What is your FICO score?

[shadon]

Re: What is your FICO score?

Wow, what an eye opener it is to see how you (in the US) live (financially that is). I ran through my details to see how I'd score if I was living there and with saying that I have a balance on my CC I scored higher than when I ran through and said I didn't have a balance. With CC balance 750-800, without CC balance 745-795 (my CC balances are paid in full every month which is why I did the 2 different scenarios).

Over here, having debt or access to debt (eg. lots of credit cards even with nil balances) would work against you because it lowers your ability to repay a loan. So if you had 3 credit cards with $500 CL each but $0 balances, lenders here would take that to be a $1500 debt and it would reduce your borrowing capacity by that amount. But over there it would help you borrow more money because it gives you a better credit rating (?).

Interesting! (well, to me anyway )

[Lemony]

Re: What is your FICO score?

731 last fall.

[jodi]

Re: What is your FICO score?

Last time I checked (at least 2 years ago) it was mid to high 700s, but I have only had positives added since then, so I hoping it would be higher by now. I check my credit reports regularly, but haven't felt the need to pay for my credit score yet, although I am curious.

Ima Saver - Isn't it ironic that your credit score gets punished for not having a mortage? My husband's grandparents are the most frugal people I know who are sitting on a mountain of money - but they were turned down as co-signers on my sister-in-law's car because they had NO credit. Not bad credit, but no credit at all because they had always paid cash for everything (they were in their 70's at the time). Yet they would be the safest risk a lender could take.

[Ima saver]

Re: What is your FICO score?

Anybody know what the top score is? I have only checked with experian.

[shawni]

Re: What is your FICO score?

I will admit due to a reckless past I have a very low credit score. It is currently below 600...barely. However, when I wised up and started working on it...it was significantly below 500. Every month it gets a little better (I pay $10 a month at www.mycreditkeeper.com to keep me focused and get my scores). The way I see it, is the important thing now is that I don't ever let it go back to the way it was.

[Ima saver]

Re: What is your FICO score?

Good for you Shawni!! Jodi, my mother never charged a thing in her life, always paid cash including for her home in Fla. When she bought a car, she paid cash. She was just like your grandparents, she had no credit and no one would loan her anything. (not that she asked for it) It is better to establish credit, then pay it off on time or even early.

[pyotr]

Re: What is your FICO score?

These credit scores from TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax
are different and totally independent as others have said.
For instance, I believe only the equifax score goes up to 850.
The Experian scoring is from 330 to 830.
So you really do need to check scores at all three places to make sure nobody has messed up your credit.

My score on the Experian (the "middle score" as others have said, or the PLUS score according to Experian) is currently 798, but has been as high as 815 on a scale of 330 to 830. In the past 6 months, I sent a hard-copy mailed letter requesting that 4 of my "open" credit cards be closed (a Sears card, a Best Buy card, an old MBNA card, and a Wachovia line of credit offering). I did this because I wanted to tidy up my credit report and I thought I might be at higher risk of identity-theft/credit fraud if I left unused accounts lying around in cyberspace. This concern was more important to me than achieving maximum credit scores - according to my accountant, as long as my credit score is high 700s, I will get the best loan/mortgage rates should I want one in the near future. Before I shut down almost half my open credit accounts, my credit score with Experian was 815. Afterwards (just today), my score is now 798. So yes, closing down your open credit cards does seem to affect your score.

For the past 8 years I've always paid off my credit card balances completely, but prior to that I used to carry over some of my balances a few times a year. My first credit card was obtained in the Spring of 1989. Over the past 16 years I've paid off 2 student loans (including one that had a balance of 50,000), 3 car loans, 8 consumer loans, and a large (60,000) business loan. I currently carry a mortgage remainder of 230,000 (my third home mortgage). I have no other debt, cars and credit cards included. I currently have 1 citi credit card, a Kohl's store credit card, and my bank's ATM access card which is also (unfortunately) a debit/credit card. Just in the past month, I've opened up an account with HSBC for its great savings rate, but it comes with an ATM card - they did a hard pull of my credit score upon my opening the account. If it weren't for my wife, I'd also cancel the Kohl's card. My wife's score and credit history is amazingly similar to mine but her score is lower I think because she has had a shorter credit history and missed a payment on a bill a couple of years ago because the payment got lost in the mail.

[sweeps]

Re: What is your FICO score?

In the past 6 months, I sent a hard-copy mailed letter requesting that 4 of my "open" credit cards be closed (a Sears card, a Best Buy card, an old MBNA card, and a Wachovia line of credit offering). I did this because I wanted to tidy up my credit report and I thought I might be at higher risk of identity-theft/credit fraud if I left unused accounts lying around in cyberspace. This concern was more important to me than achieving maximum credit scores.

pyotr, you make an excellent point here. I've done the same thing myself. This obsession with squeezing every last point out of FICO scores is really unhealthy, in my opinion. The incidences of identity theft are rising quickly, and it just takes one incident to blow that "perfect" FICO score out the window.

[Well Spent]

Re: What is your FICO score?

754 thru www.myfico.com. It cost 14.95and includes one credit report from the agency of your choice. I chose Equifax.

I also ordered a credit report through Transunion (because I didn't know I would get one through myfico). I have to get it thru the mail because the website wasn't working for me but I asked for 4 digits in my SSN be XXXX for security.

My report was accurate except for my birthdate. The month, date, and year were wrong. How do go about getting it fixed? Do I have to show them a cop of my birth certificate?

[tomkat]

Re: What is your FICO score?

754 thru www.myfico.com. It cost 14.95and includes one credit report from the agency of your choice. I chose Equifax.

I also ordered a credit report through Transunion (because I didn't know I would get one through myfico). I have to get it thru the mail because the website wasn't working for me but I asked for 4 digits in my SSN be XXXX for security.

My report was accurate except for my birthdate. The month, date, and year were wrong. How do go about getting it fixed? Do I have to show them a cop of my birth certificate?

You paid too much money! You shouldn't have paid more than $7.00 for your report and score. Recent legislation has ensured that we all are now entitled to a free credit report every 12 months from each credit reporting agency. I think the site is www.annualcreditreport.com. For an extra 5.95 or 6.95, you can get your credit score as well.

[Ima saver]

Re: What is your FICO score?

Right, I only paid about $7 to get my score, my report was free. My score was 816.

[Well Spent]

Re: What is your FICO score?

You paid too much money! You shouldn't have paid more than $7.00 for your report and score. Recent legislation has ensured that we all are now entitled to a free credit report every 12 months from each credit reporting agency. I think the site is www.annualcreditreport.com. For an extra 5.95 or 6.95, you can get your credit score as well.

well that's a kick in the ****. i didn't know you could get the true fico score from anywhere but myfico.com. oh well I won't check it again until i get close to buying a home. i dont think it's necessary to monitor your score. as long as you monitor your 3 credit reports for any mistakes, you're fine.

[CJsoccerchic]

Re: What is your FICO score?

So you can get your credit report free - but they won't give you a credit score as well...? That kinda sucks...
I'm going to try the website you gave tomkat!!!!

[Ima saver]

Re: What is your FICO score?

That is true, the report is free, but you pay for the score.

[CJsoccerchic]

Re: What is your FICO score?

Hmmm... I tried that www.annualcreditreport.com and came up with a "lost page" and then I tried to look for it on google and same address and still.... lost page....
errr.............. grrrr.......