A nice perk to being retired..Who cares about credit scores anymore !!

[GreenEggs]

My daughter's in college full-time. She purchased a car a couple of years ago using money that her grandfather had gifted. I encouraged her to finance the car to help build her credit and cosigned for her. I think she set up the payments to auto-pay, so never had to worry about forgetting the due date. Anyway, I recently told her to check her credit score, which is available on her online banking account, just by clicking a tab. We were amazed to see that it was 778. Wonder where it will be after she actually has a job?!

I guess in total she has the car loan, a credit card, and rent. But, still no job or income.

I'm not sure that I'm impressed with FICO's methodology. They don't factor in age, employment history, length of credit history, etc.?

Heck, I wonder how high I could get my dog's FICO score if I put a few bills in his name? LOL!

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Heck, I wonder how high I could get my dog's FICO score if I put a few bills in his name? LOL!

A friend of mine actually did that. He started by putting the dog (with a different last name!) on the telephone listing. Then some utility bills. Eventually the dog qualified for a credit card (which always got paid off every month).

My friend always laughed at the idea that somewhere out there, the credit agencies were indubitably trying to find a SSN to match this credit profile.

 

[Walt34]

Eventually the dog qualified for a credit card (which always got paid off every month).

Somehow I'm trying to imagine the checkout clerk's face when the dog buys a box of Kibble at the grocery store and signs with a paw print....

 

[GreenEggs]

It would make a great bumper sticker.

"My Dog's FICO Score is Higher than Yours. WOOF!"

 

[Chuckanut]

Somehow I'm trying to imagine the checkout clerk's face when the dog buys a box of Kibble at the grocery store and signs with a paw print....

Mr. Peabody LIVES!!!!!!!

 

[GreenEggs]

I'd never paid much attention to my FICO score until recently noticing that there's a tab to check it on my online banking account page. So, out of curiosity, I've been checking it every month or so.

Last month it had climbed to 844 which is the highest it's been. This month I noticed it has fallen to 815, which seems like an unusually sharp drop in one month. I can't think of anything that might have triggered it. No late payments, job changes, large purchases or fund transfers. I guess I should contact my banks to be sure nothing was hacked or something else happened?

My Vanguard balances have jumped around some from the recent volatility, but I can't imagine that would affect a FICO score.

 

[Gumby]

There was a recent methodology change. https://money.yahoo.com/fico-credit-score-change-210252419.html

 

[GreenEggs]

Thanks that explains the trigger. It doesn't explain why mine went down, but it doesn't seem like I need to worry about a hack or ID theft.

 

[Gumby]

If you want to double check, you could get one of your free credit reports. https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action

 

[skipro33]

I use CreditKarma to keep track of my credit score. Both Transunion and equifax. Changes are identified with what triggered the change; paid off a card, balance increase on another, etc.
It also will give me heads up if there's suspected credit fraud by e-mail.

CreditKarma also has free income tax software on line, like Turbo Tax or H&R block, but completely free. Even e-filing. They are compensated with a few ads that pop up as you do your taxes.

 

[HI Bill]

Thanks that explains the trigger. It doesn't explain why mine went down, but it doesn't seem like I need to worry about a hack or ID theft.

I get small drops like that all the time. Things like exceeding 30% of the available credit on any credit card at any time during the month, opening a new card, closing an account, extra credit inquiry, etc. The other less frequent thing could be if the time since your last car or mortgage loan was active exceeds a certain period, they ding you for lack of diversity in your credit use. Credit scores measure how well you use credit, not how well off you are financially!

 

[Dalmore]

I recently checked my FICO score and it had dropped below 800. What?! It was at 849 in August, and by January down to 795.

The first excuse given my the report is my credit card balance was too high compared to my maximum - I pay it off every month, why should they care?
The second excuse, I don't have any installment loans.

So the trick to high scores is to take loans out on everything, forcing companies to make use of their services - conflict of interest?

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I recently checked my FICO score and it had dropped below 800. What?! It was at 849 in August, and by January down to 795.

The first excuse given my the report is my credit card balance was too high compared to my maximum - I pay it off every month, why should they care?
The second excuse, I don't have any installment loans.

So the trick to high scores is to take loans out on everything, forcing companies to make use of their services - conflict of interest?

You got it. Credit scores and how they are calculated is just BS.

We pay off all our CC debt each month and maintain a score in the 830-840 range (we have no debt). As a practice, I will pay my balance off the day prior to statement closing to get it as close to 0 as possible (when it's reported). My DW (who I am an authorized user on one of her accounts) pays her balance *after* the statement closes, so my report will show a balance of $1000-2000 each month (always less than 1% utilization rate). Well, last month she paid her card early, so all accounts reported with a 0 balance. Guess what happened to my credit score? It "tanked" to 801. Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

 

[HI Bill]

You got it. Credit scores and how they are calculated is just BS.

We pay off all our CC debt each month and maintain a score in the 830-840 range (we have no debt). As a practice, I will pay my balance off the day prior to statement closing to get it as close to 0 as possible (when it's reported). My DW (who I am an authorized user on one of her accounts) pays her balance *after* the statement closes, so my report will show a balance of $1000-2000 each month (always less than 1% utilization rate). Well, last month she paid her card early, so all accounts reported with a 0 balance. Guess what happened to my credit score? It "tanked" to 801. Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

Right. It's based on the closing balance. You don't get a better score if you pay it off in full each month. I've made over 1,000 on-time credit card payments over the past 28 years, paying all of them off in full every month. But I still get dinged if any card's balance goes over 30% of the credit limit!

 

[jazz4cash]

You got it. Credit scores and how they are calculated is just BS.

This!!