HELP! Need to make FICO higher

[sweeps]

This loophole (being an authorized user) is still open. It is scheduled to be closed with respect to one (un-named) credit bureau by the end of the year but it could be available for longer.

Ok, thanks for the clarification.

Well, OP, there you go. Ride the coattails of someone with good credit and you'll instantly bump up your score.

[maps1350]

Well, I've had my DH home for the last few weeks and haven't been on the puter (he works on a boat). Very interesting to come back to see the resulting conversations!

We don't believe in debt. Period. However, because one upon a time credit became more and more available, and people relied more and more on debt, inflation grew and therefore, people would now be hard pressed to save up for a house in a LIFETIME of saving. And while we see that there might be a need for a good FICO score here and there, we also don't understand why businesses we work with refuse to look into our financial history further than gross income, assets, and FICO score (sometimes they'll actually look at the report...but that's typically just the large lenders.....what frustrates us more than anything is the utility companies and etc.....heaven forbid they call our last company and ask if we've been paying our bills on time for the last...ooohhhh....8 years, longer than we've been adults at any rate ).

We don't have a problem necessarily leveraging ourselves when needed. But our financial goal is to get my DH off the boats and home where we can have the freedom to work together in whatever we may choose.....something that maybe won't make him be gone from me 8 months a year would be great! lol

Unless he goes deep sea, he won't be making any more money (with the exception of the market going up occasionally and us getting pay raises that way). He's a chief engineer and won't ever move any higher up the ladder. BUt, needless to say, he makes a very good income. However, I must say that other than making sure you're debt to income ratio isn't over 28% + - ....companies don't put too much stock into what you make when lending. Remember, this is the age of the interest only loans! No one cares what you make or what your history is with your money...as long as you can "make" the minimum monthly payments.

Our interest is high for the time period we bought. It could've been 2.5-3 points lower. Here's the reason for wanting our score higher, or our mortgage lower. We have currently 5500 a month that we put towards our mortgage. Right now, our mortgage, without ins and taxes, is 2150, of which 100 is going to principle this year. If we get a better rate...more or less prime....our payments would come down to about 1400-1500...which is an additional 600-700 a month we could put towards prinicple....or include our taxes and ins and not have to worry about those (which come out to about 600-700/month).

THis isn't in the interest of getting more debt or staying in debt. The whole point of us buying this house and paying on it like we have been and wanting to refi is to pay it off ASAP and move on with our freer lives.

April

[cschin4]

we pay our bills, act responsibly, work hard to stay in budget,

If you do the above, why do you care about your FICO other than for your home mortgage?
I couldn't care less what my score was. I only buy and live within my means. And, at age 40+ I only recently found out my score.
Live within your means, pay off your debts. Don't use CC's unless you can pay them in full at the end of the month. Save and plan.
Do this and you won't be held hostage by any score.

However, if you think there is some mistake than look into it. Otherwise, forget about it.

[BabyBear]

I agree that you DON'T need a cc. I don't have one....never had one.

I just bought a house last year with a 6.xxx% interest rate (can't remember exact amount). I had one very small student loan (paid off many years ago) and bought two trucks (the first used, the other brand new) also both paid off many years ago.

I contribute to my retirement and throw as much as possible in to savings. If I need/want something, I can pull the money from savings. That is true of new clothes, new furniture, a new fridge, or a car. (No more brand new for me--used is just fine!) If I need it, it's in savings.

I've been trying to throw an extra $20 or so on to my mortgage each month, too. That is going to knock a few thousand dollars off of interest as well as cut the payments down a few years.

I use cash for groceries, gas and a few other small things. I have no need for a credit card.