Best/least shady credit report?

[dullard]

Just add up all the scores, adding 15 points for every moon phase past your menstrual cycle, then throw in 5 points each for Faith, Hope and Charity.



Also:

My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead.

Laugh all you want. What I posted is 100% correct for anyone with any math ability and common sense. FICO scores are not some cutting-edge scientific breakthrough requiring super computers. Instead, they take a few bits of data available on your credit report, taken the weights that are publically posted, and spit out a number.

Sure, you may think that opening 4 credit cards in 90 days is worth a 15 point deduction and I may think it is worth a 20 point deduction, and reality is that neither of us is probably correct. But the FICO score isn't going to be much different than either of our estimations as long as we use their given weights.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Is FICO 850 even possible?

Mine is 840. The score on my credit reports are 990 across the board.

I've fooled them all! :biggrin:

 

[Svnla]

Is FICO 850 even possible?

Yes, but it is very rare. I read an article from a guy used to work for FICO and he said he was able to see a handful of those scores for the years he worked there.

As I said before, as long as you have 750 FICO, not some other BS scores, then you are good to go. No need to sweat to bring it higher unless you want to brag about it.

 

[stlc8tr]

Yes, but it is very rare. I read an article from a guy used to work for FICO and he said he was able to see a handful of those scores for the years he worked there.

As I said before, as long as you have 750 FICO, not some other BS scores, then you are good to go. No need to sweat to bring it higher unless you want to brag about it.

According to this, it's best to maintain at least a 780.

 

[smitbret]

I work with credit scores all day, every day as the F&I Manager at a Chevrolet Dealership. 760+ means you can buy whatever you want and once you cross that threshold there is no difference other than bragging rights.

Highest score I have ever seen was an 863. Lowest 342.

Not all bureaus are the same for any geographic region. For instance, here in my neck of the country, Experian is king but if I was in the Northeast or California then Transunion would be the important score. Equifax is popular in the midwest. Every month or two I will see a 100 point swing between the scores.

With that being said, I have seen 650 scores get better terms than a 700 because the algorithms are just a rough idea and every creditor likes to go over the items that actually make up your score. Quite frankly, I think the scores are about as close to meaningless as you can get without actually being devoid of value. The creditors will assess whether they want to finance you based on your credit history and then just use the score to assign your APR.

Just check your credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com and make sure it is as clean as possible. The scores will take care of themselves cuz we haven't even gotten into your FICO vs. Auto-Enhanced, etc.

 

[Svnla]

According to this, it's best to maintain at least a 780.

From your own article:

Currently, the minimum credit score to get the best mortgage rates is typically in the range of 750-760

Of course, the higher = better but don't lose any sleep over it as long as you met the minimum/threshold. Just follow good financial practice (pay on time, NEVER late, less than 30% credit utilitiy, spread your credit into different categories, etc.) and your scores will go nowhere but up.

Also different lenders define "good score" different ways, xxx is good for this lender but may not be good enough for that lender = http://www.carfax.com/blog/credit-score-for-car-loans

Highest score I have ever seen was an 863. Lowest 342.

Must be FARKO or other score because FICO (the gold standard) is only up to 850.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Mine is 840.

I have you beat, but I'm still not quite at 850. Close though. I'd like to see it for bragging rights, but it will probably not happen.

 

[stlc8tr]

From your own article:

Currently, the minimum credit score to get the best mortgage rates is typically in the range of 750-760

Of course, the higher = better but don't lose any sleep over it as long as you met the minimum/threshold. Just follow good financial practice and your scores will go nowhere but up.

Also different lenders define "good score" different ways, xxx is good for this lender but may not be good enough for that lender = http://www.carfax.com/blog/credit-score-for-car-loans

And the rest of the paragraph says this.

However, a 740 to 750 FICO may still qualify you for the best rates with some lenders (as the saying goes, your mileage may vary).But when it comes to jumbo mortgages, a 760 probably isn’t going to fetch you the lowest APR. A mortgage broker from Georgia told me that in order to get the best rate on a jumbo loan, you typically need a 780 credit score along with a hefty down payment of up to 25%. Conclusion? For lower mortgage amounts, a 760 will do just fine. But if you’re talking across the board – all mortgage sizes – then a 780 or higher FICO score will be required.

So according to that article, you might as well go for a 780 since there may be edge cases where it's better than a 750.

 

[lupi]

Mine dropped from the 820's to the teens on the last bill, so disappointing.

 

[Svnla]

And the rest of the paragraph says this.



So according to that article, you might as well go for a 780 since there may be edge cases where it's better than a 750.

As I said above, higher is better than lower but don't lose any sleep on credit score. Practice good financial habit as I mentioned above plus time will bring your score up. Worry about it will not.

 

[smitbret]

From your own article:



Of course, the higher = better but don't lose any sleep over it as long as you met the minimum/threshold. Just follow good financial practice (pay on time, NEVER late, less than 30% credit utilitiy, spread your credit into different categories, etc.) and your scores will go nowhere but up.

Also different lenders define "good score" different ways, xxx is good for this lender but may not be good enough for that lender = http://www.carfax.com/blog/credit-score-for-car-loans


Must be FARKO or other score because FICO (the gold standard) is only up to 850.

Nope, it's Experian FICO. That's where the last part of my quote comes in. "FICO mortgage" tops out at 850 but there is technically no limit to how high it could be just a limit on what is physically achievable with the formulas. There's no way of knowing what number your bank is feeding you either, unless you ask.

 

[Svnla]

Nope, it's Experian FICO. That's where the last part of my quote comes in. "FICO mortgage" tops out at 850 but there is technically no limit to how high it could be just a limit on what is physically achievable with the formulas. There's no way of knowing what number your bank is feeding you either, unless you ask.

That's odd because from what I understand, 850 is max for FICO. Interesting, I will have to do more research on greater than 850 FICO score.

Found this article =

Base FICO® Scores range from 300-850, and industry-specific FICO® Scores range from 250-900 — higher is better.

"industry-specific"?


http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/articles/

 

[smitbret]

That's odd because from what I understand, 850 is max for FICO. Interesting, I will have to do more research on greater than 850 FICO score.

Found this article =



"industry-specific"?


http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/articles/

Right, I am working in the auto industry so I use the "industry-specific" auto-enhanced scores.

That's the problem. There is no real standard across the board. The scores are just a number and, quite frankly, not consistent. When I can pull Equifax and get 602 on the same person that pulls a 712 on Experian then the system is broken. People don't know this and it creates a bunch of unnecessary concern. That's why I tell people to just pay their bills on time and just watch the actual reporting.

 

[stlc8tr]

As I said above, higher is better than lower but don't lose any sleep on credit score. Practice good financial habit as I mentioned above plus time will bring your score up. Worry about it will not.

You said that there was no need to bring it higher than 750, I was just pointing out that in some cases, 780 is better than 750. Now I haven't run across any reports that a higher score than 780 is needed for the best rates so anything higher would be e-peen points.

 

[cronos]

Your car loan would be on your credit report / in your credit score until 7 years after you pay it off.

Your credit dip must have been caused by something else. When I had my car loan paid off, my credit score went up. Your revolving credit card bills can cause your score to take a dip if you go over 50% utilization of your credit limit at the moment your credit is pulled.

I'm not going to argue because I really have no idea why, but that's what happened. And no I didn't do anything different with my revolving bills (or anything else) at that time. It's always just the regular amount I spent (and paid off) each month. My score was shown as 797, then after I paid off my car, the following month it was shown as lower by 20+ points. Nothing else changed in my finance.

 

[Svnla]

You said that there was no need to bring it higher than 750, I was just pointing out that in some cases, 780 is better than 750. Now I haven't run across any reports that a higher score than 780 is needed for the best rates so anything higher would be e-peen points.

I said "No need to sweat" as in not so obsessive to worry/losing sleep about the score, NOT as you claimed as "no need to bring it higher".

Bankrate says the threshold for best car loan and mortgage is lower than 750.


http://www.bankrate.com/finance/auto/check-your-credit-first-1.aspx 700 and above for best auto loan
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/mortgages/how-credit-scores-impact-your-mortgage-rate-1.aspx 740 for best mortgage

and then
https://www.credit.com/credit-scores/what-is-a-good-credit-score/ 750 (threshold point) and higher = excellent score

As I said above, YMMV because different lenders require different scores and criteria. I still stand on my statement about practice good finance moves, live your life, and not so worry about the score so much as long as you met the "minimum" threshold, NOT no need to bring it higher. The poster below (smitbret) agrees with me about good finance practice (pay bills on time) and a bunch of unnecessary concern.

Right, I am working in the auto industry so I use the "industry-specific" auto-enhanced scores.

That's the problem. There is no real standard across the board. The scores are just a number and, quite frankly, not consistent. When I can pull Equifax and get 602 on the same person that pulls a 712 on Experian then the system is broken. People don't know this and it creates a bunch of unnecessary concern. That's why I tell people to just pay their bills on time and just watch the actual reporting.

I understand about the difference/inconsistency of the scores from the Big 3 (mine was about 30 points different from the highest to lowest) but what "gotcha" me was the "industry specific" upper limit of 900 and all the mess from FARKO, then Vantage Score and this and that score from numerous financial entities. So mess up.

 

[ultimatebob]

Add Discover to the list.

Discover only gives you one FICO score, not all three of them from each credit bureau.

That's kinda important if you ever have your identity stolen, since you need to clean up each credit report from each agency separately.

 

[ultimatebob]

Mine dropped from the 820's to the teens on the last bill, so disappointing.

I had mine go from 820 to 680 a month after the short sale went through on my condo last year. It's creeping it's way back up to around 720 now. It's amazing what just one ding will do to your report.

 

[cronos]

Discover only gives you one FICO score, not all three of them from each credit bureau.

That's kinda important if you ever have your identity stolen, since you need to clean up each credit report separately.

I think all the other credit card issuers (at least Citi, Amex that I know of) also only give you one score.

 

[stlc8tr]

I said "No need to sweat" as in not so obsessive to worry/losing sleep about the score, NOT as you claimed as "no need to bring it higher".

Your words were:

As I said before, as long as you have 750 FICO, not some other BS scores, then you are good to go. No need to sweat to bring it higher unless you want to brag about it.

It appears that in some cases (e.g. jumbo loans), having a higher score would be better so it's not just for bragging.

I guess you're one of those guys who doesn't like to be corrected so I'm going to drop this discussion from my end.

 

[Svnla]

Your words were:



It appears that in some cases (e.g. jumbo loans), having a higher score would be better so it's not just for bragging.

I guess you're one of those guys who doesn't like to be corrected so I'm going to drop this discussion from my end.

Somehow, you "FORGOT" to mention the following statement from me to clarify my position further and to support my original statement that you quote.

... don't lose any sleep over it as long as you met the minimum/threshold. Just follow good financial practice (pay on time, NEVER late, less than 30% credit utilitiy, spread your credit into different categories, etc.) and your scores will go nowhere but up.

Another poster (smithbret) very much said the same thing about paying bills on time and the confusion/unnecessary concern about credit scores from different credit bureau (post #38).

Corrected me? Are you serious?

You provided ONE link to support your assertion while I had several to support mine. Here they are again, just in case you "missed" them.

http://www.carfax.com/blog/credit-score-for-car-loans

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/auto/check-your-credit-first-1.aspx

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/mortgages/how-credit-scores-impact-your-mortgage-rate-1.aspx

https://www.credit.com/credit-scores/what-is-a-good-credit-score/

Discover only gives you one FICO score, not all three of them from each credit bureau.

That's kinda important if you ever have your identity stolen, since you need to clean up each credit report from each agency separately.

All of my credit cards companies (Citi, AE, Cap1) only have one score per card.

Cap1 = TransUnion
AE = Experian
Citi = Equifax

 

[who?]

After you pay off a car you no longer look as good because you aren't making those regular payments anymore.

 

[feralkid]

After you pay off a car you no longer look as good because you aren't making those regular payments anymore.

Not true; exactly the opposite occurs.

 

[yh125d]

Not true; exactly the opposite occurs.

It can do either depending on the situation. When I had a car loan that was my only debt, my score went down a little when it was paid off. When I had a mortgage and paid my car off, it didn't make a difference

 

[lupi]

It does not look good or look bad, it simply alters some factors in the formula but the exact change can't really be stated without knowing all the other numbers.