Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 01-07-2013, 12:51 PM   #21
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Worthington
Posts: 158
Of course some (Dave Ramsey for example) would argue that a perfect FICO score is one of ZERO. You attain that by not borrowing any money for a period of time, including not establishing credit card balances that you pay off each month. Ramsey has no credit cards, no mortgage, no money borrowed for anything. I think that's a bit extreme as I find credit cards to be WAY too convenient not to use (I have two and pay the balance off each month so that I never pay interest to them). I've rented cars before and they insisted on a credit card, not a debit card for the rental. I've never had trouble with racking up debt on credit cards I couldn't pay back at the end of the month (well, very early on when I was young and before I got my first job after college I had a few months in there), so it's not a problem for me to use them. I can see how they could be problematic for some people.

For years my only "debt" has been the revolving debt of credit cards and then my mortgage which is paid automatically each month. Those things give me a FICO score above 800.

Sometime within the next 13+ years before I retire, I will no longer have a mortgage, so my only debt according to FICO will be the revolving debt of my monthly credit card usage. I wonder what that will do to my credit score? Mostly I don't care as I don't PLAN to borrow money in retirement, but of course sometimes things don't go according to plan.
LeavingOhio is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 01-07-2013, 01:42 PM   #22
Full time employment: Posting here.
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 534
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tadpole View Post
I'm not sure credit scores are predictable after high, medium, and low. When I was nearing retirement I found a house I wanted in the town I now live in. Since my current house had not sold, I needed to temporarily take a mortgage at PenFed. I thought to have a really high credit score you needed to use a lot of credit and show yourself making payments on time. I do not use credit that much and had paid off my house and cars years prior. But my credit score was 840 and my husbands was 832. I can't imagine why the slight difference.

I have concluded that all the talk about how one gets high scores is just not correct. We had even recently been a part of that BoA indiscriminate slash of credit limits on cards and it didn't seem to hurt us to have this decrease our ratio.
My own recent experience is that it may not hurt your credit score to not have revolving debt, but can still effect your availability of credit.

I own my home outright, and have not had any debt since paying it off 5 years ago (except for standard credit card purchases, which always get paid off each month).

Like you, I was buying another home, before selling the first one. I tried to get a HELOC on the existing place as a bridge loan. Should have been easy, I thought. The amount I wanted to borrow was ~30% LTV and less than a years gross income.

My credit score is 809. I got declined. Reason? 'Limited Credit Experience'. I can only guess they looked back 3 years or so, and saw that I had no significant debt in that time frame.

So I end up using a margin loan as a bridge....
jon-nyc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-07-2013, 01:49 PM   #23
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
veremchuka's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: irradiated - too close to the nuclear furnace
Posts: 1,294
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bikerdude View Post
FWIW, I don't believe that site gives you your FICO score. The credit agencies average credit score and FICO are different. Most inquiries use FICO. You usually have to pay or subscribe to credit monitoring to get a free FICO score.
You are correct this is not from FICO. I found the article and it was Allan Roth. Here's a link to it A better free credit score service - CBS News

Also not caring about your credit score and having a lower score will hurt you. "Although you may think your credit score is only important if you need to borrow, many purchases can cost you more if your credit score is low. Auto insurance, for example, is more expensive if your credit score is low. That's because insurers have proven the link between credit scores and insurance claims."

I still don't get it. I have had these 2 credit cards for a few years though the one I seldom use was changed to a different bank, it's an LL Bean VISA so that account may be only 1 or 2 years old the other is 6 or 7 years. My balance is paid in full each month, the ratio is 10% of the allowable limit so 90% is unused. I paid several different mortgages for 20 years on 2 houses and was never ever late even 1 time. Seems 758 is a low score, I want it over 800 but can't figure out how to make that happen.
veremchuka is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-07-2013, 03:49 PM   #24
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 17,205
OK.... an interesting thing for me....

We just refied our house... the old loan has been closed, but the new one has not yet shown up...


SOOO, according to Credit Karma, my credit score goes down....

I do have to add that I paid off the car loan in Nov, so that was two credit lines that was closed....
Texas Proud is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 08:41 AM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.