topic Why is my FICO score not higher!! in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Why is my FICO score not higher!!

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:50:35 GMT

I don’t understand what is going on with my FICO score, it is only 670-685. For the past 10-15 years, I have 100% on-time payments with 7 or more credit cards , I have less than 20% utilization on 3 of my credit cards and the others have 0$ balances. I have owned a home for 7 years miss zero payments, Paid off 3 brand new vehicles. And I have had an income of over 140K a year for the past 4 years. My score should be higher!! Every standard indicator should point to me having a higher score. I hope someone can help point out an answer, before I start indicating other social factors and start playing certain types of cards (if you know what I mean). Because my friend’s credit isn’t as good as mine he has a higher FICO score than me. Everything on my report is correct and there is absolutely nothing negative on it, What is the issue? .

Re: Why is my FICO score not higher!!

LionLaw — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:15:17 GMT

It could be a few things. What factors does your FICO report list as bringing your score down?

If you get all but one of your cards down to $0, and the last one down to 1%-9% of its CL, you will maximize your score on that front.

Do you have any new accounts/inquiries in the past year? What is your AAoA?

Do you have any negative marks on your credit report--bankruptcy, late payments, charge-offs, collections (either paid or unpaid)?

It sounds like there are a lot of positives on your credit report. If you give us a more complete picture, we might be able to tell you how you can get your score up to where it should be.

Re: Why is my FICO score not higher!!

llecs — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:13:22 GMT

Great questions above...

I'll add, where are you getting your scores from?

Have you purchased a FICO report from here? If so, what are the negative descriptions on the 2nd page? It'll rank them in order from what hurts the most to what hurts the least.

Are any accts new? If so, how new?

You mentioned 20% utilization. You could bump up your score a bit by paying these down to under 10%. Ideally for max points, get all CCs to report $0 except for one and get one to report under 9% of the CL.

Are you certain the CCs are reporting 20% and 0% respectively? You can pay them down to 20% and still have a higher balance reporting.

Finally, ignore the income. It doesn't matter per FICO.

ETA...welcome to the forums!

Re: Why is my FICO score not higher!!

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:13:08 GMT

No new accounts within the past 3 years. There is absolutely nothing negative on my report. I checked everything. I had a car loan balance that still shows. But I just paid it off about a month ago with 100% timely payments and its the third car within 10 yrs, all were brand new cars . There are 2 inquires on my report from a company called "LandSafe". Within the past 2 years. I was online and requested a inquiry only about re-financing to get a lower rate. I never applied for anything or even signed anything But for some reason they ran my credit. They told me that it has "no impact", they were partially right because my score was still around 685. Also, my credit cards balances have been even higher in the past. But my score has stayed around 685 it maxed at one point at 700. With even high balances. I used the "credit simulator" too simulate how my score would improve if I paid off everything it still only went up 20 points. Basically my credit Is perfect and has been for 10 years. What am I missing?

Re: Why is my FICO score not higher!!

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:14:21 GMT

Also, yes I used this site to retrieve my score, and it was 675 another site had me at 685.

Re: Why is my FICO score not higher!!

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:18:02 GMT

Have you pulled your reports from annualcreditreport.com? If you haven't I would. They tend to be more detailed than the ones from 3rd party sites.

Re: Why is my FICO score not higher!!

llecs — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:32:45 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
No new accounts within the past 3 years. There is absolutely nothing negative on my report. I checked everything. I had a car loan balance that still shows. But I just paid it off about a month ago with 100% timely payments and its the third car within 10 yrs, all were brand new cars . There are 2 inquires on my report from a company called "LandSafe". Within the past 2 years. I was online and requested a inquiry only about re-financing to get a lower rate. I never applied for anything or even signed anything But for some reason they ran my credit. They told me that it has "no impact", they were partially right because my score was still around 685. Also, my credit cards balances have been even higher in the past. But my score has stayed around 685 it maxed at one point at 700. With even high balances. I used the "credit simulator" too simulate how my score would improve if I paid off everything it still only went up 20 points. Basically my credit Is perfect and has been for 10 years. What am I missing?

OP, list out the negative reasons on your FICO report. It's on the 2nd page. That's where you'd want to start.

Re: Why is my FICO score not higher!!

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:36:42 GMT

I purchased the basic credit report directly from all 3 major bureaus and went over them they are all exactly the same. I did not purchase the FICO score from any of them it just expensive . But the score and reports are just about consistent from even the third parties. The reason this is important to me is because I have tried hard to as responsible as I can to make sure I do what I am supposed to do by paying my debts on time for years. Now with my history I expect better inertest rates. I am looking to buy a new car in about 3 months. There shouldn't be any reason why I shouldn't get the lowest possible rate. Prime rate! . Plus, you can't shop for rates because if you do it shows up as an inquiry then that drops your scores even more. This is very Frustrating.

Re: Why is my FICO score not higher!!

LionLaw — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:37:21 GMT

agreed with llecs. The FICO score that you got from this site should list the top 3-4 factors that are bringing your score down, and provide some explanation of those factors. What does it say for you?

Re: Why is my FICO score not higher!!

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:38:35 GMT

I checked the second page. It listed no activity , in fact its a very short page

Re: Why is my FICO score not higher!!

LionLaw — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:41:37 GMT

Just saw your new comment... the scores you're getting are not FICO scores; those scores are not used by lenders, and the scoring methods they use can be quite different from FICO. If this is something you're concerned about, buy a score report from this site, and you'll get a real FICO score with a full explanation of why your score is where it is.

Re: Why is my FICO score not higher!!

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:45:43 GMT

He did get his score from here.

Re: Why is my FICO score not higher!!

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:00:57 GMT

yes, I was on the Walmart site to pay off my credit card, it has a link directly to this site. So, i bought the full report.

Re: Why is my FICO score not higher!!

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:57:03 GMT

i did this was what I pulled it from. heres some of the info:

It only says one thing "You've made heavy use of your available revolving credit." But, then on the report it says credit utilization 8.5% Total $45,000 used $3,850

Why is high considered high?

Re: Why is my FICO score not higher!!

llecs — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:00:06 GMT

Overall it's good, but are any of the cards over 10%? You mentioned you were at 20% on some.

What other negatives are there on that 2nd page?

How recent is your most recent acct?

What are the positives on the other side of the page?

Re: Why is my FICO score not higher!!

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:08:53 GMT

No, But at one point I had one card over 60% which was the Walmart card only had a 1,500 limit. I paid it off, then they increase it to 2,500. Now it has $300 balance. but I have visas, mastercards they all have 5k limits and up. I never use them.

Everything looks good. The report is All "A" and one B which is credit history - oldest account is only 9yrs and 8 months old.

Re: Why is my FICO score not higher!!

LionLaw — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:19:22 GMT

With the history you've given us--good credit mix, low CC balances, no new accounts, few inquiries, no late payments, no public records, no negatives of any kind--it seems like your score should be considerably higher than the 680s. Something is not adding up here. I don't really know what to tell you.

Re: Why is my FICO score not higher!!

llecs — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:21:59 GMT

A 'B' in credit history? That scoring system is a non-FICO (called VantageScore). Definitely don't rely on those scores or even advice. You can be in the mid 600s with those scores and still have FICOs in the mid to high 700s at the same time.

Why did they list that as a "B" though? If you purchased a report via myFICO look on the Accounts page. Look for any red flags. That'll be a good indicator of any specific accounts that are viewed as a negative.

Re: Why is my FICO score not higher!!

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:23:10 GMT

Yeah, This has consfued me for years. Now i am ready to buy a new car. i should get the best rate. in fact the lowest. What can I do?

Re: Why is my FICO score not higher!!

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:28:12 GMT