FICO scoring issues

[Anonymous]

I have absolutely nothing negative on any of my credit reports, two had one inquiry on them - both from a Bank where a CD was opened, one had absolutely nothing on it, as I pay all of my bills on time, have no revolving credit, no mortgage, and no car payment.  However, my scores were 804, 798, and 815.  While these are definitely high scores, why aren't they 850?  My husband had two scores that were slightly lower than mine, but the one I had as 815, he had 826.  The only difference in our credit was that he had a zero interest no payment balance of under $1700 on his account, that we will pay next month. It was for one year.  Why?

[Anonymous]

You said you have no revolving credit - does that mean you have no revolving accounts open or simply none with balances.

You have great credit scores but FICO likes to see a mix of credit open and used responsibly, including revolving and installment accounts (both mortgage and non-mortgage). It is possible to get great scores without them, but a score near 850 itself would likely require a good credit mix.

If you do have open revolving accounts, you may want to let one account report a balance (even though you will pay it off before the due date) - this reflects activity that the FICO formula usually rewards for the first revolving account with a balance (it is usually slightly harmful for each additional account with a balance).

I wouldn't sweat it though - anything over 760 is gravy as you are eligible for the most favorable terms if all other lending factors are in line (income, debt to income ratio, etc).

[haulingthescoreup]

And another factor is the overall length of history on your accounts and your AAoA (average age of accounts.) For some things, you just have to have these figures up a bit higher.

[marty56]

IMHO no one could get a 850 score since everyone has some risk of default however low it might be.