A nice surprise... and a question

[Anonymous]

Yesterday morning I wake up and sort through the emails on my phone. One of them was a score alert. I jump online to find that my score had shot up from 710 to 751. This from 650 back in October.

My question is, with a credit history that only extends back four years, my highest CL being $1200, and no mortgages or car loans to my name, what's the highest score I could realistically hope to achieve? I'm guessing the 770-780 range is doable without much difficulty. I'm finally in a position to start charging everything and paying it off every month so that should help out as well.

[Jazzzy]

It's a bit tricky to guess a potential high score. I don't know how many credit cards or other tradelines you have. You may have what is called a "thin" credit file...not much going on.

My daughter recently bought a home at the age of 31. She has had a Discover for quite a few years, and she had a paid off car loan. That's it. We were surprised to see a FICO of 805 for her. I haven't checked her score now that she has a mortgage.

A high score can happen with a thin file. Make sure you have a "bank" credit card. FICO likes to see that. Also, it's great that you will be paying in full. Let us know what else is on your credit reports. Other accounts?

And...congratulations on the nice jump!!!

[DI]

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@LynetteM wrote:

It's a bit tricky to guess a potential high score. I don't know how many credit cards or other tradelines you have. You may have what is called a "thin" credit file...not much going on.

My daughter recently bought a home at the age of 31. She has had a Discover for quite a few years, and she had a paid off car loan. That's it. We were surprised to see a FICO of 805 for her. I haven't checked her score now that she has a mortgage.

A high score can happen with a thin file. Make sure you have a "bank" credit card. FICO likes to see that. Also, it's great that you will be paying in full. Let us know what else is on your credit reports. Other accounts?

And...congratulations on the nice jump!!!

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My TU score has been as high as 771 without a mortgage reporting.  If I had a longer credit history it probably could be higher.  Unfortunately, I'm not an AU's on anybody's account with a longer credit history.  

[Jazzzy]

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@DI wrote:

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@LynetteM wrote:

It's a bit tricky to guess a potential high score. I don't know how many credit cards or other tradelines you have. You may have what is called a "thin" credit file...not much going on.

My daughter recently bought a home at the age of 31. She has had a Discover for quite a few years, and she had a paid off car loan. That's it. We were surprised to see a FICO of 805 for her. I haven't checked her score now that she has a mortgage.

A high score can happen with a thin file. Make sure you have a "bank" credit card. FICO likes to see that. Also, it's great that you will be paying in full. Let us know what else is on your credit reports. Other accounts?

And...congratulations on the nice jump!!!

---

My TU score has been as high as 771 without a mortgage reporting.  If I had a longer credit history it probably could be higher.  Unfortunately, I'm not an AU's on anybody's account with a longer credit history.  

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I assume that the mortgage on her report will lower her score. I don't even know why I assume that...basically because she had such a thin file to begin with. She wasn't an AU on a card when she had the 805, but now she is (a 23 y/o Sears Citi MC). Maybe the AU will help balance off a loss from the mortgage being so new, etc.

[Anonymous]

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@LynetteM wrote:

It's a bit tricky to guess a potential high score. I don't know how many credit cards or other tradelines you have. You may have what is called a "thin" credit file...not much going on.

My daughter recently bought a home at the age of 31. She has had a Discover for quite a few years, and she had a paid off car loan. That's it. We were surprised to see a FICO of 805 for her. I haven't checked her score now that she has a mortgage.

A high score can happen with a thin file. Make sure you have a "bank" credit card. FICO likes to see that. Also, it's great that you will be paying in full. Let us know what else is on your credit reports. Other accounts?

And...congratulations on the nice jump!!!

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Credit and debit through Chase, along with multiple from HSBC, one from CapOne, and one from GE Moneybank (which I really hate and want to close, but it's my oldest). Not that bad, but could probably be better.

[Jazzzy]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Credit and debit through Chase, along with multiple from HSBC, one from CapOne, and one from GE Moneybank (which I really hate and want to close, but it's my oldest). Not that bad, but could probably be better.

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Looks like you've got a lot going on. That's good.

And you say you can now start paying them in full each month. With a bit of time, you will grow a very nice score. Congratulations.

[Anonymous]

Well... mostly in full. I just bought a TV and it'll take maybe two months to pay that off. But yeah after that it's cake.