My FICO credit score took a hit

[Green Sub]

Only because I have been so vocal about the benefit of taking advantage of no interest financing at my AD, I thought I should back track and share this.

I pulled my FICO score in April and it was 796 out of a possible 850. That's about normal for me.

Today, for no related reason to my 2 recent Rolex purchases, I pulled my FICO score again. It was 782. The reason mentioned in the report was not that I had increased my credit debt by $10,000 or so, but because I had obtained new credit recently. The new account at Jared's was cited.

It's no big deal, but I did think that I should mention this the way I have raved about no interest financing.

[Marrk]

You gave Jared your SSN . . . and so, interest or not, the line of credit is a matter of record.

The above is really a question, rather than a statement.

Originally Posted by eq2675

Only because I have been so vocal about the benefit of taking advantage of no interest financing at my AD, I thought I should back track and share this.

I pulled my FICO score in April and it was 796 out of a possible 850. That's about normal for me.

Today, for no related reason to my 2 recent Rolex purchases, I pulled my FICO score again. It was 782. The reason mentioned in the report was not that I had increased my credit debt by $10,000 or so, but because I had obtained new credit recently. The new account at Jared's was cited.

It's no big deal, but I did think that I should mention this the way I have raved about no interest financing.

[Green Sub]

Originally Posted by Marrk

You gave Jared your SSN . . . and so, interest or not, the line of credit is a matter of record.

The above is really a question, rather than a statement.

This is true, I did have to fill out a credit app with my SSN. I have never tracked my FICO in such a short interval and didn't realize my score would take a 15 point hit. I think 750 is a magic score number. Something a prospective Rolex buyer might want to think about if they float around a 760 score or so.

[mfer]

It is a very very complicated formula. It may be down now, but after you pay it off, it'll be higher than 796. To increase your score you have to decrease it first by taking on debt. If you don't take on debt, the formula makes it hard to ever increase b/c much of your score is based on your ability to have debt over several months/years and be able to pay it off.

[boa2]

Many loan/finance programs are top tier for 730 and above. You're smooth sailing with that score.

[pwrslider]

Girls used to say that on a Fido scale..I was a 9.............what does that mean?

[moby33]

Originally Posted by mfer

It is a very very complicated formula. It may be down now, but after you pay it off, it'll be higher than 796. To increase your score you have to decrease it first by taking on debt. If you don't take on debt, the formula makes it hard to ever increase b/c much of your score is based on your ability to have debt over several months/years and be able to pay it off.

Exactly...it doesn't matter. I just bought another home and ironically enough while running mine & wife's FICO numbers they actually did damage to it due to running multiple requests for our scores! Can you say double-edged sword?

In the end I really don't mind because both are in the high 700's and I know buying another home & making automatic payments will make the scores even higher in very short order...just like taking out this Jared's credit line & paying it off. Cheers.

[Z-Sub]

That's normal.
everytime you have a new credit card or credit line, your score drops and then good history from this account will bring the score back up.
your score did not drop much either.

[marshallr47]

Interesting.

[topcat30093]

Originally Posted by Z-Sub

That's normal.
everytime you have a new credit card or credit line, your score drops and then good history from this account will bring the score back up.
your score did not drop much either.

Thats how I understand it to work.

[blackrhino12]

I don't want a FICO score because I don't want to borrow money. Save and pay cash or you can't afford it.

[Hatchet]

When you pay it off it will go up and you'll have a paid off Rolex.

[astcell]

A local car dealer ran my credit when I showed interest in a car. I had not authorized it. I am highly bothered by it.

[roadcarver]

Sometimes you need to have some sort of credit history.

ie. credit card to pay for gas

Originally Posted by blackrhino12

I don't want a FICO score because I don't want to borrow money. Save and pay cash or you can't afford it.

[jbomb42]

Originally Posted by blackrhino12

I don't want a FICO score because I don't want to borrow money. Save and pay cash or you can't afford it.

YEAH! X2

[boa2]

Originally Posted by astcell

A local car dealer ran my credit when I showed interest in a car. I had not authorized it. I am highly bothered by it.

Why fill out a credit application if you did not want them to pull your credit?

[Green Sub]

Originally Posted by blackrhino12

I don't want a FICO score because I don't want to borrow money. Save and pay cash or you can't afford it.

I'm not sure the majority of Rolex owners could afford to pay cash for their home. To get the best mortgage rates, you gotta have a good FICO score in the USA.

Just my humble opinion.

[BigHat]

Wow. What an interesting turn of a thread. Bravo !!! Interesting stuff on the FICO and unintended impacts from rather benign events for most of us.

[Marrk]

Originally Posted by moby33

while running mine & wife's FICO numbers they actually did damage to it due to running multiple requests for our scores

This is what bothers me.

Anybody have an idea how badly a credit check impacts your FICO score? I have been told that a few (1-2?) inquiries don't matter, but if you have several (3-4?) and don't follow it by obtaining an approved loan, it makes you look un-credit-worthy and your score drops. In other words, it makes you look like someone who asked for a loan and was denied, even if it was your decision not to get the loan.

[moby33]

Originally Posted by blackrhino12

I don't want a FICO score because I don't want to borrow money. Save and pay cash or you can't afford it.

That's a great concept if you plan to just buy watches, clothes, food and maybe a new car during your lifetime...but good luck buying a house and securing a mortgage (assuming of course that you don't make over $1M/year and want to buy a house over $500K). I couldn't afford to buy my house in cash (or the 2 rental properties I have acquired over the last 5 years), but I could afford a down payment and a great mortgage due to a high FICO score. Are you saying I shouldn't have bought because I didn't have 100% cash for my home? No way boss, that's not how it works.

I think everyone should care about building their FICO score...ya never know when you'll need to secure a loan for something...those that don't work to improve it will realize too late a low score (which obviously doesn't always equate to bad credit history...it could just mean no history) means a higher rate & more money in interest going to the bank instead of in your savings.

Some of the best ways to earn any type of real, long-term wealth is through the smart, informed use of credit. Even though the credit markets are getting killed nowadays, the principles are still valid and should never be abandoned. Cheers.

[Ed Rooney]

Originally Posted by moby33

Exactly...it doesn't matter. I just bought another home and ironically enough while running mine & wife's FICO numbers they actually did damage to it due to running multiple requests for our scores! Can you say double-edged sword?

In the end I really don't mind because both are in the high 700's and I know buying another home & making automatic payments will make the scores even higher in very short order...just like taking out this Jared's credit line & paying it off. Cheers.

That should not be the case. You should be able to pull as many of your own scores as you want with no negative impact. Until recently you could use those reports to game the system and bump real inquiries from your file. Your credit file (I forget which one) can only hold a specific number of inquiries. Maybe 100 or so, for example. If you pull a new report yourself (called a soft inquiry) every day, eventually you will bump the oldest inquiries from the file.

Real (hard) inquiries by creditors tend to drop your score 5-10 points temporarily. There is no correlation between an inquiry and failure to open a new line of credit. An inquiry is an inquiry only and it stands alone. You credit report is based upon a snapshot in time.

Like I said in another thread, there is a message board for everything. There are a few for people who are fixing their credit, or want to maximize their score. It's almost like a hobby. You can get sucked in. Some folks are trying to fix their 510 score, while others want a "Vanity FICO" of 800+. Every loan officer has told me that low-700's or better is all anyone needs, so the effort in going from 780 to 810 is probably for nothing.

Every bank and credit card offers a credit monitoring service now. I use the one provided by American Express. It alerts me quickly of any changes to my files.

[newrolexman]

Last year I was at a luxury car dealer wanting to buy the wife a car.

We test drove a $120K car and i gave the dealer my drivers license so he could copy it, SOP they said.


It took a few mins.

WHat they do,, before letting out a $120K car to a stranger is get a preliminary FICO score without going into your credit report,, it doesnt show up as a hit on your report and since you have no idea someone went in,, he doesnt need permission to do that if there is a good business reason,, eg, you are taking out his expensive property.

Its a summary of your credit without details but gives the FICO #.


NO biggie to me, I must have passed because I drove the car for 20 mins with my wife.


D

[CoopJr]

I paid off 2 loans and my score WENT DOWN not up!

Bunch of BS for the credit bureaus to manipulate for their gain IMO. Personally, I'm done with going deeper in debt. I just froze the credit reports of my wife and I at all 3 agencies.

[cummins77c]

Originally Posted by Ed Rooney

That should not be the case. You should be able to pull as many of your own scores as you want with no negative impact. Until recently you could use those reports to game the system and bump real inquiries from your file. Your credit file (I forget which one) can only hold a specific number of inquiries. Maybe 100 or so, for example. If you pull a new report yourself (called a soft inquiry) every day, eventually you will bump the oldest inquiries from the file.

Real (hard) inquiries by creditors tend to drop your score 5-10 points temporarily. There is no correlation between an inquiry and failure to open a new line of credit. An inquiry is an inquiry only and it stands alone. You credit report is based upon a snapshot in time.

Like I said in another thread, there is a message board for everything. There are a few for people who are fixing their credit, or want to maximize their score. It's almost like a hobby. You can get sucked in. Some folks are trying to fix their 510 score, while others want a "Vanity FICO" of 800+. Every loan officer has told me that low-700's or better is all anyone needs, so the effort in going from 780 to 810 is probably for nothing.

Every bank and credit card offers a credit monitoring service now. I use the one provided by American Express. It alerts me quickly of any changes to my files.

Being a misguided youth i really screwed up my credit in college. By the time i had a good job and wanted to start aquiring things on credit it was very difficult ( high interest rates, huge downpayments etc.). My low score was a 503 7 years ago. I have sinced worked very hard to improve my score and it was a very difficult road.

My score now will fluctuate monthly by as much as 40 points (650ish-690ish) and from my credit monitoring it is directly related to my balances on revolving accounts ( credit cards).

I pay off every credit card i have monthly now and haven't missed a payment in 5 years.

And from what I have seen high 600's has gotten me everything i have wanted so far. I just bought a house, seem to get every credit card i apply for including a 6k limit a Jareds to support this habit, and 0% financing on my truck.

Just my observations on the credit thing.

[Marrk]

Ed,

How can anyone get any credit info on you without your SSN?

I'm a little puzzled by this.

Thanks.

Mark

Originally Posted by Ed Rooney

That should not be the case. You should be able to pull as many of your own scores as you want with no negative impact. Until recently you could use those reports to game the system and bump real inquiries from your file. Your credit file (I forget which one) can only hold a specific number of inquiries. Maybe 100 or so, for example. If you pull a new report yourself (called a soft inquiry) every day, eventually you will bump the oldest inquiries from the file.

Real (hard) inquiries by creditors tend to drop your score 5-10 points temporarily. There is no correlation between an inquiry and failure to open a new line of credit. An inquiry is an inquiry only and it stands alone. You credit report is based upon a snapshot in time.

Like I said in another thread, there is a message board for everything. There are a few for people who are fixing their credit, or want to maximize their score. It's almost like a hobby. You can get sucked in. Some folks are trying to fix their 510 score, while others want a "Vanity FICO" of 800+. Every loan officer has told me that low-700's or better is all anyone needs, so the effort in going from 780 to 810 is probably for nothing.

Every bank and credit card offers a credit monitoring service now. I use the one provided by American Express. It alerts me quickly of any changes to my files.

[moby33]

Originally Posted by Ed Rooney

That should not be the case. You should be able to pull as many of your own scores as you want with no negative impact. Until recently you could use those reports to game the system and bump real inquiries from your file. Your credit file (I forget which one) can only hold a specific number of inquiries. Maybe 100 or so, for example. If you pull a new report yourself (called a soft inquiry) every day, eventually you will bump the oldest inquiries from the file.

Real (hard) inquiries by creditors tend to drop your score 5-10 points temporarily. There is no correlation between an inquiry and failure to open a new line of credit. An inquiry is an inquiry only and it stands alone. You credit report is based upon a snapshot in time.

Like I said in another thread, there is a message board for everything. There are a few for people who are fixing their credit, or want to maximize their score. It's almost like a hobby. You can get sucked in. Some folks are trying to fix their 510 score, while others want a "Vanity FICO" of 800+. Every loan officer has told me that low-700's or better is all anyone needs, so the effort in going from 780 to 810 is probably for nothing.

Every bank and credit card offers a credit monitoring service now. I use the one provided by American Express. It alerts me quickly of any changes to my files.

All I know is what I read in the reports. We just bought another house and I used a mortgage broker that has secured me some great deals in the past. As always he ran all our info w/ the banks to secure the best possible package. When I read the report that is automatically sent to us, there were 3 comments on why my score was adjusted. One was, "Too many credit inquires within the last 12 months"...or something very similar (I don't have the exact wording in front of me now). I found that odd as we only have an airline miles cc & an Amex that we've had/used for years & always pay off the balance each month.

We've not applied or taken out any new credit lines in the last 4 years, so the only thing I could think of was all my latest new mortgage applications. As I said before, in the end I really didn't care since our scores were still plenty high to secure the best rate possible, I just thought it ironic that I take a hit just trying to secure another mortgage.

[Ed Rooney]

Originally Posted by Marrk

Ed,

How can anyone get any credit info on you without your SSN?

I'm a little puzzled by this.

Thanks.

Mark

They cannot.

[astcell]

Originally Posted by boa2

Why fill out a credit application if you did not want them to pull your credit?

I didn't. They asked my name and address and that is all they had. They knew my social from my last car purchase 2 years ago.

Long story short -- they are liable to me for $1,000 and the credit bureaus for $3,500 each. Unless I sign the application.

They called me up and gave me an offer I could not refuse. They basically bought back my old car for what I paid, and I got discounts on this car. Work for me!

[NitroRacer]

When you apply for a job, they do a background chick.... including credit check.

[astcell]

Originally Posted by pgeorgan

When you apply for a job, they do a background chick.... including credit check.

But that's not a hard pull, it is a soft pull and does not count.