making sense of credit scores...

[932003]

Ok. We refinanced our house last Friday. I asked for our credit scores and she told me that she wasn’t supposed to tell us but she would give us a copy anyways. There were scores listed for each of the three companies and there were comments after them. I’m not exactly sure what all of these comments mean (some are obvious to even me) so I was hoping somewhere here could give me suggestions to get our scores even better if possible. Plus, are these scores even good?

 

It was a joint report. It is kind of confusing for me to read (the reports that you get directly from the credit bureaus are much easier to read). Anyways here are the scores and comments:

 

Me:

 

Equifax: (called a beacon score) 749

00014 Length of time accounts have been established

00002 level of delinquincy on accounts

00033 proportion of loan balances to loan amounts is too high **(we owe too much on our loans???)**

00004 too many bank or national revolving accounts **(what are bank or national revolving accounts?)””

 

Experian (Fair Issac model score): 744

14 length of time accounts have been established

05 number of accounts with balances **(I have too many accounts with balances???)””

18 number of accounts delinquent

24 lack of recently reported balances on revolving/open accounts **(what does this mean?)**

 

Trans Union (epirica 950 score): 698

014 insufficient length of credit history

012 insufficient length of revolving credit history

024 no recent revolving balances **(what does this mean?)**

005 too many accounts with balances

 

 

My husband’s scores and comments:

 

Equifax – 746

00014 Length of time accounts have been established

00002 level of delinquincy on accounts

00033 proportion of loan balances to loan amounts is too high

00004 too many bank or national revolving accounts

 

 

Experian – 764

06 number of finance company accounts **(what does this mean?)**

14 length of time accounts have been established

09 number of accounts opened within the last 12 months

18 number of accounts delinquent

 

Trans Union – 759

006 too many consumer finance accounts

028 too many established accounts **(does this mean he needs to dispute those accounts that say open but are actually closed?)**

002 delinquency

012 insufficient length of revolving credit history

 

 

I will answer any questions that I need to if it helps make sense of this stuff. thanks for any help that can be offered!

 

Oh it also lists how many of each type of accounts we have and how many actually have balances. I’m new to all of this and I don’t even know what qualifies as what kind of account! It says what the total balance is and what the total payments are. (I can list this info if necessary) They do not list my employer but list my husbands. Does this make a difference at all?

[CramItCCCAs]

this is JMHO, but given your scores you really have nothing to worry about. Those comments often can be erroneous, and really you will have no problem quallifying for a great mortgage. I wouldn't get too hung up on the comments because like I said they can be BS

[JerseyBaby]

Cramit is right about not being overly concerned about this. The comments after

the scores are factor codes that are supposed to indicate the important points that

the scores are based on. But the factors are not applied evenly throughout different

credit profiles. For example, someone with 10 years of credit history and no negative

information present may get the "length of credit history" as a negative factor. Someone

else with only 7 years of history and a whole slew of negatives may get the "length of

credit history" as a positive factor. This is because FICO needs to justify it's scores

with reasons, but in so doing, often gives specious factors that don't seem unreasonable

until the factors and the data behind them are compared to other reports and scores.

 

Without specific information, I can only give you generic info about the codes below.

Ok. We refinanced our house last Friday. I asked for our credit scores and she told me that she wasn’t supposed to tell us but she would give us a copy anyways. There were scores listed for each of the three companies and there were comments after them. I’m not exactly sure what all of these comments mean (some are obvious to even me) so I was hoping somewhere here could give me suggestions to get our scores even better if possible. Plus, are these scores even good?

 

It was a joint report. It is kind of confusing for me to read (the reports that you get directly from the credit bureaus are much easier to read). Anyways here are the scores and comments:

 

Me:

 

Equifax: (called a beacon score) 749

00014 Length of time accounts have been established

FICO likes to see long established accounts. The averge age of consumers accounts is about 14 years. If yours is under that, you'll most likely get this factor. To me, this is one of the least important of all FICO codes and the one you can do nothing about except let time pass.

00002 level of delinquincy on accounts

You'll get this if you have any deliquent account information on your report, even one 30 day late from six and a half years ago. Based on your scores, I'm guessing you don't have much deliquent account information. If this worries you, dispute the information and try to have it deleted.

00033 proportion of loan balances to loan amounts is too high **(we owe too much on our loans???)**

What a lame reason. You get penalized for having a high balance on an installment loan. Well duh FICO!!!!! Of course the balance is going to be high until the loan is paid down. That's the way installment loans work!!!! salamanders!

00004 too many bank or national revolving accounts **(what are bank or national revolving accounts?)””

Visa, Mastercard, Amex & Discover. FICO only likes to see 2-3 of these.

 

Experian (Fair Issac model score): 744

14 length of time accounts have been established

See above.

05 number of accounts with balances **(I have too many accounts with balances???)””FICO doesn't like to see too many accounts with balances. What the right number is, nobody knows. This factor is part one of the catch-22.

18 number of accounts delinquent

See above.

24 lack of recently reported balances on revolving/open accounts **(what does this mean?)**Part two of the catch-22. Although FICO doesn't like to see too many accounts with balances, it also doesn't like to see accounts with no balances. Go figure. Ostensibly, this is because accounts with no balances mean you're not using the accounts, and FICO has a tough time figuring out how you use credit if you don't use your accounts.

 

Trans Union (epirica 950 score): 698

014 insufficient length of credit history

See above.

012 insufficient length of revolving credit history

Your credit card history is shorter than the average.

024 no recent revolving balances **(what does this mean?)**

See above.

005 too many accounts with balances

See above.

 

 

 

My husband’s scores and comments:

 

Equifax – 746

00014 Length of time accounts have been established

00002 level of delinquincy on accounts

00033 proportion of loan balances to loan amounts is too high

00004 too many bank or national revolving accounts

 

 

 

Experian – 764

06 number of finance company accounts **(what does this mean?)**

FICO doesn't like to see finance company loans because these kinds of loans typically are of lower quality than bank loans. To me, a rather stupid reason as you're being penalized for the type of loan rather than having your repayment history of that as the only factor.

14 length of time accounts have been established

09 number of accounts opened within the last 12 months

FICO doesn't like to see too many accounts opened in a short period of time. Sometimes this may mean only one account.

18 number of accounts delinquent

 

Trans Union – 759

006 too many consumer finance accounts

028 too many established accounts **(does this mean he needs to dispute those accounts that say open but are actually closed?)*

I wouldn't mess with any positive accounts. You may end up getting them deleted rather than edited.

002 delinquency

012 insufficient length of revolving credit history

 

 

I will answer any questions that I need to if it helps make sense of this stuff. thanks for any help that can be offered!

 

Oh it also lists how many of each type of accounts we have and how many actually have balances. I’m new to all of this and I don’t even know what qualifies as what kind of account! It says what the total balance is and what the total payments are. (I can list this info if necessary) They do not list my employer but list my husbands. Does this make a difference at all?

 

Keep in mind that you basically have excellent scores. Each of these reasons is only

having a minor impact. Don't worry too much about them. If you work on any deliquencies

and pay down some of your balances, your scores may go up. If you don't, you still

have excellent scores that time will improve even more. :wink:

[932003]

thanks for the responses. i really appreciate it. Now for a question not in my subject. i keep reading about utilization in different posts. what is it???

[TeeSharice]

thanks for the responses. i really appreciate it. Now for a question not in my subject. i keep reading about utilization in different posts. what is it???

 

The balanced owed vs the CL...

if ya CL is $100 and ya Bal is $80...ya have 80% UTIL

[CramItCCCAs]

thanks for the responses. i really appreciate it. Now for a question not in my subject. i keep reading about utilization in different posts. what is it???

 

it's the % of your availble credit that you have "utilized" or used. you have three cards, the CL on each is $5,000 you have a $2,000 balance on one and the others are clear, so you have a 13% utilization

[932003]

thanks. what is the ideal utilization range? high. low, middle, etc???

[CramItCCCAs]

Below 35% percent is thought to be ideal, some say below 20% is better, I'm not sure myself

[932003]

so is that only for credit cards? or are mortgages and car loans and such included in the utilization percentage?

[CramItCCCAs]

house loans don't figure into utilization, they are referencing CC open accounts

[932003]

thanks a lot. sorry for the ignorance!