My FICO Score Jumped To 660
Is that a decend score for lenders?
I had 589 last November..and have since cleaned up my credit.
Also, I just added to loans (one I received for $8,000 from a furniture store and the other for $2000 from Cicuit City).
I do not intent to use this credit. will this then increase my FICA?
I have only a mortgage and one car payment left to pay.
Also, what screws up my credit is an old electric bill for $50 that is paid off, but not off my credit report.
How long till my credit will go over 700?
any suggestions?
660 is considered "good" but not great.......km
Get a dispute form from the credit bureaus that the $50 electric bill is showing up on. Once this is disputed, the company will have to correct it within a certain time period or it will be removed from your credit. Make sure you check all 3 bureaus.
There are alot of options with a 660+ credit score. Keep a few lines open and use them for iteams you would buy anyway and pay off right away. Also if you get your reports online you can dispute your $50.00 bill today and they have 30 days to get back to you. This will increase your score if they remove it. Good Luck!
As a banker i kind of have some insight. Know I am not a underwriter, and I work for one of the toughest lenders, US bank. But 650 and above is stream lined in an automatic system as good credit- 680 is great credit and will unlock almost anything. Plus individual loans, especially at hi dollars the underwriters will look for similar loans, other installment loans for car ect.
And for what stays on your credit, good excuses always help to explain lates
Another thought to keep in mind is that if you have credit cards that are paid off and still out there, that is considered a good thing if your score is high enough. If you close a credit card out or cancel it. It shows as a negative on your credit rating. Available unused credit is a good thing! :-D
not always. Yes closing your credit cards will lower your score aprox 2 points, but only temporarly. yet have a lot of open cards mean a lot of open revolving credit. Sometimes lenders will be turned off, fearing applicant can max out and go bankrupt. Seen some one turned down partly becuase of that.
[addsig]
Hell! with a 660 and 10k in open/unused accounts, you can just about qualify for any thing.(income, reserves, etc must be ok). I would not worry too much about the $ 50.00 collection as it is such a small amount and wouldnt prevent you from qualifying at all. If you are still worried about the $50.00 then I would go and get a paid receipt/payoff letter from the electric co then send in to the 3 credit bureaus to get it removed from the records or marked as paid.
Andreas111, although a 700+ score is something to strive for, it it not at all necessary in getting a mortgage.
Don't just sit back and wait for that magical 700 number to appear, go out and utilize the 660 you already have.
a letter from the the collection people, saying you have paid it off, it's good enough.
skimpel,
Closing a credit card is not always a negative factor. It really depends.
mojojojo_1,
Closing a credit card will not necessarily bring down your score by 2 points.
I don't know where you two got that information from. In fact, it could actually bring your score up. It depends on the mix of credit that you have on your report, how many other revolving accounts you have on your report, length of time you had those accounts and many other factors. It is not an easy thing to determine (although I have become very good at it over the years). The credit scoring algorithms are very complex and it is not a good idea to make generalizations like these to the public. It really depends on a case by case basis.
1) Credit scores are meaning less this year.
660 is not only decent it is peachy. However I just got an owner occupied loan on a triplex with 620 at just 5.75 rate. This lender would have lent at the same rate even at 600, and some are lending at 580 with a low rate now.
2) Adding loans will not necessarily increase your FICO. You do want three credit lines but things where you owe little. You want a high credit limit but a balance owed of 30 percent or less. You want to have credit lines or cards but not necessarily loans--loans will cause you to have higher debt, which reduces your FICO and also raises your debt ratio, something your banker doesn't want.
3) A collection in the past 2 years or less will cost you as much as 30 points. A collection paid is not so bad.
4) Close your last credit card and you will pay! One of my clients closed their last credit card for $10K even though it was paid off and the credit scores all dropped 55 points and more. Keep the last one for sure.
L K Hughes
Author
"Improve your Credit Score in 24 Hours"