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I just had my credit checked and my credit score was 834 out of 843 on the Transunion scale. I'm pleased, this near perfect.
My question is, is there anything cool I can do with a high credit score? I pay cash for everything, so a low interest rate doesn't help me. Best I can figure out is I can qualify for credit card offers that provide a bonus to open a credit card. Can't figure out anything else that I can do though.
I just had my credit checked and my credit score was 834 out of 843 on the Transunion scale. I'm pleased, this near perfect.
My question is, is there anything cool I can do with a high credit score? I pay cash for everything, so a low interest rate doesn't help me. Best I can figure out is I can qualify for credit card offers that provide a bonus to open a credit card. Can't figure out anything else that I can do though.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tiredtired
my credit score was 834 out of 843 on the Transunion scale
What's your real score, the FICO score?
A FAKO score can be similar, slightly different or vastly different from a FICO score. The TU scoring model has been known to often run higher than a FICO score, sometimes as much as 150 points higher.
BTDT ... I went for years paying cash for everything and my credit score was in the dumpster. Got caught up with that when I applied for a mortgage on a piece of property and couldn't qualify ... even though I was able to pay cash for the place (which I did). My banker had me change my spending habit from all cash to using credit for everything so that I built up a track record and credit history. Ever since, I use my lines of credit to pay for everything and carry a minimal balance every month so that I show the use of credit lines and making the payments on time. Paying the credit cards off in full every month is not scored as well as making payments for awhile; the lenders want to see you incur interest charges.
The nominal amount of interest I pay as a result each year is a small price to pay to maintain a high credit score for those times when I might need it.
The part about carrying a balance is not true. Use your cards, but pay them in full each month. A lender cannot see you incurring interest charges, by looking at a credit report. I was a mortgage underwriter for many years and have reviewed literally thousands of credit reports. You see the date the account was opened, the date of last activity, the current balance, the high balance, and the credit limit. You see how many times it's been 30/60/90 days late and when the lates occurred, and the required minimum monthly payment. You can't tell whether or not someone carries a balance or not.
if you "pay cash for everything" then you're saying that you don't use credit now and it sounds like you don't even have credit cards now.
Unless you use credit, you don't build up a credit history to be evaluated and scored.
Even if you've got assets and no debt, it doesn't score out well until you use credit and demonstrate that you have made your payments on time for awhile.
For you to have an almost "perfect" credit score, you've got to have a track record of credit use. Sounds like BS to me.
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BTDT ... I went for years paying cash for everything and my credit score was in the dumpster. Got caught up with that when I applied for a mortgage on a piece of property and couldn't qualify ... even though I was able to pay cash for the place (which I did). My banker had me change my spending habit from all cash to using credit for everything so that I built up a track record and credit history. Ever since, I use my lines of credit to pay for everything and carry a minimal balance every month so that I show the use of credit lines and making the payments on time. Paying the credit cards off in full every month is not scored as well as making payments for awhile; the lenders want to see you incur interest charges. The nominal amount of interest I pay as a result each year is a small price to pay to maintain a high credit score for those times when I might need it.
That was my impression too, but I went in the opposite direction. I had a credit score of well over 800 for years, with a mortgage, car payments and some credit card payments. We faithfully made our payments, paid our utilities, and paid off the balances on the credit cards each month- although some of those cards still had balances at times.
Then we paid off the mortgage, stopped using the credit cards as we could, paid off the cars, sold our house and moved to our mortgage-free retirement house, determining to be as debt free as possible. That was two years ago. So guess what's happened to my credit score? It's down just below 800 at this point, with a notation that I do not use my available credit, or something to that effect, although it's noted that I still have no late payments....
And guess what? I don't care..... I have no plans to live the remainder of my life as a credit score slave, both DH and I have resolved we will live our lives as debt free as we can, if we want something, we will pay cash for it or do without. We'll spend our money as we like, and not worry about whether the banks are happy with us or not.
When you open a credit card it doesn't mean you go into debt. If you spend 50k a year you could get 500.00-1000.00 cash back by using a credit card instead of cash
LOL, so then you're only $49,500 or 49,000 in the hole when you do that.
I would rather have no credit cards, no debt, use cash so I own everything when it is purchased and no banker or anyone else telling me I can't have something if I want it.
Thanks for the info on the cash back poo that in my opinion is too much hassle to deal with along with the actual credit card.
Those "cash back" offers always remind me that there truly IS no free ride, there's a catch somewhere. From what I've read, overall, interest rates on those cards with cash back options are generally higher than those that don't offer them. I've tended to stay away from those.
I can't argue if someone find it a hassle to deal with credit card instead of cash but using CC doesn't mean you will incure more debts.
If I have to write X amount for a check to pay for something, why not use a CC (if there are no extra fees) and pay it. When the CC bill comes, it is paid off completely (you can even set it up to be paid automatically from your checking account). At the end of the day, X amount is deducted from your checking account.
I find it puzzling when people equate CC = debt. It's only debt if you carry a balance.
That's true, credit cards become a convenient way to pay for something and aren't debt if you pay the balance off every month. The banks would rather you carried a balance, though, and if they could get away with it, would penalize those who pay off their balances.
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