Credit Scores

[sengsational]

Yes, I know what it is (it comes in my Discover statement every month).

Not usually, but I do have a story about it having to do with insurance...

I got two credit cards (one for me and one for DW), so we could get our airline miles accounts large enough to get free R/T tickets. Then, it just happened that our homeowners insurance renewed. I didn't notice it at the time, but the letter they put in there said "Based on information in consumer reports, including a credit-based insurance score, you are not receiving our lowest premium." The premium that year was maybe $20 or $40 more or something (5%- 10%). No big deal.

 

[imoldernu]

With three college costs coming due in a short time, DS decided to take a short term equity loan and was stunned to find it rejected because of a credit score.
A three year old medical bill that had been settled long ago, popped up and destroyed the credit rating. Unfortunately getting that fixed was not a simple phone call process.
Though we don't expect to use credit, it is comforting to see the Discover rating each month.

 

[arky]

When I login to my accounts at PenFed, I can see my credit score with one click from the home page.

It is not obvious to me when I login. What is the secret to this feature ? A loan or credit card through PenFed ?

 

[purplesky]

I've never figured out how that works (and I know they deliberately keep the details secret). You can get dinged for having too many recently-opened accounts. Or for being close to maxed out on your accounts. Or for having too much credit line available (because then you COULD go and max out your accounts). So, I keep the credit cards I want and close down the ones I'm done with.

Actually creditkarma explains in detail and gives the breakdown of why your score is what it is.

The whole FICO game is kind of a joke but I guess the banks have to have some type of system to measure customer risk.

 

[purplesky]

Other than my one and only credit card, which I got in May, I have been completely debt free for years. My credit was OK the last time I checked, but if instead my credit was lousy, yes, my insurance rates will be higher. What would I do about it? Run out and borrow a bunch of money so that I could pay interest instead of higher insurance? They get you coming and going, as the saying goes.

I would play their game and get 2 more major credit cards. Just use them occasionally and pay balance in full with no interest.

American Express has some good cards. Costco and Fidelity have been good for me.

 

[braumeister]

Originally Posted by braumeister
When I login to my accounts at PenFed, I can see my credit score with one click from the home page.

It is not obvious to me when I login. What is the secret to this feature ? A loan or credit card through PenFed ?

When I login, on the Main Menu there is a box at upper left (just below today's date) that says

Your FICO Score is ready! View it now

Click that and there you are.

 

[Walt34]

I had a car dealer pull that on me once. I wanted to pay cash but they wanted me to finance the car thru them. They even told me I could pay it off in full as soon as I received the payment book. They were so insistent, that I finally walked out and they lost a sale. I went to a competitor about 20 mins away and they were more than happy to take my cash.

It was annoying but not to the degree that I was going to walk away and the fact that it was going to be a lot of work for the dealer and the bank to go through the process for little or no profit on the loan made no difference to me. I guess the bank perhaps even lost money on that deal. If they made anything it wasn't much.

And I don't begrudge the dealer doing that. It is a business, they do have to make a profit, and as with many businesses it is becoming increasingly difficult to do so. Unless some fool pays sticker price they don't usually make as much on the car as everyone thinks they do after their expenses are paid.

 

[Sunset]

.... As a landlord, I know personal behaviors can be predicted fairly accurately with a credit score. All of my domestic abusers have been low credit score people, or no score. The only reason I ever let them in is due to their partners stellar credit. ...

Do the abusers make sure the partner pays on time ?

 

[Sunset]

Last time I checked was when a bank with which I did business had a security breach and they provided free credit monitoring for a year. My score was 777.....

Ha, I win mine is 780 whats my prize ?

Seriously, I never even considered credit ratings until 11 yrs ago. Didn't really know they existed. Since its my nature to not borrow, and to pay my bills on time it turned out to be Ok.

I know now, to play the game well, I keep a couple of extra long term cards that I use just a few times per yr. That really helps the score, but mostly paying bills on time is the way.

 

[athena53]

One reason I like to keep a good credit rating is that sometimes borrowing can be a strategic decision. Financing the car we bought in February with a 2.75% HELOC turned out to be a darned good decision given what our investments have done during that time. We're planning on downsizing next Spring and while I'm hoping that we won't need a mortgage at all, I might prefer to borrow rather than take money out of the investments.

For us, maintaining a good credit rating has been pretty simple; we've been married 11 years and haven't paid a dime of credit card debt. Paying the mortgage and HELOC promptly and paying off our monthly credit card balances in full has been all we needed.

 

[Amethyst]

I've always cared about my credit score. In my 20's, I bought a house all by myself, and my stellar credit helped get me the loan. Back then, banks didn't like to lend to single women and they acted like they were doing me a HUGE favor to grant me a 13.75% loan!

I check our scores regularly on creditkarma (which approximates your score) and two credit cards that have started offering FICO scores. One CC uses the 950 scale; the other uses the 850 scale. Oddly, both CC FICO scores are higher than creditkarma's "approximation."

We score "excellent" but not perfect, which is always explained in terms of having too low of an average account age - caused by my opening new CC's to get the incentives. I also noticed that our scores took a 20-point dip shortly after we paid off our mortgage. So, responsible monetary behavior can actually lower your credit score.

I happen to think that earning CC incentives and not having a mortgage are reasons enough to "risk" a slightly lower score.

Amethyst

 

[Sunset]

....I happen to think that earning CC incentives and not having a mortgage are reasons enough to "risk" a slightly lower score....

Me too, why not grab those big incentives, they are worth thousands over the years.
I'm not a crazy CC churner by any means, so I keep a few cards forever, and then grab an incentive card or two each year, use it, get the bonus, and cancel before any fee. Then repeat in a year or two.

 

[bad_LNIP]

Just curious, do you know and/or care what your credit score is?

Eh, I know what it is generally, but I don't care about the score, per se. I've found that if you have cash, credit doesn't matter.

I use annualcreditreport.com. It lets you select one of the 3 major bureaus and run a report. That means you can run one of the bureau reports every 4 months for free.

I just call/write in and cite adverse action for a free report whenever I want. The annual credit report gives the CRA's 45 days to investigate vs 30.

I've never figured out how that works (and I know they deliberately keep the details secret).

You need to try a bit harder. They have published in great deal how the FICO scoring algorithm works. Biggest thing you can affect is your debt-available credit ratio.

FICO Credit Score Chart: How credit scores are calculated

That was the first result after googling "how fico scoring works"

 

[FUEGO]

Just curious, do you know and/or care what your credit score is?

Yes; and yes, I care.

FICO score is 825. I tend to apply for a lot of credit cards to get thousands of dollars of sign up bonuses. Having a top notch credit score is helpful. My insurance rates are also tied to credit score, although whether my score is above average or excellent probably doesn't matter (as long as it's not below average).

 

[target2019]

I remember pulling my credit score 4-5 years ago from one of the big three, and it was 790, and I was disappointed. In 2011 I had a similar score. I started keeping track of this, and was going to pull a report from one of the agencies each year.

Since then I never gave it another thought, but have opened additional cards.

Today I checked Penfed and they report that my FICO is 860. So I feel good that it is over 800, but don't really think that 860 is worth any more than an 800 to me.

 

[Senator]

Today I checked Penfed and they report that my FICO is 860. So I feel good that it is over 800, but don't really think that 860 is worth any more than an 800 to me.

A true FICO score, as issues by the Fair Isaac COmpany, only goes to 850. There are many flavors of credit scores, some of which go to over 900.

There are several types of FICO credit score: classic or generic, bankcard, personal finance, mortgage, installment loan, auto loan, and NextGen score.
The generic or classic FICO score is between 300 and 850, and 37.2% of people had between 750 and 850 in 2012.[9] According to FICO, the median FICO score in 2006 was 723, and 711 in 2011.[10]
The FICO bankcard score and FICO auto-enhanced score are between 250 and 900. The FICO mortgage score is between 300 and 850. Higher scores indicate lower credit risk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_score_in_the_United_States

 

[davismills]

Since I likely will have a no need for credit in the coming years, I consider a credit freeze a no brainer. You might check with your bank or credit card company. My bank posts my credit score for free on a quarterly basis.

 

[Tom52]

When I login, on the Main Menu there is a box at upper left (just below today's date) that says

Click that and there you are.

The credit score link on the Penfed site is not available to me because I only have CD's thru them. From their website:

New Feature on PenFed Online Banking Site Provides Free Access to ‘FICO® Score’ to Eligible Members

PenFed partnered with FICO to develop and integrate the ‘FICO® Score’ feature into its online banking service. The benefit is available for free to PenFed members that have active checking accounts, installment loans, and revolving lines of credit with the credit union.

 

[athena53]

I tend to apply for a lot of credit cards to get thousands of dollars of sign up bonuses. Having a top notch credit score is helpful.

Yeah, DH and I do that a lot. I just tell him which cards to put into the sock drawer and which to keep in his wallet, and he enjoys the Business Class flights and the nice hotels that we get as a result! We've gone to straight cash back ones now for more flexibility. I had to laugh at the lady who told me when I called to cancel my AA credit card that if I didn't keep my AAdvantage account active I could lose my miles. They sell miles to everybody and anybody which is why they're losing value. I once rescued 100K points in DH's account from expiring by buying a $15 iTunes gift card. He used the miles on our trip to Madrid.

 

[target2019]

A true FICO score, as issues by the Fair Isaac COmpany, only goes to 850. There are many flavors of credit scores, some of which go to over 900.

There are several types of FICO credit score: classic or generic, bankcard, personal finance, mortgage, installment loan, auto loan, and NextGen score.
The generic or classic FICO score is between 300 and 850, and 37.2% of people had between 750 and 850 in 2012.[9] According to FICO, the median FICO score in 2006 was 723, and 711 in 2011.[10]
The FICO bankcard score and FICO auto-enhanced score are between 250 and 900. The FICO mortgage score is between 300 and 850. Higher scores indicate lower credit risk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_score_in_the_United_States

No matter the scale, I feel comfortable with what penfed calls a FICO score. It is the nextgen version, but not entirely obvious when you see the graphic.

 

[martyp]

I don't really pay attention to it very much. I check it out every 4-5 yrs. The only debts I've had are car, house, and 1 credit card with the same bank for 30 years. I always paid on time and my credit score reflected that. It is worth doing more often if your financial life demands it. It does seem to matter more and more these days.

 

[RetireAge50]

We review our credit report about once per year via annualcreditreport.com just to make sure it is accurate. The score costs extra money so have never paid to see it.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[nash031]

If you have a discover credit card, it is reported to you on every bill.

Yep. Even though I don't intend to ever use a loan again (currently have a mortgage and my wife's got a student loan we're still paying on), I want to know it because of the implications on identity theft, etc. Discover lets me see it whenever I want!

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

Mine depends on where I look. Barclay credit card says it is 817. PenFed says it is 674. Both are from FICO - "the score lenders use."

 

[arky]

When I login, on the Main Menu there is a box at upper left (just below today's date) that says

Click that and there you are.

Thanks for the response, but my account page does not have that FICO choice. One must have to take advantage of some service (loan, credit card,etc) to warrant that feature.