What's the highest credit score?

[Mutilator]

lol how can you guys continue to say 900 is the highest score? It's 850!
The quote I posted above came directly from Equifax. (Click on What is a FICO score?)

 

[morkinva]

how long of a credit history do you have?

Good question, about 20 yrs or so.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: Arkitech
Mine was around the high 600's and low 700's last time I checked. Since then I've paid off 2 cars, and a home improvement loan. Before June rolls around I'll have paid off 2 primary mortgages and one secondary. Will that elevate my score to the 800's or better?

Make more money or carry less debt. I was told at the bank 20% is what you should shoot for for a perfect FICO. In other words all payements should be less than 20% of your income.

 

[Akebona]

Originally posted by: MichaelD


I have a very high debt/income ratio b/c I owe a LOT in CCs. BUT, I have not had a single late payment in 9 years. Not one. I don't feel it's fair to lump me into the same category as someone who makes late payments. The only thing that should matter is payment history! I make good money at my SECOND job, in the form of tips. That's how I supplement my income and am able to live well despite a high debt/income ratio...lenders don't seem to care about that though. :|

i think thats part of your problem of having a lower score. Part of your score is your amount outstanding. I pay off my entire balance EVERY single month. If you owe 20k, and your limit is 25k, thats not a good thing even if you make minimum payments ONTIME. If you have zero balance then its better. Just making ontime payments doesn't help if you still owe the CC's 16k.

 

[GroundedSailor]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: GroundedSailor

Originally posted by: Alistar7and for those of you that cant get the best rates, BUY POINTS, 1,000 today is better than 10,000 down the line...

Care to explain that a little more?

Thanks

Mortgage rates are tiered. While I said that having the absolute best qualifications won't get a better rate, there is no "one" rate either. I know it sounds confusing, but it really isn't.
In the industry, the set of rates for a single particular program/qualification/term is called the "matrix," and it looks like one. Generally, it's 2 columns. On the left are the rates, on the right are the costs (or "premiums"). Higher rates have premiums, i.e. the lender/investor pays the broker/lender for providing the loan. These are the type of rates that people who get "no point/no fee" loans get (there is NO free loan, the cost is in the rate). Lower rates have "discounts." This is where the borrower "buys" or "pays" points, a "point" being one percent of the total loan amount, in order to "buy down" the rate.
btw, I though I might add that every year, legislation is introduced to Congress by the "anti-predatory lending" groups to do away with premiums. If that ever occurs, the no point/no fee loan is history.

edit:

Originally posted by: Alistar7a point (% rate) is usually about a grand per point, so pay a grand now and get a loan for say 5.9% instead of 6.9%...... go check a mortage calculator and see the difference in monthly payments based on a one point interest difference, then multiply that by the number of payments....

No where near.
A point is one percentage point of the total loan amount. So for a $100,000 loan, a point may be $1,000 dollars, but for a $200,000 it would be $2,000 dollars. This is known as a point "of fee." It is very different from a point "of rate."
Generally, buying down one point of fee will get only about 0.25% better point of rate.

Thanks Vic.
So I take it you would not reccomend buying down a point of fee unless your mortgage is small? What would be the best long term strategy?

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: morkinva
Hey you can stop looking, I found the place that gives the free credit score ~ www.eloan.com ~

Mine was 816 - woohoo!!

eloan's score is not the real FICO. it's their best guess. my eloan score was 815. when i bought my car, the dealership ran my transunion report, and showed me a score of 750. it didnt matter since i was above 720 and got best rates.

but if you want to really know your score, check myfico.com and spend $14 to get it (includes credit report)

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: Alistar7
it will bump it but not that much, those were probably fairly close to being paid off the last time you checked, so it's not like you greatly reduced your income to debt ratio, or % of possible credit in use, if you have all those paid off though you score is irrelevant, you will be able to qualify for anything you desire realistically...


Anyone looking to improve their bad credit I would recommend pulling your report from each company separately and then lauching investigations on EVERYTHING. They give the companies 30 days to respond with their evidence and then make a decision, alot of companies cant move the paper fast enough, don't reply in time and they get dropped off...

do it the week after xmas. the agency will be so overloaded that if your ammount is small, it wont get looked at

 

[McPhreak]

Does getting these credit scores show up on your credit report like apply for credit cards do? In other words, can I check my own credit rating as many times as I want without hurting my credit score or anyone else knowing?

 

[glen]

698 but that is crazy.
mine should be much much much lower.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: GroundedSailor
Thanks Vic.
So I take it you would not reccomend buying down a point of fee unless your mortgage is small? What would be the best long term strategy?

Actually no, because the savings from the lower rate increase with the loan amount (even though the buy-down fee increases as well). The best way to decide is to determine how long you intend to be in the home AND keep the mortgage (i.e. not refinance again).
If your interest is short-term, go for the lowest fee option (and possibly even look at initial fixed rate adjustable rate loan options, i.e. 3/1, 5/1, and 7/1 ARMs).
If your interest is long-term, then look at lower rate options. Calculate how much the lower rate will save monthly versus the buy-down cost, then divide the monthly savings into the cost, and you will have how many months you will need to be in the home to recoup the difference and start saving.

 

[vtqanh]

I went to Eloan and it said my credit history is unavailable????

 

[glen]

if you have improved your score or consolidated your CC loans, please reply here:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=38&threadid=999285

 

[Yossarian]

you should be proud of me for 2 reasons--

(1) I did a search to get this thread, like a good little ATer should.
(2) my FICO score through myfico.com is 792, w00t!!

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: PipBoy
you should be proud of me for 2 reasons--

(1) I did a search to get this thread, like a good little ATer should.
(2) my FICO score through myfico.com is 792, w00t!!

You wanna cookie? You don't? Ok good I'll take a white chocolate chip macadamian nut cookie, yum.

Good credit score, mine should be improving slowly but surely.

After we have our new car loan paidoff (2 years) it should jump to around 700.

 

[ultimatebob]

Anything over 720 is considered a "top tier" credit rating, so any score over that is only useful for bragging rights.

Speaking of bragging rights, my score was around 780 the last time I checked

 

[catnap1972]

Originally posted by: Carbonyl

Originally posted by: Arkitech
Mine was around the high 600's and low 700's last time I checked. Since then I've paid off 2 cars, and a home improvement loan. Before June rolls around I'll have paid off 2 primary mortgages and one secondary. Will that elevate my score to the 800's or better?

Make more money or carry less debt. I was told at the bank 20% is what you should shoot for for a perfect FICO. In other words all payements should be less than 20% of your income.

Income has NO (zero zip zilch) effect on FICO scores. It may have an effect on what you can get from a particular bank/lender when factored in with your credit report/FICO, but in itself, your income/employment is NOT factored in to your score.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Hm... okay. I'm 19 years old. I just signed up on eloan.com to see if I even had a credit score yet.
I entered in all my own personal info, and it came up with my score as a 684. That's all fine and dandy, but then it says I have a home loan out for $140k and I have missed payments on accounts 3 times in the past 3 months. I really hope this is a system error on eloan, and not identity theft or something.

Josh

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: joshsquall
Hm... okay. I'm 19 years old. I just signed up on eloan.com to see if I even had a credit score yet.
I entered in all my own personal info, and it came up with my score as a 684. That's all fine and dandy, but then it says I have a home loan out for $140k and I have missed payments on accounts 3 times in the past 3 months. I really hope this is a system error on eloan, and not identity theft or something.

Josh

Of course it's an error, you never signed loan documents for a $140,000 home loan did you?

I would order copies of your credit report from all 3 credit bureau's and dispute this. After it's been cleared off it may raise your FICO score.

 

[Yossarian]

What's kind of weird is myfico.com's "verification" process once you put your credit card payment info in. It takes you to a screen with multiple choice questions, and for me said "your credit report indicates that you took out a mobile home loan in 1999, which bank was it with". Then it lists 4 banks and a "none of the above". I was like, WTF, did someone open a bogus loan in my name!!???!@?!?@? There were 2 other questions like that, the answer to all was "none of the above". Kinda freaked me out needlessly, I could have done without that.

 

[Ylen13]

Originally posted by: Alistar7
850, to be considered as having top line credit the big three need 25 YEARS credit history at LEAST, these people posting those high scores (800+) obviously have long outsanding credit histories...

not true, my parents have credit score over 800 something like 850. They been usa only 11 years.

 

[Yossarian]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
Anything over 720 is considered a "top tier" credit rating, so any score over that is only useful for bragging rights.

Speaking of bragging rights, my score was around 780 the last time I checked

and to think I never thought the "700 Club" was a good thing! congrats on your responsible fiduciariness.