@Anonymous wrote:
@Subexistence wrote:Thank you for your reply. Sorry if my post was not very clear. The main issue is should I get a really high score I never use or a medium high score that I use a lot. I hope that clarifies this a bit.
The key word you use is should. That's a value word. When you get into the world of vaues it's much harder for us here to say that a person has the "right" values or not. The more important thing is knowing or discovering what your values are, what are the things you want in life, and then making plans to achieve the things you value.
If a person feel likes he will just get a lot of pleasure out of having a perfect 850, it's hard to say that's a "wrong" value. It's just something that person wants, something that'll make him happy. If so, then it'll be basically impossible to have that and also be opening a couple new credit cards every year, grabbing big signup bonuses, etc.
If a person doesn't care about needing a score that is near perfect (840+ say) then he's got more options. Then he has to look at whether opening new accounts and getting bonuses (as one example) will make him happy -- again what does he value? Getting lots of bonuses does make me happy (I also chase savings and checking bonuses) -- but of course it requires some amount of work. My father (who's wealthy and in his 80s) doesn't need the bonus money and values using the time I spend chasing them to hang out with my mom, playing golf and bridge, etc.
Neither my dad nor myself have the right values -- just different ones.
To the extent that we can respond in terms of objective fact rather than value, Revelate's response this morning was spot on. Your question...
should I get a really high score I never use or a medium high score that I use a lot
... presupposes that you can't have really high scores (800+) and also be opening half a dozen new credit cards a year and getting massive signup bonuses (or whatever else you want to leverage your score for). This is untrue. I am a huge CC bonus chaser (about six new cards a year or a bit more -- and that doesn't count the business cards I have opened to chase their signup bonsues). And my scores hover between 800 and 815. My situation is pretty common.
Before I got turned on by the bonus chasing hobby, I had a far smaller number of credit cards (3) and a score around 840.
My goal and vlue is optimizing financial and savings benefits. Basically get the most money from using credit scores. I guess in this case I would be aiming at bonuses like you.
Starting Score: Ex08-732,Eq08-713,Tu08-717
@Anonymous wrote:The problem with seeking a single equation that would accurately describe the "benefit" that accrues to people is that that what constitutes a benefit to Bob is not necessarily the same as what will be considered a benefit by John. This is because different people have different things they value. See my response to you about 20 minutes ago -- I use myself and my father as case studies.
It's possible, however, that you are asking an incredibly simple question, the answer for which I can promise you no calculus is needed. :-)
Namely: is there a point beyond which a FICO score just gives you bragging rights? I.e. it does not increase the probability of approval or secure best interest rates?
The number varies according to the credit product one is pursuing, and as SouthJ and others have reminded us certain products use different FICO models. But 760 is pretty accurate for the moment and for most products. For example in a mortgage I think 740 is all your need but to secure best terms for PMI the score number may be higher, like 760.
So if a person decides that the extra time and effort he spends chasing extra credit lines is worth it, he just needs to gradually integrate those chasing behaviors into his life, making sure they are still giving him pleasure/benefit vs. the work they entail, while monitoring his scores to make sure they remain well above 760.
Personally my own line in the sand is 800 for FICO 8 (Classic and Auto and Bankcard), just because I like having a buffer, and 780 for the mortgage models. (Incidentally having a mortgage score above 800 for all three bureaus is a bit of a challenge. With Equifax, for example, there is a theoretical maximum of 818 for one's mortgage score, rather than the 850 ceiling one finds in FICO 8.)
Having equations to model benefit and each person having different values don't have to conflict. Each person could simply have their own equation with you and your father having different equations with different optimizations. I just like working with equations as a math major. I guess there is consensus that 760 plus a safety buffer is the best option. In that case my questions is answered.
