i don't like my score!

[Anonymous]

my fica score is 716 - i think it should be a lot better because:

i own real estate (free and clear)

i have no outstanding debts

i rarely use credit cards and they are automatically paid in full each month

i have money in the bank

so why is my score not better than 716?????

[SocalMark]

Yes I agree what score would you like.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

my fica score is 716 - i think it should be a lot better because:

i own real estate (free and clear)

i have no outstanding debts

i rarely use credit cards and they are automatically paid in full each month

i have money in the bank

so why is my score not better than 716?????

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Hi, welcome to the forums!

Without trying to get into the whole thing in one post, FICO scores are risk scores, meaning that they try to predict the probability that you will default on some sort of credit product (CC, auto loan, mortgages, line of credit, etc.) To come up with a score, the formula looks at how you've handled credit in the past, and how you're handling it now.

Since you rarely use your CC's, you haven't created much of a track record. 716 is about what I would expect for someone either new to credit or barely using it, who has no negatives.

Things not included in scoring:

income

checking and savings

net worth, including real estate ownership, investments, etc

debt which isn't reported to the credit bureaus (loans from family and so forth)

age, race, employment, marital status, height, weight, etc etc

[Anonymous]

i have used cc's extensively in the past (always paid off entire balance automatically) - now i switched to debit cards because i get a good deal on the balance remaining in the account.  my mortgage payments were also automatically debited (mortgage paid off now), so how come my fico score's not higher???

[laz98]

if it has been several years since you used your credit cards more regularly, they may be showing on your reports as inactive, meaning they aren't really seeing any usage.  i believe this could be a contributing factor to your scores.

[Lel]

What sort of accounts are currently on your credit report, both closed and open?  Old car loans, student loans, mortgages, credit cards, etc?  And when was the date of last activity (not the date reported) for your open accounts?

[SocalMark]

You said: my fica score is 716 where did you get this score from?

[Anonymous]

hi - that's the score that i was shown when i signed up for fico

[haulingthescoreup]

Again, it's what I said above, and what Lel reinforced: you have chosen not to use credit very much (which you are perfectly free to do, of course), and so there's not much activity by you, especially recently, for the scoring formula to predict your risk in the future.

Check your report (I'm assuming that you got an Equifax myFICO report and score) and look on screen two at the list of negatives on the left. (Don't worry about the positives --they're pretty much there for warm fuzzies.) What are the negatives, in order?

And remember, few lenders, or at least those with any sense, grant credit solely on the basis of a FICO score. For instance, you have a FICO of 716 because of very little usage of credit, and you're probably an excellent potential customer. Someone else could have a 716 FICO, and they had a 791 FICO last week, but a collection just hit their reports, dropping them 75 points. A lender will look at your score (or a score that they generate internally), but they'll also look at your reports to see what's on them, and they'll evaluate your income, and if you're going for something big like a mortgage, they'll also look at any debts that would compete for their dollars.

If you want to pick up a new hobby, you could probably do a few pretty minimal things and have your scores in the 760's (at least) in no time. You'll just need to read around here for a week or so (or a really long weekend) and learn how the system works, and then how to make it work for you.

But if you're not in the market for new credit, 716 is fine.

[Anonymous]

thank you - maybe this is a good "hobby" for these rainy days in the nw!  i'm not in the market for new credit but i like to keep my score as high as possible (just in case)!  i used one credit card regularly up to about 3 months ago when i found that i'd end up with more money in my pocket if i used the debit card and pulled in 3.5% APR on the checkg acct balance (the credit card offered a 1% rebate on charges).  i have some credit cards that i haven't used for months and months - maybe i should close them (they also were paid off in toto each month).  so probably i have the potential to use a lot of credit (at least K30) and that may account for the score being lowe than i would like it to be.