the game. Wishing you the best!

[LilyBee]

Inverse:

In response to your query, this happened to me when I was looking for a house mortgage back in 2005.  Maybe the rules changed since then.  My scores were good, but when I checked after purchasing the house, my scores had been lowered because I sought the best offers from mortgage companies.  I could not get an accurate estimate until I provided my ssn, so that companies could check my scores.  Thus, too many creditors (maybe 3 or 4) were listed on why my scores were lowered on Fico.  This also happened when I purchased automobiles.  [I was unable to access the URL you provided.]

Paramed and someone else mentioned 'locking' credit cards.  What does that mean?  I get tons of credit offers, but I don't need or want them; but, I've never 'locked' any card, I just use them sparingly.

[LilyBee]

My-Own-Fico:

For my part, I do 'window' shop at times for curiosity's sake.  But, when I'm serious about making a specific purchase, I do shop around for the best deal.   Fortunately, I haven't had to for awhile.  Also, when considering a major purchase, I haven't encountered a mortgage or auto lender (bank, Quicken Loans, et al.) who would give me a competitive price without requiring an SSN for my credit scores.  Maybe I'm in the wrong State, or  perhaps rules have changed since I haven't purchased anything major in awhile.

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@LilyBee wrote:

Inverse:

In response to your query, this happened to me when I was looking for a house mortgage back in 2005.  Maybe the rules changed since then.  My scores were good, but when I checked after purchasing the house, my scores had been lowered because I sought the best offers from mortgage companies.  I could not get an accurate estimate until I provided my ssn, so that companies could check my scores.  Thus, too many creditors (maybe 3 or 4) were listed on why my scores were lowered on Fico.  This also happened when I purchased automobiles.  [I was unable to access the URL you provided.]

Paramed and someone else mentioned 'locking' credit cards.  What does that mean?  I get tons of credit offers, but I don't need or want them; but, I've never 'locked' any card, I just use them sparingly.

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Locking your file prevents 3rd parties from accessing your credit file to commit fraud by stealing your info. I saw the lock/unlock feature with my trial TU credit monitoring membership. I can literally lock/un-lock my file in less than 30 seconds. However, I have no intension of paying monthly fees for any credit monitoring - so I can kiss the easy access goodbye.

A more general term is to freeze your credit file. If you don't have credit monitoring freezing/unfreezing requires letters and documentation to "motivate" the CRA to act. Another required motivating factor is payment of a fee - perhaps $5 to $10 per CB (unless your identity has already been compromised). There is significant lead/lag time with this process - perhaps 2 to 4 weeks from request to completion.

If you lock/freeze your reports, potential creditors can't access your info so you are SOL regarding new credit until you unlock/unfreeze.

Sounds painful - please no pain.

[Anonymous]

Myfico8/4 score range 740~790 in the last three years, i would really want to move over 800+ if possible. I do have a ten years old credit card, single late payment reported by Capital one July 2011, no others mixed account such as mortgage/auto/installment. 

ANY INPUT is very much appreciate

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Myfico8/4 score range 740~790 in the last three years, i would really want to move over 800+ if possible. I do have a ten years old credit card, single late payment reported by Capital one July 2011, no others mixed account such as mortgage/auto/installment. 

ANY INPUT is very much appreciate

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How many open credit cards do you have currently? You really need 3 minimum for top tier scoring. You don't need an open installment loan to get above 800 but if you don't have a closed one on file, that further limits score.

Sure, the late payment is a factor but your apparent lack of credit mix limits your score. Sure, if you have one card and get 2 more, score may drop due to associated hard inquiries (and a drop in AAoA) but the impact of inquiries will age off in 12 months. If you do get a couple cards, go for major credit cards such as a Discover card and another bank card (Visa or Mastercard).

Others may suggest you consider a personal loan through a credit union but, get the cards 1st ... assuming you only have the one now.

[Anonymous]

Do you meant i need to have three and use them every month? I have 6 credit cards and another six closed, most of the time i only use one or two of them. Since i have 6 credit cards, how should i use them? How long will bring me through if i am 750-770 now? I did just open two credit card last month thus new account and two hard inquiries too. Why go credit union instead of national bank? My plan is to get move over 800 using all my credit card/revolving account, which will help me get some mixed credit. Any input is very much appreciated.

[Thomas_Thumb]

No. I meant how many cards do you have that are not closed - which you state is 6. That is plenty of open cards for scoring purposes. So - no benefit in getting more cards to improve mix.

The # cards you use each month does not directly influence score. The important factors are:

1) # of cards that report a non zero balance when statements cut [no cards reporting a balance is bad for score, generally one card only is best and above 50% reporting a balance usually hurts score as well).

2) Ratio of total balance reported each month on all cards combined to combined (aggregate) credit limit fot ther cards. This is referred to as aggregate utilization (or AG UT%). For top tier scores, AG UT should be maintained under 9% - Example less than $4500 total balance on a $50,000 overall credit limit.

3) Keep balance reporting on any individual card under 30% of its limit (card UT under 30% while maintaining AG UT under 9%)

Your new hard inquiries will hold down your score until they reach 12 months age and no longer count in scoring. 

Cycling through your credit cards helps keep them from going dormant and being closed due to inactivity. However, frequency of use really does not build credit history nor credit score. It's a matter of letting accounts age and maintaining perfect payment history on all accounts.  The models want to see is paid as agreed, no lates and low utilization relative to credit limit.

I only mention a credit union as an option for a personal loan [as a means to get an installment loan on your file] - not for more credit cards. I have read that credit unions may have greater flexibility for early loan payments without penalities. Getting a personal loan through a bank would also work as would a car loan.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to get a high credit mix rating with credit cards alone.

[Anonymous]

Do i need to use all card or just one card regularly will be good? Other than keeping card UT below 30% and AG UT below 9%, what else can i do to move forward fico 8 800+?