Am I the only one who thinks the Credit Score (FICO) system is a complete joke? It's like ESPNs QBR, no one is quite sure how the score is calculated.
For instance, my wife and I are looking to buy a house so I made some big payments on my Credit Cards to lower my utilization, I did not pay them off completely. Everything else remained the same. Well in doing so, my score went down 18 points....
Just ridiculous, sorry I paid you guys a couple thousand dollars.
Did you apply for any other form of credit? If so, that can temporarily lower your score.
It is a scam, but it's one that could save or cost you a lot of money over time.
There's an "art" to getting a higher score. The hard part is figuring out the formula (that is constantly changing.)
I wouldn't pay anyone to better your score (there are "services" that will take your money and claim to do that.)
Instead, peek around the net and find out what's currently improving scores. IIRC, one of the biggest factors, if not the biggest factor, is late pay/slow pay marks on your report.
I'd get a free copy of your report, then look it over for any errors. Call and have the agencies reporting correct ALL errors, removing anything that could be harming you that's incorrect.
Good luck. Fight hard... lower scores can cost you big over time in higher rates.
Quote:Did you apply for any other form of credit? If so, that can temporarily lower your score.
Nope. Nothing new, no inquiries, no missed payments. Only thing I did was pay down some cards.
Quote:Nope. Nothing new, no inquiries, no missed payments. Only thing I did was pay down some cards.
Which you think would be a good thing...but it usually isn't in the credit worthy world.
Quote:It is a scam, but it's one that could save or cost you a lot of money over time.
There's an "art" to getting a higher score. The hard part is figuring out the formula (that is constantly changing.)
I wouldn't pay anyone to better your score (there are "services" that will take your money and claim to do that.)
Instead, peek around the net and find out what's currently improving scores. IIRC, one of the biggest factors, if not the biggest factor, is late pay/slow pay marks on your report.
I'd get a free copy of your report, then look it over for any errors. Call and have the agencies reporting correct ALL errors, removing anything that could be harming you that's incorrect.
Good luck. Fight hard... lower scores can cost you big over time in higher rates.
Oh I watch my credit report like a hawk these days. When I started working in finance I opened my eyes to it. But still, it's ridiculous. And then mortgage companies use a different calculation than everyone else too.
It's just a shame that someone pays a couple grand, on time, only to see their score drop.
Quote:Which you think would be a good thing...but it usually isn't in the credit worthy world.
And it's not like I haven't used any credit recently either. I could understand lowering a score for someone who hasn't used credit in years, but I keep a (usually) relatively small balance on my cards, I just bought a car last summer, I have student loans. All current
If you just recently paid down the credit cards it could just be a timing issue depending upon the date that the credit card company sends the report to the credit bureau.
Quote:Oh I watch my credit report like a hawk these days. When I started working in finance I opened my eyes to it. But still, it's ridiculous. And then mortgage companies use a different calculation than everyone else too.
It's just a shame that someone pays a couple grand, on time, only to see their score drop.
Keeping your credit right is a task for sure. I consolodated all of my credit cards into a low intesrest loan and my score went up some 60 points.
As far as mortgage companies, we use the median of the 3 reporting agencies. There's nothing different there, however, they'll pick it apart and ask for a ton of explanations even for a bankruptcy from 9 years ago or a lte payment from forever ago.
The credit score game is the dumbest thing ever. We actually just went and got a car loan and the lady told us that our score is typical of someone in their 70's or 80's. I am always higher than my wife for whatever reason, but somehow this time she jumped me by about 10 points. It's always a contest, so now I'm annoyed.
I've got to figure this out.
It's a game for sure. You need to find the exact balance for each of the debt categories to get in the high range. Weird that you can actually lose points because you don't have debt in a particular category, like revolving retail. Didn't they just adjust the formula recently?
Quote:Am I the only one who thinks the Credit Score (FICO) system is a complete joke? It's like ESPNs QBR, no one is quite sure how the score is calculated.
For instance, my wife and I are looking to buy a house so I made some big payments on my Credit Cards to lower my utilization, I did not pay them off completely. Everything else remained the same. Well in doing so, my score went down 18 points....
Just ridiculous, sorry I paid you guys a couple thousand dollars.
Did you by chance close any accounts? As funny as it seems, having less credit available to you can actually lower your score.
Quote:Did you by chance close any accounts? As funny as it seems, having less credit available to you can actually lower your score.
Nope. Just made some payments
Quote:If you just recently paid down the credit cards it could just be a timing issue depending upon the date that the credit card company sends the report to the credit bureau.
I saw this last year when I was watching my score.
There was a couple month delay as I paid some things down/off before it seemed to register big changes.
Then, there were also unexplained fluctuations when absolutely nothing was going on - no usage, and steady pay downs.
Quote:If you just recently paid down the credit cards it could just be a timing issue depending upon the date that the credit card company sends the report to the credit bureau.
This sounds like it is the case.
CC companies send their reports to the credit bureaus ~1 week into the new month.
ya they can be weird mine has fluctuated between 660-720 for the last year. I'm a realtor so I tend to live off my cards between commissions. Keeping paying them down, spread it out, pay on time, get more credit it will go up.
Quote:This sounds like it is the case.
CC companies send their reports to the credit bureaus ~1 week into the new month.
Actually this is an updated score with the new balances already applied.
What if everyone had a good credit? What would happen?
Quote:ya they can be weird mine has fluctuated between 660-720 for the last year. I'm a realtor so I tend to live off my cards between commissions. Keeping paying them down, spread it out, pay on time, get more credit it will go up.
I use credit cards for everything. The only negative is that you're pretty much being tracked, and your transaction history is likely sold to who knows who. But most people don't care about that.
Im learning first hand paying off everything quickly is a downer. Most systems Transunion, and Equifax go by your the behavior of your payment history over the life of the loan.