do you know your FICO ? (mortgages, credit score, loans)

[downtownjc]

Originally Posted by mtoneil

Hmm, not sure if that was tongue in cheek, but, I don't think that's quite right. I'm only 24, have 1 credit card, and have never made a single late payment or paid a dime in interest, and my FICO is ~800.

My understanding is that the greater the credit limit and the lower the balance you maintain (i.e. ratio of outstanding debt to credit limit), the higher your score will be (among a bunch of factors, of course).

Paying off a loan will generally not lower your credit score. However, closing credit card accounts you've had for a while can lower your score quite a bit, as if you still keep open accounts that you opened more recently -- this is because the average age of your revolving credit accounts would be much lower in this case, and that can be a significant factor in determining your credit score. Having much less credit available than before could also lower your score.

So pay off your credit cards, but don't (generally) close them! Keep them open (even if you keep them in a drawer and never use them again) to keep your average age of accounts and your total available credit high.

[sholden]

Mine's pretty crap for someone who in reality is a good credit risk... ~720 is the middle of the three, but there's a big spread between them (over 100 points) which indicates to me they are as useless as expected.

The report the bank sent me (when I said yes to the trial credit monitor thing that I then cancelled) lists the main reason for the crappy score as being because my first account wasn't opened long ago - surprise surprise since I've only been in the country for 4 years... The low score is equifax who seemed to be a couple of years beging on the other to on the fact that I existed.

The other reason is the astronomical $800 that was on my credit cards at the time, the ones I pay off in full every month.

[billb7581]

quizzle.com you get your experian score for free

[tahiti]

yes, it's high.

[chipnjaz]

This credit score stuff is a silly game.
Do the right thing and avoid using credit. Build your assets, cash is king.

[johnfrisco]

Originally Posted by PDD

872

Too high and not possible.

[mtoneil]

Does getting preapproved for a mortgage lower your credit score (since it means you're looking for credit)? I read that the method of determining FICO score will take into account preapprovals that are close together and consider them as one (i.e. it assumes they are for a single loan and that you're just shopping for the best rate). But what if I don't get another preapproval until several weeks later? Will my score be hurt even further?

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by johnfrisco

Too high and not possible.

no.....one of mine was in the high 900's (on a scale of 1000) - i forget which one it was...I'll look it up.

eta - it's called the "VantageScore", introduced in 2006 by the 3 agencies, but it's different than FICO. So that number is possible if it's VantageScore.

[johnfrisco]

Originally Posted by tahiti

no.....one of mine was in the high 900's (on a scale of 1000) - i forget which one it was...I'll look it up.

eta - it's called the "VantageScore", introduced in 2006 by the 3 agencies, but it's different than FICO. So that number is possible if it's VantageScore.

I stand corrected. Thanks.

[njkate]

Originally Posted by downtownjc

You have to be very careful what score you're looking at when you're trying to get your FICO score. A lot of the scores on the consumer websites from the 3 credit bureaus are not real FICO scores based on the Fair Isaac risk scoring model. For example, any score that is over 850 cannot possibly be a FICO score (as 850 is the absolute maximum, and a score over 820 is very rare). If the place you got your score from says "PLUS score" or some other "credit score", odds are it's not a true FICO score. Only "FICO", "BEACON", and "Experian-Fair Isaac" scores are actual FICO scores.

THe best way to get real FICO scores is if you're applying for a mortgage and your lender tells you the 3 scores pulled from the 3 credit bureaus - this will be a true set of FICO scores, but then again there are different versions of the FICO scoring model and you won't know which version the lender has access to. None of the consumer websites where you pay $10-20 will let you get actual FICO scores from all 3 bureaus.

That's Right..they call them Fako scores and 1 bureau can't remember if it's Experian or Equifax, you can no longer get your fico from