i don't like my score!

[haulingthescoreup]

---

@Imhotrodcrazy wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

my fica score is 716 - i think it should be a lot better because:

i own real estate (free and clear)

i have no outstanding debts

i rarely use credit cards and they are automatically paid in full each month

i have money in the bank

so why is my score not better than 716?????

---

I happen to think and believe the way you do, however, I am from a much older generation.  That is the way we were taught.  To bad things are so screwed up today.  Maybe some day people  like you, will be viewed  and treated,  like they should be, that is, as an excellent credit risk.  I know most on the board will disagree with me, and that is fine.  I would rather be in your shoes with no debt and a score of 716 than up to my nose in debt with a hallowed 760-800 score.  It's just 2 cents, for what it is worth. 

---

Again, the issue is the score. Not whether OP is a good credit risk. IMO, way too much is being read into all this.

Any lender with a lick of sense will look at a lot of factors to decide whether someone is a good credit risk. FICO scoring doesn't attempt to do it all. It's just one factor that is meant to be looked at and evaluated in the light of other factors (debt, income, etc etc.)

One reason that scores have more prominence now is because of the cultural shift to I-want-to-find-out-NOW in terms of credit. While we used to be able to go down to the bank on the corner, shake hands with a loan officer, sit down and chat and review a credit request, and expect to hear back in a day or two, we now want to be able to app for something online and find out (= be accepted) immediately. The only way that that can be done is by relying more on metrics, instead of personal relationships. (If you prefer the older model, we have credit unions! --which I love.)

In some ways this is good, in other ways it's terrible. There are a lot of things that have changed since I started dirtying diapers in 1954, and many are for the worse.

It's everyone's right to decide how much they want to be on the credit grid, versus how much they want to do what makes sense to them. But an informed decision means knowing how all this stuff works, and then we can decide how much we want to do with it.

And by the way, DXH called yesterday to ask if I remembered what his FICO's are, lol, because he's thinking of refinancing the family home. I do --he was always in the low 800's or high 790's, depending on whether he let balances report on either of his two whole cards. He's old-school too, yet without even trying, his FICO's are high, probably because he still has a mortgage. But I know that he'd love to own the house free and clear. I just never could get him to agree to accelerate the mortgage payments.

At any rate, he's someone who has never tried to keep up with the Joneses, and in fact is a bit unclear as to who the Joneses are and what they do. He pays his bills, votes, keeps our adult kids' vehicles running, lets the cat in and out, is appalled by debt of any kind (other than mortgage, sigh), and yet has great FICO's. You don't have to sell your soul for high scores.

Again, it's just a score, folks. Just a number. As long as it stays higher than the number on the bathroom scale! 

[haulingthescoreup]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@marty56 wrote:

Most of us here have to deal with credit and a credit score since we are not millionares or a member of the recipient class.  If one wants a high credit score, they have to learn to play the game  is some fashion.  The rules are simple and it's just that simple.

---

i am neither a millionaire nor a member of the "recipient class" - i started working at age 13 and have worked every day since then - usually 10-12 hrs/day, often including holidays.  i am a member of the "i don't have to have what the joneses have" class though!   i think your comment was highly inappropriate and reflects badly on you

---

I think it's possible that you misinterpreted marty's comment. He is definitely one of our more restrained members here.

It reflects highly on you that you have no real estate debt! For most of us, unfortunately, a mortgage is an unpleasant fact of life until it can be paid off. Ideally, it can be paid off early, with a lot of work and stubborn determination, but most people have to at least start out borrowing part of the cost of a home.

Mortgage rates are definitely tied to FICO scores. If someone needs to get a mortgage, even for just the first 5 years or so, it behooves them to find out how to minimize the interest expense, and that generally means optimizing their FICO scores.

What he's saying essentially is that if -- IF -- you are bothered by your FICO score, it is possible to learn how to increase it without going into debt or other obnoxious practices. Around here, we often call that "playing the game", accompanied by a certain amount of eye-rolling. Yes, many of the tactics are silly, such as letting one card --not more, not 0 --report a tiny balance, but we're fortunate that we're aware of that tactic. It's something that can be used, again IF you want to improve your scores.

FICO scores aren't some sort of moral pronouncement on how we live our lives. They're the result of dreary statistical analysis, after looking at historical records (credit reports), and they show that when someone does A and B, C is more likely to result. They don't attempt to explain why this is; it's just noting that there's a statistical corelation. Like any statistic, we're free to act on it or not.

And as with any set of statistics, there are what are called "outliers" --cases that are not well described by the statistical formula. You're one of them. Two of my now-adult kids are others --ADHD with learning disabilities, yet they went on to graduate from college with honors. You can make yourself crazy by what a statistical formula seems to say about you, or you can shrug and note that it's an interesting little quirk, but that's all it is --a quirk.

edit: cna't splel

[Anonymous]

It's still a fact that your fico score is affected by

"you've recently used credit".  They frown on your not

using it.  So a little balance on one card will usually help

your score.

Not using it and zero balances will cause your score to

go down  Especially EQ.

I find that by using my cash back card I actually make

money.  Something to be said for that.

[marty56]

Most people go through their lives never checking their credit score or monitoring their credit and yet they are able to function in the world of credit and credit reports.  So if you don't like the game you don't have to play.

It is only when we come here in an effort to improve our credit do we get sucked into the FICO score game.  Funny thing is that anything we do to improve our FICO score has a positive benefit in our financial lives so even if we don't get the scores we want right away, we still get benefit.

it takes time to improve your FICO scores.  Some members here, myself included, cerdit repair journey has taken or will take 7 to 10 years.  It takes work, sacrifice, and patiience but it is worth it.