This might sound like a silly question...

[DarkHalo]

But what is a good credit score???

I checked my credit score for the first time tonite. I have seen ads on tv that say 720 is average. Is that true? 

No doubt this sounds like a goofy question but as far as finances and such I am clueless. To me 'money' is something I put in a soda machine and not much else. Well, actually I seldom drink sodas anymore, but you know what I mean. But I am sorta OCD about paying bills on time.

[Duke Nukum]

720 is good, like real good, not average.  Are you just posting to brag?

[DarkHalo]

720 is good, like real good, not average.  Are you just posting to brag?

Well...not intentionally I wasnt. 

[BEG]

FICO scores range between 300 and 850. Ratings are as follows:

~ Excellent: Over 750
~ Very Good: 720 or more
~ Acceptable: 660 to 720
~ Uncertain: 620 to 660
~ Risky: less than 620

I got a letter from Countrywide the other day (yes our mortgage is with the devil) and apparently one of their employees (that they reassuringly told me was fired) sold customers info to third parties.  They had no idea if ours was stolen but offered a credit watch service for free for two years.  I signed up and checked our credit score.  I was quite proud at what our score was, even with a $6000 credit card bill (that was my son's new engine and the tow charge) that was still showing up but that was paid off at the time I checked our score.  I think I'm going to check back in another two weeks.  It says that they update their credit score monthly, I want to see if it goes higher after the $6000 is off our credit report.

Also I noticed that the score range is different than what the range I show above (I googled the info above).  The one I have only goes to 830 (which is experian) but in the deal with Countrywide I got Equifax and Transunion too and they were to 830 as well.

[Miss Mia]

720 is a great credit score.  You would be able to easily buy a car/house.

FICO scores range between 300 and 850. Ratings are as follows:

~ Excellent: Over 750
~ Very Good: 720 or more
~ Acceptable: 660 to 720
~ Uncertain: 620 to 660
~ Risky: less than 620

I got a letter from Countrywide the other day (yes our mortgage is with the devil) and apparently one of their employees (that they reassuringly told me was fired) sold customers info to third parties.  They had no idea if ours was stolen but offered a credit watch service for free for two years.  I signed up and checked our credit score.  I was quite proud at what our score was, even with a $6000 credit card bill (that was my son's new engine and the tow charge) that was still showing up but that was paid off at the time I checked our score.  I think I'm going to check back in another two weeks.  It says that they update their credit score monthly, I want to see if it goes higher after the $6000 is off our credit report.

Also I noticed that the score range is different than what the range I show above (I googled the info above).  The one I have only goes to 830 (which is experian) but in the deal with Countrywide I got Equifax and Transunion too and they were to 830 as well.

It depends on how it was showing up.  I would assume that you had plenty of credit to put the engine on.  If you only had, let's say 1 card with a $10000 credit limit, that would reflect badly on you.  You'd be using too much of your "available" credit, no matter how much your income is.  But if you had let's say 3 $10000 credit cards and the engine is the only thing on 1 card with nothing on the others, then it shouldn't effect it.

I dunno, it's been almost a year since I pulled my credit scores.  I should have the finance guy pull my report for me.  1 it's free to me, and 2 having them at work pull it (since it would show up) only costs 2 pts it's not a big deal.  I had it pulled almost a year ago, b/c I was thinking of getting rid of my Beetle.

[BEG]

720 is a great credit score.  You would be able to easily buy a car/house.

FICO scores range between 300 and 850. Ratings are as follows:

~ Excellent: Over 750
~ Very Good: 720 or more
~ Acceptable: 660 to 720
~ Uncertain: 620 to 660
~ Risky: less than 620

I got a letter from Countrywide the other day (yes our mortgage is with the devil) and apparently one of their employees (that they reassuringly told me was fired) sold customers info to third parties.  They had no idea if ours was stolen but offered a credit watch service for free for two years.  I signed up and checked our credit score.  I was quite proud at what our score was, even with a $6000 credit card bill (that was my son's new engine and the tow charge) that was still showing up but that was paid off at the time I checked our score.  I think I'm going to check back in another two weeks.  It says that they update their credit score monthly, I want to see if it goes higher after the $6000 is off our credit report.

Also I noticed that the score range is different than what the range I show above (I googled the info above).  The one I have only goes to 830 (which is experian) but in the deal with Countrywide I got Equifax and Transunion too and they were to 830 as well.

It depends on how it was showing up.  I would assume that you had plenty of credit to put the engine on.  If you only had, let's say 1 card with a $10000 credit limit, that would reflect badly on you.  You'd be using too much of your "available" credit, no matter how much your income is.  But if you had let's say 3 $10000 credit cards and the engine is the only thing on 1 card with nothing on the others, then it shouldn't effect it.

I dunno, it's been almost a year since I pulled my credit scores.  I should have the finance guy pull my report for me.  1 it's free to me, and 2 having them at work pull it (since it would show up) only costs 2 pts it's not a big deal.  I had it pulled almost a year ago, b/c I was thinking of getting rid of my Beetle.

We have two cards, one with $13,500 credit limit and another one with around a $10k limit.  I had one card that was just under a $30k limit and I told them to lower it once when we were canceling some store credit cards we had open but never used (like Best Buy, Dillards...etc) because too much available credit can be counted against you as well.  They lowered it to what I asked then what seemed like every few months we got offers from them with "checks" to use and each time they upped the amount of credit.  I had to call them back and cancel the card because they kept upping the credit limit.  Now we only have two credit cards, no store cards and my husband's work visa but that is through work (but I have to pay it off every month and half the time he doesn't put in for his expenses and it really pisses me off but I digress.......).

I am curious if the $6000 changed our credit score.  We hadn't had anything on a CC in forever up until that point.

I will brag here.  Our credit score was just a couple of points under 800. 

Edited to add: DH, like the others stated 720 is a great score.  Be proud of yourself.

[DarkHalo]

I had a similar experience with someone accessing my credit info, along with thousands of others, and got a year of free credit watch from Experian.

My score is 823 which I assume to be good. Maybe that explains the good rate I got when I bought the Mercedes, lol.

[BEG]

I had a similar experience with someone accessing my credit info, along with thousands of others, and got a year of free credit watch from Experian.

My score is 823 which I assume to be good. Maybe that explains the good rate I got when I bought the Mercedes, lol.

823?  Wow

[DarkHalo]

I had a similar experience with someone accessing my credit info, along with thousands of others, and got a year of free credit watch from Experian.

My score is 823 which I assume to be good. Maybe that explains the good rate I got when I bought the Mercedes, lol.

823?  Wow

Check your PM's lady....

[Zeus]

It depends on how it was showing up.  I would assume that you had plenty of credit to put the engine on.  If you only had, let's say 1 card with a $10000 credit limit, that would reflect badly on you.  You'd be using too much of your "available" credit, no matter how much your income is.  But if you had let's say 3 $10000 credit cards and the engine is the only thing on 1 card with nothing on the others, then it shouldn't effect it.

I dunno, it's been almost a year since I pulled my credit scores.  I should have the finance guy pull my report for me.  1 it's free to me, and 2 having them at work pull it (since it would show up) only costs 2 pts it's not a big deal.  I had it pulled almost a year ago, b/c I was thinking of getting rid of my Beetle.

What you just described is basically bassackwards of credit scoring. A line of credit is a line of credit. Using the line of credit doesn't affect the score unless you are late with pymnt(s),don't makepymnt, exceed the credit limit or your financial wherewithal decreases.

When it comes to getting credit other revolving or open ended credit lines are treated as debt regardless if it's all zero balance because it is open and available. Naturally that is all balanced against income and ability to pay.

[whiffleball]

It depends on how it was showing up.  I would assume that you had plenty of credit to put the engine on.  If you only had, let's say 1 card with a $10000 credit limit, that would reflect badly on you.  You'd be using too much of your "available" credit, no matter how much your income is.  But if you had let's say 3 $10000 credit cards and the engine is the only thing on 1 card with nothing on the others, then it shouldn't effect it.

I dunno, it's been almost a year since I pulled my credit scores.  I should have the finance guy pull my report for me.  1 it's free to me, and 2 having them at work pull it (since it would show up) only costs 2 pts it's not a big deal.  I had it pulled almost a year ago, b/c I was thinking of getting rid of my Beetle.

What you just described is basically bassackwards of credit scoring. A line of credit is a line of credit. Using the line of credit doesn't affect the score unless you are late with pymnt(s),don't makepymnt, exceed the credit limit or your financial wherewithal decreases.

When it comes to getting credit other revolving or open ended credit lines are treated as debt regardless if it's all zero balance because it is open and available. Naturally that is all balanced against income and ability to pay.

I've never heard that before; credit is treated as debt even with zero balance. Guess that makes sense since it's a potential debt.  We must have 15 CCs, three of which we use regularly for airline miles (I really need to cancel those others).  We pay each off in full monthly.  Neither of us has ever been refused credit and both recently bought news cars with the % rate and monthly payment where we wanted them.

[Chris]

Is it bad if your credit score is a negative number? 

[BEG]

It depends on how it was showing up.  I would assume that you had plenty of credit to put the engine on.  If you only had, let's say 1 card with a $10000 credit limit, that would reflect badly on you.  You'd be using too much of your "available" credit, no matter how much your income is.  But if you had let's say 3 $10000 credit cards and the engine is the only thing on 1 card with nothing on the others, then it shouldn't effect it.

I dunno, it's been almost a year since I pulled my credit scores.  I should have the finance guy pull my report for me.  1 it's free to me, and 2 having them at work pull it (since it would show up) only costs 2 pts it's not a big deal.  I had it pulled almost a year ago, b/c I was thinking of getting rid of my Beetle.

What you just described is basically bassackwards of credit scoring. A line of credit is a line of credit. Using the line of credit doesn't affect the score unless you are late with pymnt(s),don't makepymnt, exceed the credit limit or your financial wherewithal decreases.

When it comes to getting credit other revolving or open ended credit lines are treated as debt regardless if it's all zero balance because it is open and available. Naturally that is all balanced against income and ability to pay.

Do you know why they don't all have the same credit ranges?  I saw a credit report that the top range went well into the 900's.  I have never seen that before. All three of our credit reports I looked at through the credit service (it was through Experian) had the other two big credit reporters and they both went to 830 as well. Is the range just standardized because I'm viewing them through Experian?  If I would have went through one of the other ones would the ranges be different?

[JohnnyReb]

I was very disappointed when I checked my credit score a year or so ago. After all those years of pinching pennies and busting my ass to pay off large loans on time and saving money to use as collateral instead of other stuff, I had no credit score..... <==that's probably the lending institutions reactions to a request by me for credit/loan......

I guess when it comes to credit scores, you can overdo a good thing.

[NHSparky]

720 is darned good.  When a lender considers you for a mortgage or other loan, they'll usually go by the middle score, but don't be surprised if they use the lowest one to determine rate, so if they're all close you're okay.

One thing I learned is that if you do have multiple credit cards, they do look for you to pay them ALL off on a steady basis--this big chunks on one, etc., doesn't help as much.  Also, "opt-out" if ever given the chance, because inquiries, whether you wanted them or not, will hurt your FICO score.  What I've found helps is that if you charge something significant then pay it off and do that a couple of times over several years, it helps your score immensely.  AMEX is nice, but not as beneficial as you pay that each month.  Also, too many credit cards, even with zero balance, will hurt because it shows potential to get in over your head.

Finally, when I was buying my current home, my FICO scores were in the range where I was basically able to knock 1/4 point off the rate simply because of my credit history.  If you can do that, then YOU'RE in the driver's seat, even in this time of tight money.