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to answer that, i would need to know more about yours and his credit factors. based on only the info provided; i dont see anything that suggests that his score shouldnt be higher than yours. im guessing you feel the information you provided would demonstrate that but it doesnt.
My thinking was, if I'm paying off my balances in full every month, and he's only making the minimum payment month after month on a hefty (and growing) balance, my actions should make me seem to be the more responsible user of credit.
I mean, at some point doesn't the credit card company look at his payments and say, "Is this guy never going to pay off his balance?" Apparently they aren't saying that. I guess they're happy as long as he keeps paying the minimum. When we were together, I was trying to help him get out of debt, but he was resistant. He has no intention of paying off the balance, and he's judgment-proof, so the credit card company is going to be left holding the bag on this one.
I just don't like the fact that his behavior makes his credit score higher than mine.
My thinking was, if I'm paying off my balances in full every month, and he's only making the minimum payment month after month on a hefty (and growing) balance, my actions should make me seem to be the more responsible user of credit.
I mean, at some point doesn't the credit card company look at his payments and say, "Is this guy never going to pay off his balance?" Apparently they aren't saying that. I guess they're happy as long as he keeps paying the minimum. When we were together, I was trying to help him get out of debt, but he was resistant. He has no intention of paying off the balance, and he's judgment-proof, so the credit card company is going to be left holding the bag on this one.
I just don't like the fact that his behavior makes his credit score higher than mine.
well, as long as he is making his minimum payment every month; he has no derogatory remarks and they are making more money off of him.
however, i do not believe that his score is higher than yours based on either of the factors you mentioned. its probably something else.
my wife has a higher score than i do. her credit history is longer than mine. also, some of the utilization that gets attached to me doesn't seem to be get stuck with her.
My thinking was, if I'm paying off my balances in full every month, and he's only making the minimum payment month after month on a hefty (and growing) balance, my actions should make me seem to be the more responsible user of credit.
I mean, at some point doesn't the credit card company look at his payments and say, "Is this guy never going to pay off his balance?" Apparently they aren't saying that. I guess they're happy as long as he keeps paying the minimum. When we were together, I was trying to help him get out of debt, but he was resistant. He has no intention of paying off the balance, and he's judgment-proof, so the credit card company is going to be left holding the bag on this one.
I just don't like the fact that his behavior makes his credit score higher than mine.
They look at a lot of other things. Length of credit history. Number of accounts, both revolving and installment. It isn't just about the balance and the payments.
Too many factors go into coming up with the score making it hard to understand what you need to do or not do to get a better credit score.
Now you're onto it. The idea is to just have a good credit score. If you're above 780 with most of the free services, the chances are you will be fine for any loan request you have to get the best rate if all your other factors (like debt to income ratio vs amount you're asking to borrow and for what purpose, etc) all line up properly.
I have an artificially high utilization rate on one card right now because rather than paying cash for my wife's $11,000 SUV we bought her last October, I used my credit card that gave 2.5% cash back and then transferred the balance to my Navy Federal card which has $0 bal xfer fees and a promo rate of 0% for 12 months - so while I'm at 95% utilization on that one card and my score has suffered because of it, I don't really care. I know that once the 12 months is up and I pay the balance in full that it'll go back up again, and between now and then I have no need for additional credit.
The important factor in credit is just understanding whether your score is good, sufficient or bad. Are you below 700? 600? Then you have work to do. Around 750 and no debt but can't get approved? Then you probably don't have a sufficient credit history.
Some of it depends upon the day your balance is checked.
Here is one of mine from CreditKarma: CHASE CARD, Last reported Jun 20, 2018, +$4,751.
Since then I have paid over $4800 and charged about $750 so today it is $750. But, I never pay interest.
Oops, I wish I posted my thread in this one, sorry now I feel bad. I had a similar type of issue understanding FICO scores if you notice my thread.
I cannot make heads or tails of them. I think for a guy who is 35, my score should be among the highest at my age, but instead it's 777 which seems to me good or even very good but nothing special whatsoever. I have never hit 800 despite never carrying a balance, having a bunch of credit cards with a long history of timely payments, having paid off two mortgages and an auto loan in full, and clearly shown that I am as credit worthy as they come. I sometimes wonder if they just decide, nah this guy sucks, he has had credit cards for like 15 years and he is a total waste of space. The guy never carries a balance or pays our high APRs, so screw him, he is a lousy customer. Which isn't wrong, I am a truly terrible customer. I'm no risk whatsoever, but also useless for rewards. They may as well stash their money in a CD because I'm immensely unhelpful at making their companies profitable. :P
I looked at the Citi cards website FAQ. It said that they pull data from Equifax to get the score. It also shows the date the score was calculated. This date is different each month, but always after the 20th.
It would help to know at least the ballpark of your actual score. It seems these algorithms tend to pick on weird things when the scores are good. That's not because they are broken, its just because it has to get more nit-picky as your scores improve. So if your scores are good, I'd just ignore it completely. People get weirdly competitive about credit scores on this board sometimes, its kind of silly.
Once your score is over a certain amount, it REALLY doesn't have any meaningful impact on your life. We've bumped back and forth between low/mid 700's to now peeking into the 800's over the past couple years just because we are relatively young, my wife was still establishing her credit history and buying a house and a car in the span of 2 months does some damage. None of these had any impact on anything, we've been approved for anything we applied for and always gotten the best rate we could get during this time.
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