Need help

[ficonightmare]

Ok so where to start?

Last year, my husband who has a fico score above 800, told me to check mine before we purchase an apartment,.I knew mine was going to be low because of 1 late payment (over 120 days) and another dispute I had with my Gap card. Also,  I never used credit cards (other than my debit) except for the two my husband gave me by adding me to his accounts, so he's the primary account holder. Anyway, I check experian on 7/09 and was horrified, but not terribly shocked to see a score of 618.

Suffice it to say we decided on putting off buying.

Fast forward -In the last year I opened my own  credit cards (2), paid on time, kept my debt low, and tried everything I could to raise that  score. As of today, I'm 712 with experian, 711 with equifax, and 725 with transunion.  BUT, now that I've been checking online I see that's not too good.

What else can I do to improve my FICO score? I'm in the middle of a dispute with one of the lenders (GAP) because I paid that card twice. They even issued me a refund but they refuse to take it off. It'll come off on it's own in one more year (11/11), but is there anything else I can do in the meantime to raise my score to above 750?

The reason this is so important to me is interest rates. Buying an apartment in Manhattan is very expensive- even with 40% down. So I'm trying to do anything, and everything to get the lowest interest rate possible.

Thanks in advance, and sorry for the long winded post.

[llecs]

Welcome to the forums!

I'd suggest reading the following:

Common Abbreviations

Credit Scoring 101 - great for knowing what is in your credit score and to see how your score is impacted.

First off, unless your scores came from your lender, and assuming they came from the same source, then unfortunately they aren't FICO scores. Other than myFICO.com, you can get your EQ FICO from Equifax.com or from your lender. Other than myFICO.com, you can also get your TU FICO from transunioncs.com (note the -cs) and from your lender. Finally, as of last year, Experian no longer allows consumers to pull their own EX FICO score, but you can get it from your lender or on your checking statement if you happen to have a checking account with a CU in PA called PSECU. Any other score from any other source are not FICO scores, but a knock-off we call FAKOs.

Your FICO scores can easily be higher or lower than the ones you posted. If you happen to pull FICO scores similar to those, then know that 710-725 range is on the high end of the good/low end of the very good range. You'd be in good shape for a great rate. Also know that your lender will pull all 3 FICO scores for both you and your DH. The lender will then look at the middle score of the three and use the lowest of the two mid-scores as a basis for the rate.

For max points with the CCs, and assuming you only have these two reporting, get one to report $0 and the other to report a balance of under 9% of the CL. I noticed that your DH added you as an AU. AU accounts count in FICO scoring so, rephrasing, you'd want all but one CC to report $0 with the remaining reporting a balance of under 9%.

For your GAP card, you can always try sending a goodwill letter asking them to delete. It may or may not work but always worth a shot. Now if this is your oldest or one of your oldest TLs, then I wouldn't do anything. It's always possible to lose points if it gets deleted and it was one of your oldest TLs.

[ficonightmare]

thanks so much for your response.

I got the Equifax and TransUnion score from this site (myfico.com) but went to experian.com for their score.

Thank you for the links and the info. as well. I've been going through all the threads on this forum like crazy for the last few hours.

Great site with loads of information.

I usually keep between a 12-15% balance on one card. Thought that was better. Thanks for the 9% tip. Will pay it down.

I also didn't realize that writing them a goodwill letter may cause me to lose points. I guess I'll wait for the 7 year mark.

One more newb question. Does my FICO score affect my DH at all? He's not an AU on my cards.

[mkm77]

I'm a Mortgage Loan officer and really, you shouldn't worry too much about your score.  Based on where your score currently is, you should see no more than .125% worse rate than if you had a much higher score. Our best terms come at 740 for example with a "hit" for every 20 points below that. The "hit" sometimes is insignificant but the real key now a days is to stay above 700.

[llecs]

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@ficonightmare wrote:

thanks so much for your response.

I got the Equifax and TransUnion score from this site (myfico.com) but went to experian.com for their score.

Thank you for the links and the info. as well. I've been going through all the threads on this forum like crazy for the last few hours.

Great site with loads of information.

I usually keep between a 12-15% balance on one card. Thought that was better. Thanks for the 9% tip. Will pay it down.

I also didn't realize that writing them a goodwill letter may cause me to lose points. I guess I'll wait for the 7 year mark.

One more newb question. Does my FICO score affect my DH at all? He's not an AU on my cards.

---

I recently posted a thread about going from 70% util down to 3%. IME and recently, I went from 14% to 9% util on EQ and saw a 11 point bump. Then I went from 9% to 1% and saw a 3 point increase. On TU I went from 14% to 10% and gained only 3 points but went from 10% to 3% and gained 23 points. Every little bit helps.

If that GAP card is one of your oldest, I wouldn't do anything. You're in great shape as it is.

Your FICO score is calculated at the exact moment your report is pulled (via your lender or myFICO) and is based on what is reporting on your report at that moment. Generally speaking, your FICO score has no impact on your DH's or vice-versa. Now if you have a joint account or one of you is an AU off the other's account, then that'll certainly play into your FICO score or his. If you have a positive history on that account, then he does too. If you have high or low util on that card, then he does too. If you default, then that'll report on his too. So the FICO score has no impact on his but any accounts you have between each other do impact the other's report. Since meither of you have shared accounts, then there's no impact either way.

[ficonightmare]

llecs, and mkm77. Thank you.

I'm still looking through all the threads and even checked my husbands score through myfico. he's still over 800 with TransUnion and Equifax. After what you wrote, I figured going to Experian and getting theirs was pointless.

So, I'm still going to try to get it somewhere near the 740-750 mark. Hopefully by January, and then we'll try to get pre-approved.

Out of curiousity, why do FAKO scores even exist? I had no idea that sites like freecreditreport etc. don't give you your FICO score. I was discussing it with a colleague today and they didn't either. In fact, I'm sure most people are clueless. Is there any point to FAKO at all?

Thanks again for all the help. Much appreciated.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@ficonightmare wrote:

llecs, and mkm77. Thank you.

I'm still looking through all the threads and even checked my husbands score through myfico. he's still over 800 with TransUnion and Equifax. After what you wrote, I figured going to Experian and getting theirs was pointless.

So, I'm still going to try to get it somewhere near the 740-750 mark. Hopefully by January, and then we'll try to get pre-approved.

Out of curiousity, why do FAKO scores even exist? I had no idea that sites like freecreditreport etc. don't give you your FICO score. I was discussing it with a colleague today and they didn't either. In fact, I'm sure most people are clueless. Is there any point to FAKO at all?

Thanks again for all the help. Much appreciated.

---

They make lots and lots of money for the companies who issue them.

They have to pay for all those commercials, you know.

[ficonightmare]

That's pretty funny. But still wrong.

A commercial came on for freecreditreport.com last night and I was watching it closely. Trying to see if they mention, or write that they don't report your FICO score. Nope, nothing.  False advertising in my opinion. Wonder if experian will refund me my 15 bucks for the useless info.

[MarineVietVet]

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@ficonightmare wrote:

That's pretty funny. But still wrong.

A commercial came on for freecreditreport.com last night and I was watching it closely. Trying to see if they mention, or write that they don't report your FICO score. Nope, nothing.  False advertising in my opinion. Wonder if experian will refund me my 15 bucks for the useless info.

---

In the purest sense it's not really false advertising. They sell you exactly what they say they will; i.e a "credit score". What they neglect to say is that most lenders don't use the "scores" they sell.

Most definitely IMO misleading.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802
EQ - 7/06-663, 3/10-800, 10/10-813
TU - 10/10-774
You can do the same thing with hard work

[llecs]

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@ficonightmare wrote:

That's pretty funny. But still wrong.

A commercial came on for freecreditreport.com last night and I was watching it closely. Trying to see if they mention, or write that they don't report your FICO score. Nope, nothing.  False advertising in my opinion. Wonder if experian will refund me my 15 bucks for the useless info.

---

Credit score trickery.

Freecreditreport used to have a FAQ section on their home page and it used to mention outright that they didn't offer FICO scores, but you'd still have to dig for that info. Now they made it harder to find. You actually have to start the registration process to find the FAQ and even then that are ambiguous as to whether or not they use a FICO score:

Why is this score different from the one I got somewhere else?

It's a common credit myth that there is only one way to calculate a Credit Score. Many lenders use their own customized calculations. All three bureaus offer different calculations, and there are multiple "FICO" score calculations. There are estimates that say there are over 1,000 different Credit Scores in use. For more information about different score models, we recommend you read this article on Experian.com. (http://www.experian.com/ask_max/max080807b.html)

The score calculation used on freecreditreport.com is the PLUS Score, which is the standard calculation offered by Experian.

While a PLUS score is a FAKO score, the average guy off the street inspired by a singing waiter wearing a pirate hat may not know that a PLUS score is not a FICO score especially with the mention of "multiple 'FICO' score calculations".

BTW, another notorious company is TrueCredit. They were honest about their score, but only after you paid them to sign up. At the bottom of their Score page, they mentioned their FAKO score (Vantage) was not a FICO and included a sentence or two but it was all greyed out and very difficult to see.