Do you know your ceredit score? The national average is 678.

[hiwaygal]

Mine is way above...I don't even want to know what DH's is...but we're working on that!

 

[SillyMe]

I'm well above the average, too, and I try hard to keep it there.

 

[ead79]

Well above average.

 

[cinmell]

Possibly a stupid question but does your credit score change month to month? If you pay off your cards one month, will your score change the next? I'm guessing creditors report your history every 30 days or so.

 

[mom2rb]

How did you get his credit score great? I'm guessing paying all the debt off and making sure you pay your bills on time?

I've missed some payments on my CC, and I maxed out my card, but thankfully I'm not using it anymore. I'll have it paid off in a few months.

I'm so embarassed that I was so reckless in college.

He didn't have any credit cards at the time but he did have a car note for a piece of junk that didn't run. I made deals with the bank to pay that off. Then I slowly started to put things in his name. I also had to stay on top of his credit score because he has a VERY common name. Every now and then something would show up that wasn't his.

 

[golfgal]

Possibly a stupid question but does your credit score change month to month? If you pay off your cards one month, will your score change the next? I'm guessing creditors report your history every 30 days or so.

Yes, it can fluctuate some, a few points or so. Some creditors do report monthly, credit cards and mortgage/car loans especially. That is why it is so important to pay those bills on time. While having a high balance on a credit card isn't the best, if you are making payments on them on time, it doesn't hurt you as much as say not having a large balance but paying late on them. Having maxed out revolving debt is about the worst thing you can have though, after bankruptcy.

I am actually surprised that the national average is so high after working for a leasing company and pulling many credit reports daily. I would have though it would be a lot lower. We RARELY saw credits over 700.

 

[wvjules]

A lot of credit does not hurt your score. Its the utilization that matters most. If I have $10,000 available credit but only carry a balance of $1,000, my utilization is only 10%. Util of 9-10% of avialable credit is optimal. FICO also looks at the total portfolio...revolving, installment, unsecured loans, etc. Also, don't close your oldest positive tradeline, it will hurt your credit more than help it. Also, if you have an old collection or past due credit card or bill of some sort, research it throughly before you pay it off. Making payments on an old debt will reage it and make it more current therefore dropping your scores.

That being said, I won't spend $35.00 to buy my real FICO scores. If you are going by the scores from the various credit bureaus, those aren't the real FICOS that creditors look at. Keep that in mind too.

Sometimes a CR will update daily, but most creditors only report monthly.

I've been doing a lot of research on this lately as you can tell. lol

 

[ead79]

I am actually surprised that the national average is so high after working for a leasing company and pulling many credit reports daily. I would have though it would be a lot lower. We RARELY saw credits over 700.

I totally agree. In the past I've worked for both a traditional bank and a financial company for low income families. In both cases most customers we encountered had lower credit scores. I might even question the statistic because if 678 is "average" then how is a credit score above 700 considered excellent?

 

[Luv'sTink]

We are well above. Mine is higher than DH also and he makes more than I do but it really doesn't matter what you make it is how you handle your credit.

 

[budbeerlady]

Is there anyway to get your score with out paying for it? I am so curious where mine is. Thanks!

 

[Papa Deuce]

Can someone explain me what the credit score is and how it works? I have heard about it, but since we don't have such a thing, I am curious what it is.

Thanks,

Well, I may not have ALL the details correct, but here is the idea. Different companys monitor your payment history to various places like your mortgage, car loans, credit cards and such. They keep track of whether you pay on time. They keep track of how much credit has been extended to you, and how much of it you use. Then they have a formula to determine your "credit score". The higher the number, the better. And the higher the number is, the better chance for you to get better credit terms.

Surprisingly, I have heard, that your income has little or nothing to do with your score.

That is basically it.

I don't know what the lowest score is, but the highest is 850. And, as mentioned, under 600 is poor.

Both my wife and I are over 800.

 

[golfgal]

I totally agree. In the past I've worked for both a traditional bank and a financial company for low income families. In both cases most customers we encountered had lower credit scores. I might even question the statistic because if 678 is "average" then how is a credit score above 700 considered excellent?

The scale isn't that large, really so 25 points can be a huge difference. I think the lowest score I ever saw was a low 400, like 425 or so. We just laughed when that one came in. Most of the 'bad' ones were in the high 500's low 600's. Anything over 700 was an almost automatic approval though.

 

[golfgal]

Well, I may not have ALL the details correct, but here is the idea. Different companys monitor your payment history to various places like your mortgage, car loans, credit cards and such. They keep track of whether you pay on time. They keep track of how much credit has been extended to you, and how much of it you use. Then they have a formula to determine your "credit score". The higher the number, the better. And the higher the number is, the better chance for you to get better credit terms.

Surprisingly, I have heard, that your income has little or nothing to do with your score.

That is basically it.

I don't know what the lowest score is, but the highest is 850. And, as mentioned, under 600 is poor.

Both my wife and I are over 800.

Your income doesn't play into your credit score at all. There is no where on a credit report that shows your income. I know at the company I worked at if they needed additional information on a borderline credit report they would request several years of income tax returns but other then that they didn't have any information on income. Obviously mortgage companies would have more of this information but this was for an office equipment leasing company. Any leases over $25,0000 required income tax returns though.

 

[luvwinnie]

Above

 

[Grandma Bear]

DH and I are way above

 

[SDFgirl]

Above...

 

[Bob Slydell]

I don't know what the actual score is, but I do know our credit is very much pristine.

 

[cardaway]

I don't know what the actual score is, but I do know our credit is very much pristine.

Same here.

 

[SandraVB79]

Thank you for the explanation, now I finally get more or less what it is about It is something we don't have at all, and it always creates lots of problems for Belgians that go live in the US.
People here manage their money completely different than people in the US. Unless you travel a lot, you don't have a CC, checks have almost completely disappeared, when you have a CC the standard limit is 1250 EUR (and it takes a lot to get a temporary upgrade of that limit, each time it's a struggle at the bank!)
So, since we don't really use credit (we only buy when we have the money for it in our wallet), it is about impossible to get a loan! (oh, of course, there are the exceptions on the we-only-buy-when-we-have-money, like with everything)

Something I learned again today...


(In case you wonder how we pay: cash, with Bancontact or we "wire" money)

 

[Todd&Copper]

Well above "average."