My grandmother was drilling "DON'T FUCK UP YOUR CREDIT" into my head since I was like 13 lol. So I never played fast and loose w/my finances, and was of course also very lucky/fortunate that I was never forced to because of circumstances.
5. "RE: I let it slip after I bought my crib in 2017" In response to Reply # 3
Crazy how fast your score can update these days vs. back in the day it took like 6 months+ before you saw all your hard work pay off via improved credit score
I was 745 back in september but I stupidly let a small credit card payment lapse. It happened. I was under covid/marriage/career stress hard and had been since the beginning of the year.
It's been a rebuilding.
i was 400 6 years ago.
i only have one CC.
that said, I own some property so things arent that dire, but they could be better.
10. "bad but on the right track" In response to Reply # 0
up to 640, im 36. last year it was like 580. not sure if ive been over 700 since ive started using/needing it but hopefully i will be soon.
definitely have things under control now and a plan on paying off current debt. biggest help in doing so? getting paid more money. no matter how much i tried to manage my expenses before there just wasnt much left over to make an impact on my debt. last couple of years ive almost eliminated all my CC debt and expect to eliminate it completely in a couple of weeks. by end of year i will also knock out a personal loan i took out.
will basically just be left with car and student loans (which probably wont be forgiven by any plan that is passed). im hoping 5-10 years im only worrying about a mortgage.
legsdiamond Member since May 05th 2011 79616 posts
Wed Feb-10-21 12:37 PM
11. "700.. it dipped from 749 for some reason " In response to Reply # 0
not sure it its refinancing my house or credit usage.
25% utilization
shit is a scam
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
12. "Such a scam." In response to Reply # 11 Wed Feb-10-21 12:45 PM by Brew
>shit is a scam
The most financially responsible you can possibly be is to have *no debt*. Yet, if you have no debt, your score *decreases*, even if you've had debt in the past w/100% on time payments and no derogatory remarks.
That's some bullshit right there. But it's obviously by design.
15. "Yup, this dinged me." In response to Reply # 12
I went through a 5 year period no debt and it hurt my score. I had take on a credit card and make a couple of trivial purchases per a month to get my score up.
27. "I will say that if you're responsible enough, credit cards are free $" In response to Reply # 15
I have a credit card for the exact reason we're talking about, just so my credit score stays at a high level.
I found one with no fee that pays high % cash back on all purchases. So I use it like cash/a debit card and just pay off my entire balance every day or every other day.
That way I get the cash back on every purchase and keep my credit score high, but don't pay a dime in interest.
It's easier said than done to be that disciplined but if you force yourself or even like set yourself a damn reminder every nite or every week to pay off your whole balance, you're literally just getting free money out of it.
So as much of a predatory scam as our credit system can be, it can work in your favor if you are able to be fully committed to it.
28. "I'm not as hardcore as you but I do something similar." In response to Reply # 27
Years of that debit/cash life have given me the discipline to only spend what I actually have. I don't have the patience to pay it off weekly so I what I do is set a reminder to manually pay it off ~5 days before they send me a statement then just autopay whatever extra balance I have on the due date. That *seems* to keep the overall credit utilization on my credit report pretty low so far.
>Years of that debit/cash life have given me the discipline to >only spend what I actually have. I don't have the patience to >pay it off weekly so I what I do is set a reminder to manually >pay it off ~5 days before they send me a statement then just >autopay whatever extra balance I have on the due date. That >*seems* to keep the overall credit utilization on my credit >report pretty low so far.
30. "im doing something similar" In response to Reply # 27
i pay it off weekly. i think over 4 months ive built up like $80 in cash back just with normal purchases. there were a couple weeks around xmas that i went overboard and got a bit shocked at how much i owed at the end of the week lol. still was able to pay it off within two weeks. since then its been pretty predictable.
even when the amount i owe is a bit high its all good because i have the money in the bank account since i havent been using my debit card for pretty much anything.
only thing i am worried about is what to do with these credit cards ive been paying off. seems like you want to keep them open so your available balance stays high but i dont want to use them since i dont get any cash back. im hoping they give me a warning before they close them due to inactivity.
35. "I always wonder how that works...." In response to Reply # 30
never had a card closed for not using it. I've closed some that I didn't want to risk using and didn't worry much about the score going down. I'm good with occasionally losing a few points.
39. "I link them to a subscription and then setup autopay on the CC" In response to Reply # 30
>only thing i am worried about is what to do with these credit >cards ive been paying off. seems like you want to keep them >open so your available balance stays high but i dont want to >use them since i dont get any cash back. im hoping they give >me a warning before they close them due to inactivity.
I paid off my CCs and didn't want to close them either. I've had one card warn me about inactivity after a year or so and another close the account.
Now I just spread out my various subscriptions on the cards, just so they're being utilized. I set the CC payments to autopay so that I don't forget to pay the bill. So far, none of the other cards have closed.
Closed account goes against your (and I think it's an) average account history length. If you only have one or two cards, it probably hurts more than if you have five or six old cards.
~~~~~~~~ A bad Samaritan averaging above average men (c) DOOM
36. "it's most likely from the refinance " In response to Reply # 11
If I recall correctly, let's say you've been paying your mortgage for 12 years, that factors in the length of credit so refinancing turns that into a "new account" which will in turn shorten your credit history and possibly lower your score.
legsdiamond Member since May 05th 2011 79616 posts
Thu Feb-11-21 04:14 PM
46. "I figured it was closing the first mortgage" In response to Reply # 36
which is why shit is a scam.
I’m getting a better rate and paid of the other one and bever missed a payment. Why am I being punished for this?
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
20. "Not NO debt, but spotless for sure." In response to Reply # 13
I've got 820 with a mortgage - but I regularly pay my CC balances off at the end of the month. No student debt. Leased car. So it's possible, but definitely need that spotless payment history.
17. "I'll keep it real. 32 and I don't know." In response to Reply # 0
So I went to freecreditreport and it said I don't have one. I've applied for credit cards and lines of credit sporadically over the years and never been approved. I figure it's student loan related.
Something tells me if I've spent this long without credit and am not really sure what I'd want it for other than to buy things I can't currently afford with debit, I probably shouldn't have it anyway?
legsdiamond Member since May 05th 2011 79616 posts
Thu Feb-11-21 10:09 AM
40. "if you ever want to buy a house you will need one" In response to Reply # 17
my coworker didn’t fuck with cards at all. But now he has a wife and the crib is in her name because he didn’t have any established credit.
and on business trips he was always looking crazy because he didnt have a credit card to put on file or rent a car.
but if you plan on renting forever and never have a family I’m sure you can survive without one.
Personally, I would have at least one card for emergencies.
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
just dropped 5 points for some reason. It took me about 3 years after my identity was stolen to build my credit to the 700s. I've been around 750 to 780 for the past couple years cause I usually keep around 10% utilization
stravinskian Member since Feb 24th 2003 12698 posts
Wed Feb-10-21 07:53 PM
32. "Jesus we're getting old." In response to Reply # 0
I knew I was getting old, and I knew I was roughly in median territory around here. But I guess somehow I thought I was the only one who was aging.
As to the question, 41 and 750. I have a bit of CC debt and two small loans. Just bought a new piano and built a new computer. Both of those put me back a bit.
34. "620 - 41" In response to Reply # 0 Wed Feb-10-21 08:54 PM by blackfoot_female
haven't been able to get it any higher than that and barely understand how the shit works. i don't use my cc for anything other than renting a car once in a while since i only have a $300 limit anyways. no debts that i know of. no home, no college, no car. wish they taught this in high school because now i don't care anymore.
41. "How much “available credit” you have, impacts your score" In response to Reply # 34
Someone with one credit card and say $7,000 of available credit, will have a lower score than someone with say $25,000 of available credit, even if their usage and on-time payments, etc. are exactly the same.
stravinskian Member since Feb 24th 2003 12698 posts
Thu Feb-11-21 11:57 AM
43. "Credit activity matters (sometimes a lot)." In response to Reply # 34
You might want to start using that card. Maybe use it for everyday expenses, gas, food, etc., but just pay it off every month to minimize interest.
It's annoying and counterintuitive, but the credit rating isn't designed to measure how frugal you are. It's designed to measure how much of a risk a bank would be taking if they gave you a loan. If you don't have enough history of using credit, then there's no way to know how risky it would be for a bank to give you a loan. So the agencies just give you an average score even if you've never missed a payment on anything.
37. "705, and it took some work to get it there" In response to Reply # 0 Wed Feb-10-21 11:34 PM by bigkarma
A few years back my wife lost her job and we had a fair amount of credit card debt. We started juggling payments and stayed having late payments. It was doing a real number on our credit. It went down into the 400-500s after almost defaulting on a HELOC.
I was able to wrestle to where it is now over the last two years or so. Paid off the HELOC, kept payments on track, paid off some cards, paid down some balances.
About to buy a car and add an additional car note. Hopefully, that doesn't make it dip. But if we stay on track with payments and paying down balances, it should be a minor hit and we should keep going up.
42. "that's good work to bring that back up." In response to Reply # 37
it can be pretty frustrating.
on the car thing, I went through a local car buying service. They look for the car for you. you tell them the model, version, features, etc.
they'll can also bring the car to you or you can pick it up and their office.
and also help nail down the financing. they set me up with Georgia United CU. the CU took another .25 off my rate since I used that buying service. my rate ended up at 2.69 for a 2016 vehicle that I bought in 2018
>I am in a great situation, though. Using the job's credit >union. 1.7% rate if I opt to have it autopay, 2.7 if not (I >will be autopaying). > >They have a car finder service... that I used. However, they >gave me many of the same cars I found using CarFax (evidently >I'm in the wrong business). > >
Included in his response is the fact that free scores from sites like Credit Karma are trash and aren't the true credit scores from Experian, Equifax, and Transunion. He also mentioned there are additional credit scores that auto loan and mortgage companies use when it comes time to make decisions on loans.
"Sean sparks like John Starks, nah, Sean ball like John Wall" - Rest In Power Forever Sean Price.
51. "I’m at 820 and my car loans applications are always about 13 pts highe..." In response to Reply # 48
I have about 60,000 in available credit and I’m at a 1% utilization rate. I’ve learned how to use credit card statement dates vs. due dates to my advantage.
55. "better than i thought b/w question for the credit experts" In response to Reply # 0
750+. mid 40s. i had a long standing high balance on a BoA card that took forever to pay off. had to get a secured card a few years ago and was diligent in paying it off before the statement balance. i believe this has improved my score but i hadn't checked in years prior to doing it recently so i can't say exactly what has changed
----------------------------
is it bad if i opened up a line of credit with a store and i don't really plan on using it? what would closing it without using it do to my credit?
56. "49 and terrible, but i dont care" In response to Reply # 0
fuck capitalism.
d
"But rest assured, in my luxurious house built on the backs of people darker than me, I am sipping fine scotch and scoffing at how stupid you are." - bshelly
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