Income Taxes

[007]

Originally Posted by BuckinKaeding

Okay. Luckily, I'm only 22, and I'll have plenty of time to get it up.

Whats the highest you can get?

850

[Mark M]

Originally Posted by Guru

850

Actually, they're trying to change that.

All of the big three bureaus--Experian, Equifax and TransUnion--got together and were going to change it to more of a 400 - 1000 scale with a corresponding letter grade, like school.

Fair Issac & Co. (FICO, as in "FICO score") stepped in and, ironically enough, sued them for collusion or some such nonsense. Which is screwed up since FICO has a monopoly on the algorithms used in most credit scoring. (Some companies have their own methods in which FICO scores are just part of their underwriting.)

IIRC, Equifax is fighting it, while the other two just gave up.

Oh, and three things to Buckin--

1. A 725 is actually pretty good, especially at your age. During my 20's, my score was somewhere between Paris Hilton's IQ and Mel Gibson's blood alcohol content.

Sadly, in this economy, a 725 is what a 680 - 700 was a few years ago to most lenders.

2. Make sure you just didn't sign up for a monthly service. Most places not only charge for a score but also sign you up for some bullpuckey "monitoring" service.

3. You really don't need to know your score, nor do most folks. Seriously -- just run your report each year for free and, as long as your payment history is solid, you're good. And if you've had issues, get 'em taken care of and you'll be fine.

Credit scores are way overrated as a true judge of credit risk and history. The actual, you know, history is more important, and scores take into account other stuff (e.g. how much you've moved, etc.) that are tangentially related, yet given more weight than they should.

Just my $.02 ... keep the change.

MM
~~

P.S. My score is a around 805, but I pulled that myself.

[007]

Originally Posted by Mark M

Actually, they're trying to change that.

All of the big three bureaus--Experian, Equifax and TransUnion--got together and were going to change it to more of a 400 - 1000 scale with a corresponding letter grade, like school.

Fair Issac & Co. (FICO, as in "FICO score") stepped in and, ironically enough, sued them for collusion or some such nonsense. Which is screwed up since FICO has a monopoly on the algorithms used in most credit scoring. (Some companies have their own methods in which FICO scores are just part of their underwriting.)

IIRC, Equifax is fighting it, while the other two just gave up.

Oh, and three things to Buckin--

1. A 725 is actually pretty good, especially at your age. During my 20's, my score was somewhere between Paris Hilton's IQ and Mel Gibson's blood alcohol content.

Sadly, in this economy, a 725 is what a 680 - 700 was a few years ago to most lenders.

2. Make sure you just didn't sign up for a monthly service. Most places not only charge for a score but also sign you up for some bullpuckey "monitoring" service.

3. You really don't need to know your score, nor do most folks. Seriously -- just run your report each year for free and, as long as your payment history is solid, you're good. And if you've had issues, get 'em taken care of and you'll be fine.

Credit scores are way overrated as a true judge of credit risk and history. The actual, you know, history is more important, and scores take into account other stuff (e.g. how much you've moved, etc.) that are tangentially related, yet given more weight than they should.

Just my $.02 ... keep the change.

MM
~~

P.S. My score is a around 805, but I pulled that myself.

But, for now, this is what they primarily use. Pulling your credit history is a good thing but if you don't understand what you are looking at you will never know what it really means. The score at least gives you an idea where you stand. It is not a bad thing. Just don't go solely on the score.

If you pay attention to what you are doing and paying off your bills rather than just paying minimums then you are on the right track.