Clark Howard says

[llecs]

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@MarineVietVet wrote:

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@namvet wrote:

I'm sure most of you have heard of HLN's Clark Howard the money expert/financial guru.  Today he said he was on Credit Karma and he has a score of 769.  He went on to say that he doesn't understand why some people are trying to get into the 800 club because anything above 760 is only useful to boost your ego.  It appears he has been out surfing some of the credit forums.  Just a few years ago we measured credit risk/ego as anything above 720 was stellar.  So why is it so many want that 800+ score?

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I listen to CH sometimes and he can give some pretty good advice but I'm disappointed that he doesn't appear to know how pretty much useless those scores from CK are and I wonder if that score - 769 - is a TransRisk (not used by any lenders) score or a VantageScore (used by very few lenders).

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That was my first thought. My father insisted I listen to him and decided to listen to him online via his radio show. He indicated in the past the differences between FICOs and FAKOs. I'm also surprised he'd put faith into Vantage knowing that lenders don't touch them. I'm possible I haven't listened enough, though.

[namvet]

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@MarineVietVet wrote:

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@namvet wrote:

I'm sure most of you have heard of HLN's Clark Howard the money expert/financial guru.  Today he said he was on Credit Karma and he has a score of 769.  He went on to say that he doesn't understand why some people are trying to get into the 800 club because anything above 760 is only useful to boost your ego.  It appears he has been out surfing some of the credit forums.  Just a few years ago we measured credit risk/ego as anything above 720 was stellar.  So why is it so many want that 800+ score?

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I listen to CH sometimes and he can give some pretty good advice but I'm disappointed that he doesn't appear to know how pretty much useless those scores from CK are and I wonder if that score - 769 - is a TransRisk (not used by any lenders) score or a VantageScore (used by very few lenders).

 Yea i'm a little surprise about that as well.  Maybe he's got a deal with Credit Karma.  I heard him speak of them before.

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[drkaje]

I hope he's educated about FAKOs and just steering people towards a free service.

Also, not all FICOs are created equal. You could easily be buying a different version than used by the intended lending institution and really have no idea how they see you on paper.

[ztnjpv]

Clark is right about his point. If anyone thinks there's a real-world difference between a 750 and an 800+, you're looking at your credit score too much. It doesn't take much reading to know that the rate of return on a score over 750 is pretty flat. It really is just an ego boost. It really, really is. My local bank branch manager showed me the credit score tiers for interest rates. 740ish and above all got the same "top rate". An 800+ is just so you can glow and grin when the loan officer sees your score.

Sure, there may be some overly prestigious credit card for people in up near 800 and beyond, but in any realistic, every day application, it's all the same above a certain threshold in the mid 700s. 

As for plugging for CK, I think it's safe to assume that someone like Clark knows perfectly well the difference between FICOs and FAKOs. A place to get an approximation for free is good thing. Giving CK a plug for that is a good thing. It's not Clark's job to throw out a disclaimer every time he quotes a FAKO score. 

[MarineVietVet]

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@ztnjpv wrote:

Clark is right about his point. If anyone thinks there's a real-world difference between a 750 and an 800+, you're looking at your credit score too much. It doesn't take much reading to know that the rate of return on a score over 750 is pretty flat. It really is just an ego boost. It really, really is. My local bank branch manager showed me the credit score tiers for interest rates. 740ish and above all got the same "top rate". An 800+ is just so you can glow and grin when the loan officer sees your score.

Sure, there may be some overly prestigious credit card for people in up near 800 and beyond, but in any realistic, every day application, it's all the same above a certain threshold in the mid 700s. 

As for plugging for CK, I think it's safe to assume that someone like Clark knows perfectly well the difference between FICOs and FAKOs. A place to get an approximation for free is good thing. Giving CK a plug for that is a good thing. It's not Clark's job to throw out a disclaimer every time he quotes a FAKO score. 

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I must respectfully disagree. I believe it's his responsiblity to give all pertinent information every time he talks about credit scores. There might be a viewer who only watches CH one time and gets the false impression that all scores are alike and is therefore not as well informed and educated as they should be.

I feel the same way here at myFICO. I believe we would be doing new members a big disservice if we failed to mention each and every tme the subject of FAKO's come up how it is important to educate oneself about how different "scores" can be.

[ztnjpv]

As a Marine Vet, I'm sure you can appreciate the ideas of diligence and not catering to the lowest common denominator. You learned, I learned, other posters learned. And there was a time we didn't know the difference either.

As people need to know, knowledge comes. 

 As for this forum, that's different. This is a credit specific forum with time and interest in elaborating. I'm all for educating on the specifics and being educated. I've learned a lot here myself. 

[namvet]

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@MarineVietVet wrote:

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@ztnjpv wrote:

Clark is right about his point. If anyone thinks there's a real-world difference between a 750 and an 800+, you're looking at your credit score too much. It doesn't take much reading to know that the rate of return on a score over 750 is pretty flat. It really is just an ego boost. It really, really is. My local bank branch manager showed me the credit score tiers for interest rates. 740ish and above all got the same "top rate". An 800+ is just so you can glow and grin when the loan officer sees your score.

Sure, there may be some overly prestigious credit card for people in up near 800 and beyond, but in any realistic, every day application, it's all the same above a certain threshold in the mid 700s. 

As for plugging for CK, I think it's safe to assume that someone like Clark knows perfectly well the difference between FICOs and FAKOs. A place to get an approximation for free is good thing. Giving CK a plug for that is a good thing. It's not Clark's job to throw out a disclaimer every time he quotes a FAKO score. 

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I must respectfully disagree. I believe it's his responsiblity to give all pertinent information every time he talks about credit scores. There might be a viewer who only watches CH one time and gets the false impression that all scores are alike and is therefore not as well informed and educated as they should be.

I feel the same way here at myFICO. I believe we would be doing new members a big disservice if we failed to mention each and every tme the subject of FAKO's come up how it is important to educate oneself about how different "scores" can be.

  +1 I agree on the education.  We all how important understanding Fico scores is but the general public is still in the 1st grade in this area.  They probably should be teaching this in school (maybe they are now since i haven't been to school in a few years).  A big part of my job as a mortgage banker was to educate my clients on Fico scores.  I saw a lot of improvement since we adopted fico scores in 1995. 

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[MarineVietVet]

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@ztnjpv wrote:

As a Marine Vet, I'm sure you can appreciate the ideas of diligence and not catering to the lowest common denominator. You learned, I learned, other posters learned. And there was a time we didn't know the difference either.

As people need to know, knowledge comes. 

 As for this forum, that's different. This is a credit specific forum with time and interest in elaborating. I'm all for educating on the specifics and being educated. I've learned a lot here myself. 

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Again I need to respectfully disagree. The Marine Corps taught me (everyone in the Corps actually ) that you must cater to all including the lowest common denominator. That way everyone is brought to the same level of training and unit cohesion.

Maybe it's just a Marine Corps thing and no one else can ever understand. 

[Anonymous]

CH isn't a big fan of credit or credit companies. He doesn't see much value in having great credit vs. superb credit with someone you shouldn't really be dealing with anyways.

And my god is that man cheap. =)

[haulingthescoreup]

Well, maybe you don't need to hit 800, but if I were going for a big-time credit decision (think mortgage), I wouldn't want to hit 760 or whatever and rest. It's so easy for an extra card to report or something and drop your score at just the wrong moment.

Nothing wrong with a cushion, I say.