FICO and Credit Cards

[Anonymous]

I have a Visa with 6.9% interest with a limit of $19.500. I owe about $800.00. At the time I bought my last home one of the reports stated that I had to much available credit, even though I had a zero balance. I have also never had a loan go to maturity and the explanation for a lower score was that businesses plan to make interest over the life of the loan and when paid off early loose money. I am just wondering what the @#$* I should do as I have had loans since 1969 with never a late payment or any negative issues with my credit. I hope to buy a new home in 2010 if there is still an economy and I will have no outstanding debts. ANYTHING that can be suggested to help up my FICO score would be helpful. I financed a new vehicle in 2006 which will be paid for (early) in Dec of 2009. I have a fair Issac of 888 but that doesn't give me any info on building my FICO. HELP PLEASE!!

[Anonymous]

FICO scores only go up to 850, so it sounds like you bought another company's credit score. As you may know most of these are rarely used by lenders. "Classic" mortgage geared FICO scores are almost always used as a tool by lenders. That said - without knowing your report, you likely have a very long history and a great FICO score as long as your utility is low.

Messages like you have too much available credit sounds like one of the weird lines another credit scoring system would use - it means nothing to FICO though.

I wouldn't worry, if your utility is low (under 9% of available revolving credit in use) and you have never missed a payment your FICO score will not hold you back from a new mortgage. These days lenders will look harder at your income, debt to income ratio, job history, and other factors though.

Welcome to the forums!

[haulingthescoreup]

Yes, those are definitely FAKO (non-FICO) nuggets of advice. FICO won't tell you to leave an installment loan open, paying unnecessary interest, nor will it tell you that you have too much available interest.

Comments like these are one of the reasons that I dislike FAKO's so much. Following FAKO advice will sometimes actually damage your FICO scores.

I did notice that myFICO is offering 20% on Credit Complete through July 31. The code is Summer20. (I always miss these things, because they're on the home page, and I bookmarked the log-in page.)

Do realize that if you buy through Credit Complete, the scores will only display for 30 days plus change, so be sure to print out the reports or save them in the printable version on your computer.