Financial Whoppers

[boosami]

I was at a party this past weekend, and got to talking finances with another party-goer. Credit scoring came up in the conversation, and she proceeded to tell me her FICO score was a "perfect" 850. She went on and on about it.

Funny thing is that she told me she has never held a mortgage or an auto loan, and got her first credit card only 5 years ago. With those facts, it's impossible for her to have anywhere near an 850 credit scrore. (25% of your FICO score is taken from having a variety of account types and average account ages.) I guess she underestimated my knowledge of credit scoring!

Heard any good financial whoppers lately?

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Interesting! I don't think I've ever heard of anyone having a perfect score. The person may not have been lying intentionally. Maybe she just thought that if she has never had any late payments that her credit must be "perfect." Did she say she'd actually checked it?

Can't think of any whoppers I've heard lately.

[mommyof4]

I would agree with Joan- she probably just misunderstood the "perfect" score.

[boosami]

I would agree with Joan- she probably just misunderstood the "perfect" score.

Oh no, she is sure her FICO (not FAKO) score, which she monitors regularly, is 850.

[mommyof4]

Oh no, she is sure her FICO (not FAKO) score, which she monitors regularly, is 850.

Hmmmmm......

[creditcardfree]

How much had she been drinking?

[kork13]

haha that's a good one. Lemme guess.... Soccer mom, drives an SUV, wears her husband's profession on her shoulder, and so on?

As I've seen reflected in a couple news articles, "frugal is the new black" (to steal the phrase). Seems a little obvious that she's seeking attention and admiration for how financially responsible she most assuredly must be.

[tripods68]

I worked for Wells Fargo many years ago, so it wasn't unusual for me see credit scores up to 850. But it's definitely a rare thing to have.

I guess, if you have that score you can brag about it. I don't really know.

[red92s]

I've had credit card, car, and unsecured debt for 5 years with no missed payments and currently carry under 1% of my available credit. I'm at 750. No way she is at 850.

[Dixiechick]

I have no CC debt, have a mortgage, never been late on any payment and my score is 831 - last time I checked at least. Maybe when she says "perfect credit" she is equating that to be 850 or vise versa? I have perfect credit but not a perfect score....but dang close to it.



Dixie

[boosami]

haha that's a good one. Lemme guess.... Soccer mom, drives an SUV, wears her husband's profession on her shoulder, and so on?

Single, drives a beater, works one of those "fresh out of collegel" jobs for probably $15/hr.

[kork13]

Single, drives a beater, works one of those "fresh out of collegel" jobs for probably $15/hr.

oh well, it was worth a shot. Win some, you lose some...

[wnlbutterfly]

Well, my mom keeps telling me her credit score is in the crapper and says it is because she is self-employed, that it looks like she has all this debt but no income. I have tried to explain it to her and have asked if she has CHECKED her score lately. Her self-employed business grosses around $400k a year, although there are a lot of expenses out of it.

So I imagine if her score is low it is due to the credit card balances she has, but yet it was good enough for her to co-sign a car for her brother.

[jIM_Ohio]

ask what she won with such a high credit score?

I would rather have lots of money in the bank and a low credit score than have a high score and be broke.

My score is probably better than yours (~790), but that does NOT make me a better person than you (its my intelligence which makes me better- LOL).

or maybe my arrogance makes me think I am better... but I digress