800 club, mostly...

[Anonymous]

Just pulled my scores today, 2 of the 3 are over 800! Paying down my CC debt has really been paying off. Here is the score history:

03/03/2008 FICO: TU 661 / EQ 671 / EX 691
03/10/2008 FAKO: TU 715 / EQ 733 / EX 738 (privacyguard.com)
04/06/2008 FAKO: TU 719 / EQ 737 / EX 740 (privacyguard.com)
04/07/2008 FAKO: TU 767 (truecredit.com)
04/07/2008 FICO: TU 676
07/15/2008 FICO: TU 731 / EQ 805 / EX 832

Both of the scores over 800 say:
What’s hurting your FICO® score
Because your FICO® score is exceptionally high, there are no actionable negative factors present with your score. Continue to manage your credit as you currently are doing to maintain your very high FICO® score.

Nice!

The only negative on the TU report is "high balance" ($4697) and a 30-day late from Dec 2001 both of which will no longer be a factor in a matter of a few months. By next year, I should be in the 800 club "for real", and well positioned to buy my first home (assuming the market has recovered sufficiently).

Thanks to everyone for your support and knowledge.

Bob

[Anonymous]

Wow, congrats! Good job paying down everything and dealing with baddies. Assuming you have decent income, you're going to qualify for the best rates possible on your future home =) I hope I can come close to following your path in the next year.

[demi]

Congratulations...

Are you sure its worth waiting.....interest rates may be creeping up.

[Anonymous]

congrats

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Am I *sure* it's worth waiting? No. Not really. But I'd like to be completely out of debt and have some kind of a down payment. Right now, I'm still paycheck-to-paycheck while I pay off the last of my debt.

Personally, I've never liked the argument of low interest offsetting higher prices. All things being equal, I'd rather buy at a lower price and a higher interest rate than buy at a higher price and a lower interest rate. With a higher interest rate and a lower price, there's the possibility to refinance at some point (though there are no guarantees, obviously) and the potential for appreciation/equity is better (again, no guarantees). With lower interest and higher price, you may find yourself trapped or upside down. The principle I owe is more important to me more than the monthly payment.

I'm trying to keep my mind and my options open, though.

This is getting a little off-topic for this forum though. Maybe I'll start up a thread in the mortgage forum...

[demi]

Oh, definately worth waiting if you are still paying down debt and building up down payment.  Sorry, mistook...thought you were only waiting to get to 800...and I guess I was thinking there isn't much of a difference between what you would have in interest rates, especially since your median would already be over 800 and considering the potential for interest rates going up.  Congratualtions again on your achievement.  And I can completely understand the waiting, just went thru the same thing, although the first payment on my house will coincide with my last debt management payment...yehaah !

[Anonymous]

Bobski - can you give us some tidbits to explain your really high score?

For example....how old is your oldest TL?   Avg age of your accounts?  Do you have a mtg, auto loan and credit cards for a good mix?

[Anonymous]

Nice scores BobSki.  I hope to join you some day.

[Anonymous]

No mortgage, yet (maybe in about a year). A vast majority of CCs, though, (about half open, half closed) and 3 auto loans (all paid off, one about to drop off my report, I think). At one point, I had the "too many credit accounts" negative comment, but that disappeared once I got removed as an AU on my girlfriend's account (must have been right on the edge).

Some of the things myFICO.com says is currently say are helping my score are:
TU:
- "There is no evidence of a serious delinquency (60 days past due or greater) or derogatory description on your credit report." (0 accounts 60 days or more past due on my reports)
- "You've limited the use of your available credit." (Ratio of your revolving balances to your credit limits: 4%)
- "You have an established credit history." (Your oldest account was opened
13 Years, 8 Months ago. Average age of your accounts: 7 years)
EQ:
- "You have no missed payments on your credit accounts."
- "You've limited the use of your available credit" (Ratio of your revolving balances to your credit limits: 3%)
- "You have an established credit history." (Your oldest account was opened
13 Years, 2 Months ago. Average age of your accounts: 7 years)
- "You've shown recent use of credit cards."

Hope that helps!