Have you had any credit score wins lately?

[ronb]

I actually just got my first credit card recently. Because of my student loans, my credit score was 709 (I think) when I applied. Five months later, my score is a 746. All I've done is pay in full each month. I'd say this is pretty good progress. I've read you only need like a 780 to qualify for the lowest mortgage rates.

Have you had any big wins towards improving your credit score? What did you do?

Does my score improvement sound normal? Should it keep increasing like this or will it slow down eventually?

[Drake3287]

All I've done all my life is have a normal amount of credit cards, car loans and a mortgage along with never being late with a payment and my score is over 800.

Pretty simple concept, pay on time and don't spend/buy more than you can afford.

[Fishindude77]

I'm with Dave Ramsey on this issue. Too much emphasis is put on credit score. I'd much rather see you have a bunch of cash accumulated in your bank account.

[disneysteve]

I'm with Dave Ramsey on this issue. Too much emphasis is put on credit score. I'd much rather see you have a bunch of cash accumulated in your bank account.

I agree that too much emphasis is put on credit scores but I think Dave Ramsey goes too far to the opposite extreme. Like it or not, credit scores matter. That's just reality. Try applying for a mortgage with poor credit and see what happens, even if you have a big pile of cash in the bank. Try renting an apartment with poor credit. Try getting auto insurance with poor credit. Try getting a lot of jobs with poor credit. Good luck with that.

[Fishindude77]

Try applying for a mortgage with poor credit and see what happens, even if you have a big pile of cash in the bank. Try renting an apartment with poor credit. Try getting auto insurance with poor credit. Try getting a lot of jobs with poor credit. Good luck with that.

My son and his spouse have all of the above with almost zero credit record. They have never borrowed for anything and never even had a credit card. Live pretty low key, pay as they go. They have jobs, rent a home, buy auto insurance, etc. and are in the process of getting a first small home purchased (mortgage) with a nice down payment.

Their interest rate is a higher than someone with a long solid credit history would get, but not enough to be a deal breaker because they are using good sense, not borrowing too much and doing a simple fixed rate 15 year loan.

[disneysteve]

My son and his spouse have all of the above with almost zero credit record.

Their interest rate is a higher than someone with a long solid credit history would get, but not enough to be a deal breaker

That's good to hear. I'm glad there are lenders out there willing to use their brains and do true underwriting. Did they have any trouble finding a lender who would take them?

[Fishindude77]

Did they have any trouble finding a lender who would take them?

Referred them to my bank which I do business with personally and in business. Put them in touch with the loan officer I am friendly with and they took things from there.

I'm sure my relationship definitely made the banks decision to take this loan a bit easier. We live in a small rural area, where small home town banks still do a lot of the lending. Things like relationships, character, family, etc. still carry some weight. They probably couldn't have pulled this off as easily in a large metro area with a big regional bank.

All the more reason to develop relationships and do business with your locally owned banks instead of shopping all over the internet for the best deal and cheapest interest rate.

[ua_guy]

No credit <> bad credit. The score becomes mostly meaningless once you establish credit and pay stuff on time...qualifying for good and best rates should happen pretty easily after that.

I've always gone with whomever will give me the lowest rate. No loyalty to my bank or credit union, or to any personal relationships. It's not personal, it's about money.

[feh]

I'm at a point in my life where I don't care what my credit score is any more. I haven't applied for a loan in over 20 years.

[disneysteve]

I've always gone with whomever will give me the lowest rate. No loyalty to my bank or credit union, or to any personal relationships. It's not personal, it's about money.

Same here. I am not at all concerned about personal relationships when it comes to financial matters. In fact, I think a lot of people get into trouble when they involve personal relationships with their money management. People stay with an over-priced broker because they don't want to hurt his feelings. People buy pricey insurance policies from a friend or relative who starts selling insurance. People pay higher prices or higher interest rates because they feel some sense of loyalty to a certain merchant, bank, or lender.

No thanks. I'll take the lowest price and the lowest rate I can find.

[Fishindude77]

No thanks. I'll take the lowest price and the lowest rate I can find.

Unfortunate that a large segment of society thinks this way.
I still give some value to long term business relationships, service, trust, value, etc. in addition to just price.

Not suggesting that you should allow a friend to crucify you financially in a business transaction, but there is nothing wrong with paying them a bit more than bottom dollar in order to maintain the relationship knowing you will get what you pay for, get good service, and they will be looking out for your best interest. In many cases, you may in fact get the best deal due to this loyalty.

Insurance is a great example. Have a large claim sometime and see who treats you better getting things settled. Your friendly agent you've done business with for 15 years, or Flo from Progressive you just bought with six months ago, on line because they were bottom dollar cheapest.

[corn18]

No thanks. I'll take the lowest price and the lowest rate I can find.

Unfortunate that a large segment of society thinks this way.
I still give some value to long term business relationships, service, trust, value, etc. in addition to just price.

Not suggesting that you should allow a friend to crucify you financially in a business transaction, but there is nothing wrong with paying them a bit more than bottom dollar in order to maintain the relationship knowing you will get what you pay for, get good service, and they will be looking out for your best interest. In many cases, you may in fact get the best deal due to this loyalty.

Insurance is a great example. Have a large claim sometime and see who treats you better getting things settled. Your friendly agent you've done business with for 15 years, or Flo from Progressive you just bought with six months ago, on line because they were bottom dollar cheapest.

I have had USAA for 31 years. They don't even have a branch office anywhere in the world. I have stayed with them because of the personal service not in spite of it. Same with Wells Fargo and my mortgages. I always go back to them and have never been in a branch.

I think your assertion that personal service is better than non-personal service is unfair and inaccurate. I have had terrible personal service.

To the OP, have debt and pay it off over a very long period of time. That's how you get an 800+ credit score. Interestingly enough, when I paid off my 4 car loans 2 years ago, my credit score dropped 30 points or so. It has since gone back up, but that was irritating.

[disneysteve]

I still give some value to long term business relationships, service, trust, value, etc. in addition to just price.

I think business relationships are different than personal relationships. When you are running a business, that personal relationship can matter a lot more. It's still not worth paying a lot extra for but it may be worth a modest premium.

[FLA]

All I've done all my life is have a normal amount of credit cards, car loans and a mortgage along with never being late with a payment and my score is over 800.

Pretty simple concept, pay on time and don't spend/buy more than you can afford.

me, too.

Oddly my credit score did not go down because of being on disability, I thought it was going to because one card sent me a letter that they were changing my limit because I wasn't working. I had that card probably 20 yrs so I called and complained and the next month, my limit was higher?!?!?!

then I thought, this could be the start of a trend, so I took out one new card that had a high limit, no annual fee, 0% interest for 15 months to have for back up if all the card companies started doing that or terminated me. Probably shouldn't have bothered as they would likely do the same thing. But it feels like security. And it bumped up my credit score!

I will never understand totally about credit scores but as long as I keep that number up, I'll just keep doing what has worked for decades

[FLA]

double post sorry