Credit Score - What is too low?

[brymolmom]

Hi there.

We just got approved for a Home Equity Line of Credit. As part of the process, they checked our credit scores - of course! Anyway - they sent us a copy of the scores and dh's especially isn't quite as high as we would have thought. It isn't low...But can't think of what would be making it lower than thought.

So - question is this - at what score would you take the time and effort to look into this and resolve anything that is causing the score?

It will end up being me doing all this legwork...And we are perfectly able to qualify for our needs...So I'm just wondering if I should let it go or pursue it.

No need to share your own score - but what is your 'tolerance level' for what you would find acceptable for a score?

Not sure if this is too subjective a question or not.

 

[Jex]

Anything above 740 and you shouldn't worry.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

A lot of things factor into a credit score. You can have a prefect payment history but if you have too much open available credit that can hurt your score.

 

[ceecee]

If you just got an equity line it must be okay in the bank's determination, which is all that matters. Unless you are trying to get credit I don't think it should matter a lot. Is there anyway you can find out why it is low? Maybe you just haven't had enough credit yet?

 

[Colleen27]

It really depends, I think, on where you're at in life and what your goals and long-term plans are. For us, 650 is the tipping point but we've reached a point where we're not concerned with borrowing ability. All I want to do is preserve our "preferred" rates on certain products (ie car insurance) and, if need be, pass a pre-employment credit check. If we were younger/less settled and looking ahead to needing a mortgage or car loan, I would be more invested in maintaining a higher score to get the best rates and have the most options available.

 

[sonnyjane]

You are entitled to one free credit report from each of the bureaus each year (I tend to get one every 4 months to spread it out all year).

Go to www.annualcreditreport.com and look for yourself to see if anything stands out at you as causing the score. Frankly I'd want to know ANY reason I didn't have a score in the ideal range.

 

[bumbershoot]

You are entitled to one free credit report from each of the bureaus each year (I tend to get one every 4 months to spread it out all year).

Go to www.annualcreditreport.com and look for yourself to see if anything stands out at you as causing the score. Frankly I'd want to know ANY reason I didn't have a score in the ideal range.

Probably for this I'd get them all at once, look them over to see if there's bad info on there. It's not that hard, not really legwork. If there are wrong things, you submit the forms to explain why it's wrong.

Then the following year start ordering one each 4 months, to spread it out like sonnyjane does. But for now, for me personally, I'd want to see them all at once right now.

 

[Egdisney]

go to www.creditkarma.com. It is a free site that is amazing! It tracks your credit score monthly from transunion and gives you information on changes that are made to your credit report, for example it will tell you that a new account was opened in your name in April. It also breaks down and grades all area that FICO uses to create your credit score. It also shows you offers for new credit cards and auto loans. The one thing that is killing our credit score is inquiries and length of credit history. We cannot figure out why we have so many hard inquiries as we rarely apply for things. I am going to start investigating further as we are getting pretty close to that magical 740 and mama needs a new car!

 

[MomToOne]

go to www.creditkarma.com. It is a free site that is amazing! It tracks your credit score monthly from transunion and gives you information on changes that are made to your credit report, for example it will tell you that a new account was opened in your name in April. It also breaks down and grades all area that FICO uses to create your credit score. It also shows you offers for new credit cards and auto loans. The one thing that is killing our credit score is inquiries and length of credit history. We cannot figure out why we have so many hard inquiries as we rarely apply for things. I am going to start investigating further as we are getting pretty close to that magical 740 and mama needs a new car!

 

[Planogirl]

A lot can effect your score. Are your balances high on one or more accounts compared to the limits? Do you have a mortgage? Are your accounts on the new side? Do you owe a lot of money all around?

Find out what credit bureau they used and pull your free copy. I agree that revolving them every four months is a great way to go?

 

[tvguy]

Anything above 740 and you shouldn't worry.

Anything above 720 and you shouldn't have to worry.

http://www.freescore.com/good-bad-credit-score-range.aspx

 

[eliza61]

Also get a copy of your report to check for any errors. I heard from the BBB that credit reports are notorious for having inaccurate information. So something as simple as an old cc account reported inaccurately could drop your score a few points.

One thing that happen with us is that since we have a very common name (think bob smith) when we got our mortgage we had to verify a lot of stuff wasn't actually us.

I'm going to echoe Collen27's post, tolerance level depends on a lot of issues. I'm not financing any thing any time soon. my house is paid for so right now I really don't care what my score is. I will need a new car probably next year as all the cars have about 150K+ miles on them so one of these jokers will probably die soon but I'll either pay cash or put down enough of a down payment where it won't mater.
Of course when we were younger, we were very aware of our credit worthiness.

 

[Lady V]

Does he have student loan debt? It is considered as bad as credit card debt on your score.

 

[nowellsl]

When you pull your free credit reports, you can also pay to get your credit score. It will list any conditions that negatively affect your score. Mine always says I don't have enough different types of credit because I don't have a mortgage or a car loan. My score is pretty high, so it doesn't bother me.

I would definately check for errors on his report.

 

[mafibisha]

go to www.creditkarma.com. It is a free site that is amazing! It tracks your credit score monthly from transunion and gives you information on changes that are made to your credit report, for example it will tell you that a new account was opened in your name in April. It also breaks down and grades all area that FICO uses to create your credit score. It also shows you offers for new credit cards and auto loans. The one thing that is killing our credit score is inquiries and length of credit history. We cannot figure out why we have so many hard inquiries as we rarely apply for things. I am going to start investigating further as we are getting pretty close to that magical 740 and mama needs a new car!

I am really curious about this site. While I'd love to believe it's totally free and is also ****SAFE**** I must admit I'm a little more than doubtful and concerned. Most of these sites make their money from advertising OR they sell your information to other vendors / companies. That doesn't sound very secure to me, so wondered if you could elaborate more on the site?

TIA!

 

[natenapril]

Creditkarma is a FAKO not a FICO. It's a tool to use but not to rely on solely. It's still a good idea to get a yearly fico report.