What is the benefit of an 800+ credit score?

[Dash man]

I am curious to know exactly how a purchase could be denied based on a score that is generally considered "good", but not excellent. It seems discriminatory if no credit is involved and it's not like a landlord who is putting their asset at risk. I never had 800+ until very recently and I still got lots of offers and never paid more for loans or insurance. I believe FICO is overhyped.

Credit scores are used to discriminate all the time. Condo associations want to be sure the owners can pay the quarterly fees and any special assessments that may be due. It's up to them to decide their standard just as a bank can offer different interest rates based on a credit score or a landlord can accept or reject a tenant based on an arbitrary credit score. In a condo association you agree to abide by the rules of the association, do the seller cannot sell unless the buyer meets the credit and background checks.


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Enjoying life!

 

[SJ1_]

Like ( I assume) many of the posters at this forum I have an 800+ credit score but I'm not sure what it does (or doesn't do) for me. I never buy anything on credit ( that is, I buy as much as I can on my credit cards and pay the balance at the end of the month). I pay cash for cars since they won't let me pay with my CC without adding a fee. I honestly don't know what good that credit score does for me but I would certainly like to hear from the experts here.

great credit card offers

 

[akck]

Yes, but they generally send you a letter to tell you such information has been exposed.

I'm not going to contribute to additional possible exposure by spreading my personal information around even more.

Yes, but Credit Karma to this point has been a low risk. I use them because I can run a new check weekly. Most credit cards only provide a score each month. In addition, if there is an ill-regularity, I can view my full report on Credit Karma from two of the agencies. From my recollection, credit cards only provide your score and factors affecting your score, not the full report.

 

[Koolau]

Related in these pages years back, we unexpectedly needed a mortgage in 2010. Our 815 credit score may have been the reason banks were willing to talk to us, but the ONLY thing they gave a good kwap about was our income. (Long-story-short, we eventually got the loan because the IRS said we had a lot of income, not because we actually had a lot of income.)

During our initial bank interview, I nearly lost it and had to go outside the bank to cool off (70 inside, 85 outside - you figure it out.) On the way back in, now cooled off, I saw a big poster on their door that said "Bad credit? No credit? We can help!" I had to take another 10 minutes of 85 degrees to cool down again. YMMV

 

[jazz4cash]

Credit scores are used to discriminate all the time. Condo associations want to be sure the owners can pay the quarterly fees and any special assessments that may be due. It's up to them to decide their standard just as a bank can offer different interest rates based on a credit score or a landlord can accept or reject a tenant based on an arbitrary credit score. In a condo association you agree to abide by the rules of the association, do the seller cannot sell unless the buyer meets the credit and background checks.


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Enjoying life!

Ok I see it's more like what I would call a Coop. Thing is there are so many things affecting ability to pay that FICO does not include in the credit score formula, you know crazy things like assets and income.


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[Sunset]

I disagree. I don't know that anyone has compromised my name, DOB, address and SS# as a package, and I'm not going to provide my SS# and DOB anywhere that I don't have to.

+1
I agree, and since a couple of CC provide my FICO score I have no need of credit karma.

 

[Dash man]

Ok I see it's more like what I would call a Coop. Thing is there are so many things affecting ability to pay that FICO does not include in the credit score formula, you know crazy things like assets and income.


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Oh you can be certain they checked everything!


Enjoying life!

 

[audreyh1]

Yes, but Credit Karma to this point has been a low risk. I use them because I can run a new check weekly. Most credit cards only provide a score each month. In addition, if there is an ill-regularity, I can view my full report on Credit Karma from two of the agencies. From my recollection, credit cards only provide your score and factors affecting your score, not the full report.

How do you know they are low risk? Just because no breach has been reported yet? These places are sitting ducks.

I get reports through my Equifax credit monitoring. They already have all my info since they are a credit reporting agency, so I'm not any more exposed. No, it's not free, but I can see all three reports. I don't pay extra for the FICO score.

Credit Karma is free? Then you are the product. I don't see how any free website otherwise would have the funding to maintain adequate security for extremely sensitive personal information.

 

[Car-Guy]

Like ( I assume) many of the posters at this forum I have an 800+ credit score but I'm not sure what it does (or doesn't do) for me. I never buy anything on credit ( that is, I buy as much as I can on my credit cards and pay the balance at the end of the month). I pay cash for cars since they won't let me pay with my CC without adding a fee. I honestly don't know what good that credit score does for me but I would certainly like to hear from the experts here.

No expert here but I wonder if a great credit score really has any value in my case too. I haven't financed anything in 20+ years and have no intention to do so. (other than credit cards that I pay off each month because I like convenience and the free cash back)

 

[Texas Proud]

How do you know they are low risk? Just because no breach has been reported yet? These places are sitting ducks.

I get reports through my Equifax credit monitoring. They already have all my info since they are a credit reporting agency, so I'm not any more exposed. No, it's not free, but I can see all three reports. I don't pay extra for the FICO score.

Credit Karma is free? Then you are the product. I don't see how any free website otherwise would have the funding to maintain adequate security for extremely sensitive personal information.

I used to use Credit Karma.... you do not provide them any info... they get it from the reporting services just like anybody else can...

"You" are the product... they try and sell you loans and CCs... probably more things, but I just ignored all that so I am not sure... however, I did not find that it was accurate once I started to get my score on various CCs... I stopped using them years ago...

 

[davismills]

I think FICO, given my zero use of credit, is a non-entity. It has become a "badge of honor" for some folks. The schemes to get zero interest loans are not worth the effort in my opinion. My wife gets wrapped up in the credit card points scheme, but I personally don't think the throughput is worth the effort. I still think showing up with a wad of dead presidents will get you a better deal. For the scoreboard, I'm well north of 800.

 

[audreyh1]

I used to use Credit Karma.... you do not provide them any info... they get it from the reporting services just like anybody else can...

"You" are the product... they try and sell you loans and CCs... probably more things, but I just ignored all that so I am not sure... however, I did not find that it was accurate once I started to get my score on various CCs... I stopped using them years ago...

Don't they need your SS# to access your credit report?

 

[purplesky]

I'm too nervous to register my sensitive info at Credit Karma.

All my credit cards are offering free FICO scores now.

Millions of people use Credit Karma daily without any issue. Its very safe.

The whole point of using Credit karma is to monitor your overall credit snapshot in less than a minute. For free.

If there is a change in your score or if you have any new credit activity on your credit profile , Credit Karma will send an email alert.

There really is no downside to Credit Karma.

 

[purplesky]

Yes if you agree to their terms when using Credit Karma they will offer products that they determine might interest you. You agree to become a product. Because I wasn't a product before.lol

Its a fair tradeoff. Its not like they have pop up ads or make you watch a video ad like most websites do these days.

 

[photoguy]

Is this the same Credit Karma mentioned in the following story?

How Fandango and Credit Karma exposed millions of smartphone users’ data | Ars Technica

Developers of two popular smartphone apps—Fandango and Credit Karma—have been caught transmitting passwords, social security numbers, birth dates, and other highly sensitive user data over the Internet without properly encrypting it first, officials with the Federal Trade Commission said.

At a minimum, signing up on a website means you need to input your personal data on someone else's webserver. That web server is another location that can be breeched.

 

[audreyh1]

Millions of people use Credit Karma daily without any issue. Its very safe.

The whole point of using Credit karma is to monitor your overall credit snapshot in less than a minute. For free.

If there is a change in your score or if you have any new credit activity on your credit profile , Credit Karma will send an email alert.

There really is no downside to Credit Karma.

So they DO require your social security number and date of birth.

No thank-you!

How do you know that it's very safe?

 

[audreyh1]

Is this the same Credit Karma mentioned in the following story?

How Fandango and Credit Karma exposed millions of smartphone users’ data | Ars Technica

At a minimum, signing up on a website means you need to input your personal data on someone else's webserver. That web server is another location that can be breeched.

Exactly!

 

[purplesky]

So they DO require your social security number and date of birth.

No thank-you!

How do you know that it's very safe?

Yes they require your SSN and DOB to monitor your credit activity and to show you your credit reports and also to give you your credit scores .

The reality is that all your personal info is already out there. So is mine.

So like millions of other Credit Karma users I find the free service to monitor my credit the best peace of mind possible.

Its a question of being proactive about protecting your credit in real time.

Are you familiar with Clark Howard? He has been telling his millions of radio listeners for years about credit Karma. It is proven safe for millions of users.

Clark Howard has a free consumer advocate team you can call or checkout his website Clark.com.

Now that I use Credit Karma I would feel uncomfortable if I didn't check my credit for fraud or mistakes.

I do understand your concern. I signed up for Mint and that freaked me out having to give all my passwords to every account.

But millions of people use Mint without issue. The millennial generation doesn't give sharing personal data a second thought. The future is now.

 

[purplesky]

Is this the same Credit Karma mentioned in the following story?

How Fandango and Credit Karma exposed millions of smartphone users’ data | Ars Technica



At a minimum, signing up on a website means you need to input your personal data on someone else's webserver. That web server is another location that can be breeched.

In 2016 we should probably just assume all our data has been breached.

So if Credit Karma drops the ball at least they will tell me about it.

There is no perfect solution but Credit Karma is definitely one of the best ways to monitor your credit for free.

 

[audreyh1]

Yes they require your SSN and DOB to monitor your credit activity and to show you your credit reports and also to give you your credit scores .

The reality is that all your personal info is already out there. So is mine.

I don't accept that argument. I don't know that my personal information has been exposed, and I'm not going to expose it to a free credit monitoring website.

The rest of your post sounds like an ad.

 

[nwsteve]

I suspect it's more a matter of worrying about employees getting into serious financial problems which might make them more likely to steal, or make them more susceptible to bribes and blackmail.

I did executive search for 20 years and we did credits reports for finalist whenever state law allowed. Things we learned: employers excluded from resumes, patterns of behavior that might raise concerns about responsibility, addresses at locations not on resume,legal judgements that could impair work performance to name a few
Nwsteve

 

[purplesky]

I don't accept that argument. I don't know that my personal information has been exposed, and I'm not going to expose it to a free credit monitoring website.

The rest of your post sounds like an ad.

Yes it sounds like you're not ready for credit karma.

No worries

 

[gauss]

I looked into Credit Karma once but the fact that I had security freezes at all three credit bureaus put a bit of a damper on the registration process.

After a bit of a time out I decided that having the credit freezes in place has served me fine over the years and that Credit Karma was likely unnecessary.

That all being said, my Barclays US cards have a hair-trigger fraud detection department. I have never noticed fraud on these cards that they did not first notice and alert me accordingly.

I am so confident in my setup that when my employer lost my personal information and offered to "make me whole" by offering 1 year of free credit monitoring (which also required my SS # and personal information to sign up ironically) I declined.

I don't think that identity fraud is nearly the threat that it was a decade ago before states started to require, by law, that credit bureaus make this service available to everyone for a nominal fee.

I say this as someone who does not live paycheck-to-paycheck. I know that a fraud committed on myself would not impact me long term (ie I would likely be made whole by the commercial institution involved) but there may be a cash-flow hit in the short term.

I also realize that many in America (unlike ER board members) could not sustain the temporary cash-flow hit and thus would need to worry more about this issue and perhaps all things financial in their lives.

-gauss

 

[scrabbler1]

Late last year, I applied for an increase in the limit on my main CC. It was rather low and I wanted it higher in case I needed to use my CC to pay the hospital bill following my July hospital stay. My credit score was between 810 and 820 which probably led to an instant approval during a quick call to a bank rep. I didn't end up using the CC to pay the hospital bill months later.


Oddly, after 6 months of my credit score being between 810 and 820, it took a small hit down to 805 in May. I'll be a little curious to see what happens when it gets updated in the next few days. My CC use hasn't changed recently.

I'm happy to report that my credit score returned to its previous level, where it has been all year. Easy come, easy go?

 

[ABQ2015]

Thanks all for the Credit Karma recommendation. I quickly found out that my score is 815 (had to enter last 4 digits of SSN). Was relieved because I paid my Dillard's card a month late a couple of years ago - sometimes I go on business travel for two weeks in a row and the statement got missed in a large pile of junk mail. My next goal is to apply for a second general card as I have a single VISA and would like a second card just in case. Am considering an AMEX Blue based on discussion in an earlier thread this year.