Credit score

[bdcolt45er]

Is taking out more credit truly necessary for him? Going from 754 to 815 prob isn't going to benefit him more than he's already getting in this stage in life. The bump certainly doesn't seem worth taking out more lines of credit just for a somewhat arbitrary number that may effect him only a handful more times in his lifetime.

Maybe that's just me. If his number was in the 600s I'd agree, but 754 is still pretty good. Fussing about a credit score just to get one or two more decimal benefits doesn't particularly seem worth it to me

I don't think it would make a difference. I did an experiment with refinancing my car loan with a 800 + credit score and I'm getting low 5%. Now that is a used car but it looks like my car is worth more than I owe at the moment. Wouldn't surprise me if the dealer could get the rate down a point in order to get the sale. But I agree rate wouldn't change much between 750-815.

 

[millah_22]

I don't think it would make a difference. I did an experiment with refinancing my car loan with a 800 + credit score and I'm getting low 5%. Now that is a used car but it looks like my car is worth more than I owe at the moment. Wouldn't surprise me if the dealer could get the rate down a point in order to get the sale. But I agree rate wouldn't change much between 750-815.

Not sure what the dealer's point of dangling that 1.9% was. I'd love to see how many people and their scores actually qualified for it.

 

[TennNole17]

Current credit system is a scam.

Also, it is not a score of how financially stable, how buttoned down your household finances are, or how prudent you are. Its a score of how you have used and repaid debt. The two things conflict.

 

[OrlandNole]

You need a credit score of 69 for entry into OP's mom's house.

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

A what am I doing wrong post. My credit score, pulled by a dealer for a potential auto loan, is 754. That’s the first pull in four years. My only loans are a 20k house loan and a paid off student loan from just after the forgiveness was overturned. Well, sort of. I have a credit card we use for monthly expenses that is paid off every month. It is never above 20% utilization. We have never been late on any payment in our 28 years of marriage. Plenty of documented income. Why isn’t my score higher? Not enough credit utilization? It doesn’t really matter but apparently I don’t qualify for the absolute best interest rates. Pisses me off. It seems arbitrary.

I'm in a pretty similar situation and have been told the "credit utilization" line. Basically I've had the same wells CC since I was old enough to start building credit and I've paid off my truck and a motorcycle I bought when I was younger, and my mortgage, but I was told in order to grow my credit I actually need to.show I can pay multiple lines of credit at once. I'm not going to borrow money to get a better rate on borrowing money, my 740 qualifies me.for everything I want.

 

[theiacowtipper]

Length of longest credit line?

Your credit card might give you access to TransUnion or your fico score and you can see what's hurting you.

Many banks and credit cards provide this now.

Do you own or rent? Does your second home have a mortgage? I imagine that may impact things.

13 years or so? I’ve had this chase card that long. We own. No second home.

 

[ICHawk-I]

The best FICO is a 0. No activity aka no debt.

👆 This. Credit score is not a sign of financial success. It just means you're really good at acquiring debt and paying it back on time.

 

[beanerhawk]

👆 This. Credit score is not a sign of financial success. It just means you're really good at acquiring debt and paying it back on time.

Feel like that's stating the obvious but maybe some people don't understand. It's still beneficial to have a good credit score in case you need to use it.

 

[theiacowtipper]

Feel like that's stating the obvious but maybe some people don't understand. It's still beneficial to have a good credit score in case you need to use it.

So many businesses use it. Insurance. Utilities. Rentals.

 

[Urohawk]

840 for me. I also buy everything on a credit card and pay off in full, some months that can be $5,000 of monthly purchases and $5,000 paid off the same month. Also have two car loans, two mortgages (home and business property), have two LOCs open with no balances. Zero credit pulls in the past 3 years. Zero late or missed payments. Meanwhile I chunk away around $20,000 every January to fund my wife’s and mine Roth’s and HSAs for the year. After that I fill up savings and brokerage account as much as I can.

Similar to me. My score went up when I got more cards (I think I am up to 7 now). My wife got into credit card points game which is a good hobby if you have to travel alot. We take a lot of personal trips but also a lot of business trips so now I have access to lounges, room upgrades, etc.

What the credit cards use does for me and what the OP is missing is proving you can suddenly manage a 40K loan. I could probably withdraw 100K in cash on all my cards combined, but haven't so it proves I'm responsible with large lines of credit. Also it looks like I have 10-15K of debt every month that is paid off so cards don't carry a balance. There is a lot of money churning and activity. You have a history of paying off loans and making payments which is why your credit is good. The scoring system sees me as actively managing debt responsibly where OP is not active and has a passive history.

 

[QChawks]

I’m kinda a big deal

 

[Obviously Oblivious]

I was offered 3.9. The best they have for anyone is 1.9. I’m almost certain those were the numbers. For what it’s worth my bank offered 3.9 and my credit union 4.1

Jesus Christ himself wouldn’t qualify for the 1.9% rate IMO.

 

[ft254]

If you have to ask, you're too poor to post here. No offense.

Go take a long walk off a short pier and never come back.

I bought a car recently and decided to finance part of it to not dig deep into savings. Damn. Found out I don't have a credit score.

My bank recommended I not pay off credit cards completely to sustain a credit score. Do I need one? The bank didn't hesitate to loan me the relatively small amount in relation to the purchase price. It didn't bother them, so why should it matter? If I need credit elsewhere, I guess it would, but if a person pays timely, what better reference could there be?

 

[Dr. Phil Seuss]

That totally reminds me of my grandpa who constantly reminded us "don't be old and poor." He believed in cash only, if you didn't have cash you didn't buy it. He paid cash for vehicles and also didn't believe in dickering - you paid sticker, no questions asked. He was born in 1902 and dropped out of school after 8th grade to work the farm as his dad was an alcoholic and left the family. Ended up with a large dairy farm which he and his hired man milked by hand daily at 4am. I still have some letters he sent me, he printed only, never learned cursive.

If you were paying cash for things from like 09-22, you were a fool, especially 2020-2022 when the getting was real good. That was the time to run up debt financing large capex.

 

[theiacowtipper]

I should follow up with the end result of this. I financed at 4.1. I know my bank was lower but dealer incentives to finance through them were better. The dealership said to come back to them in six months. They said that when interests rates drop in February or so to come back. They will be close to zero again and they will refinance. I asked how much that would cost and they said a $25 title fee. Something like that.

 

[denmar81]

Was 780 about 5 years ago when I refinanced the house and borrowed more for a renovation. Bought a new truck and car a year later. Went to co-sign for my kids vehicle this past March and it was up to 850. Don’t have a credit card. Guessing paying off more than the minimum payments helps.

 

[3boysmom]

You need more than one credit card. They like to see that you have a really high amount of available credit but aren't using it I guess. We are paying mostly cash for the house we are building and putting all of the materials through our credit card for the miles. We had the radiant floors hit right at the end of the billing cycle so it showed a massive amount for the balance on the card and dropped our score by like 150 points. I paid it off literally days later when it posted but it still got us. It has now mostly recovered a month later but damn it's wild how it can fluctuate.