My Credit score hit!

[Passepartout]

I have always enjoyed needling my DW that my credit score is higher and my card limits are greater than hers even though she's a working attorney and I'm a modestly earning retiree.

Well, in light of other posts hereabouts about wanting to surrender various TSs without a credit hit, I'll relate yesterday's events.

I got an email from a credit card issuer to get my FREE CREDIT SCORE. So clicking through and entering the obligatory username/password combo, I was presented with a number LOWER than I've ever had. A paltry 799 where I expected close to 850. WASSUP! Sez I. Well, burrowing into the reason came up with the fact that I had paid off (2years early) my pickup and closed that account. So the credit agency said that due to lack of ongoing debt and no 'as agreed' payment history, they has adjusted my score down.

So it takes surprisingly little to negatively impact your credit score.

So there it is. Not that I'm rushing out to buy something on credit to boost it back up to above DWs.

Jim

 

[Talent312]

My credit union recently closed a credit line that I never use, and then I closed an old CC I wasn't using. This resulted in two dings - one for the increased ratio of debt to available credit and the other for the shorter average age of credit. Not much, but noticeable.

-------------------
BTW, I have found that pointing out how much better you are than your DW in any aspect, be it personal finance, home cooking, or rational thinking, is counterproductive to marital bliss.
.

 

[PamMo]

Credit scores always seemed a little off kilter to me, but it makes sense if you look at it from the lenders' point of view. They want to know who's a good bet for making the most money on. By paying your truck off early, the bank lost out on two years of interest payments. Lenders' most valuable customers make enough money to manage *considerable* debt!

http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/whatsinyourscore.aspx

 

[Weimaraner]

Maybe the best thing to do now is buy a developer timeshare at 25 percent interest.

 

[SMHarman]

Anything above mid 700s is somewhat superfluous anyway.

You would not get a better car lease rate for eexample

 

[DaveNV]

To add my NSHO to what others are saying, it seems the urgency of a super-high credit score is kind of a misleading thing. Yes, having a high credit score is usually a good thing, but ONLY if you're going to do something with that score. Are you looking to buy something? Yes? Then fine. But if not? Then it isn't a real problem. Does it really matter that your credit score is a few points lower than it used to be? Given time, it'll climb back up again. Obviously, nobody wants poor, or even average credit. But if you have a great credit score (compared to a lot of folks who don't) it's only a factor if you're planning to do something with the score.

To my mind, it's kind of like the equity in your home. It's great to have a ton of equity, but only if you're going to sell the house, or otherwise use that equity. If you're planning to stay in the home, and aren't refinancing or whatever, does it really matter how much equity you have? I don't think it matters.

Jim, I'm more interested in hearing that you and DW get to travel to the places you do, and that you're enjoying your retirement. Your credit score fluctuation shouldn't be a deal breaker for your golden years.

Dave

 

[bnoble]

850->799 is a quantitative drop, but not a qualitative one. Don't sweat it. Both will get you the same terms in almost any situation.

 

[PamMo]

I took Jim's post as rather tongue-in-cheek about how doing something good (paying off his truck loan) made him less valuable to lenders. I appreciate the irony that being smart about his finances dropped his credit score! I don't think he's concerned about the number - other than it's lower than his wife's score!

 

[DaveNV]

I took Jim's post as rather tongue-in-cheek about how doing something good (paying off his truck loan) made him less valuable to lenders. I appreciate the irony that being smart about his finances dropped his credit score! I don't think he's concerned about the number - other than it's lower than his wife's score!

Ok. I can see that. I didn't read it that way. In that light, then absolutely - his wife wins.

Full disclosure: I worked my backside off rebuilding my credit after a failed business forced me through a bankruptcy many years ago. I was especially proud of the relationship I'd built with one bank,where the modest credit card they issued me was parlayed up and up into a very high credit line with them. And then they were sold to a larger bank, the relationship I had meant nothing, and the new bank treated me like I was the bane of their existence. I was annoyed at their treatment of me, so I paid off the balance on the card. They "rewarded" that gesture by cutting my credit line by 75%. I was livid, to say the least. I closed the account, and have never done business with that bank since. I have plenty of other credit, so I don't need them, but it became a principal things for me.

Dave

 

[artringwald]

I have 2 credit cards that give me my credit card score. Both say they're FICO, but there's a 25 point difference between them. They're both high, so I don't really care.

 

[dioxide45]

I have 2 credit cards that give me my credit card score. Both say they're FICO, but there's a 25 point difference between them. They're both high, so I don't really care.

My wife got a mailer the other day that her AAdvantage card from Citi included a free credit score. I read the fine print, apparently it is using a FICO scoring method from her Experian report. So a lot will depend on what credit reporting agency they are using for the score. Really, doesn't the actual FICO score come from TransUnion? Also, that FICO scoring method may not be the same one that lenders are using when determining your eligibility for credit.

 

[Passepartout]

I took Jim's post as rather tongue-in-cheek about how doing something good (paying off his truck loan) made him less valuable to lenders. I appreciate the irony that being smart about his finances dropped his credit score! I don't think he's concerned about the number - other than it's lower than his wife's score!

Yup. That was about it. More tongue in cheek than unhappy. And as to me having a higher score than my highly accomplished wife, I've always taken that as being more (sexist) view by lenders of the husband being the primary breadwinner. T'ain't necessarily true.

Thanks for seeing the intended humor in it, Pam.

Jim

 

[PamMo]

Thanks for seeing the intended humor in it, Pam.

Jim

Maybe it's an Idaho thing? We used to live on the Snake River, across from Lewiston...

 

[bnoble]

Ah, that makes sense! Sorry I missed it.

 

[Jennie]

My nightmare

For many years my credit reports have had many errors on them--some dating back 30 years. But it was all "little stuff". For instance, I have lived in New York since birth. For a few years I also owned a Mobile home in Florida (before I discovered timeshares). I would go down for 4 winter weeks and bring my mother and aunt with me. They would stay on for about 10 weeks and then head back home. At which point another family would stay there as renters for the rest of the year. The deed and all the utility bills remained in my name for several years until I sold it to the repeat renter.

Well as time went by, my credit reports kept adding the renter's names to my credit report, and and mine to here's plus some also appeared on her daughter's report.

I made many attempts to correct the situation but instead they would add even more incorrect info to our individual credit reports. Well the lady eventually died and soon thereafter I was listed as dead.

So when I subsequently married my husband, I would just use joint credit cards in his name and my married name. It worked out fine for over 20 years until his card was used by a crook. It took almost a year before things got back to normal. And another year before I could finally get a card in my name. And still there are entries on my current credit card showing that I still own the mobile home, despite the fact that the entire mobile home park was knocked down and sold to a company that uses it as a storage factory.
And I still own it in a town about 50 miles away. And the renter who died years ago lives with me there now.

And no one seems to be able to correct the problem.

BUT 2 of the 3 major companies now give me a very high score but have dropped my husband down about 30 points. And both of us pay in full each month. It's insane !

 

[Talent312]

...And the renter who died years ago lives with me there now... And no one seems to be able to correct the problem.

Your dead renter still lives with you? Did you call Ghostbusters?
To rid yourself of an Earth-bound spirit, you can try salting and burning the bones. - Source: "Supernatural"
Good luck with that.
.

 

[easyrider]

And I still own it in a town about 50 miles away. And the renter who died years ago lives with me there now.

And no one seems to be able to correct the problem.

This was fun to read. Thanks !! Im certain this is a bigger problem than your credit score, lol. :hysterical:

Bill