DallasAggie97 said:

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Do you close old cards? Did it affect your score?

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After I use the points bonus I close the cards. No, it doesn't affect my score. I have 3 cards that I have had since 2004 that I maintain. All of our other cards are a year or less old.

dlp3719 said:

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I worked in a bank credit group and probably saw over 10000 credit scores. Never saw an 850. A few in the 840s. Over 800 was rare really

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This. I work in banking compliance and see hundreds of credit reports a year. I wouldn't necessarily call 800+ rare, but you really don't see 840+ very often.

All that being said, if you are 740+ you are getting the best rate available almost everywhere. So anything above that is just gravy (and doesn't really matter).

FbgTxAg said:

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New World Ag said:

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I just hit 850 late last month on my FICO when I just looked it up via AMEX. I had been hovering around 790-810 forever then in November and December I paid off a couple of balances I had been carrying that reduced my credit utilization from about 15% down to under 1%. I think having a good mix of cards, using all of them occasionally and a long credit history help. I've had my AMEX for 25 years.

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I didn't think AMEX counted as a credit card and as such didn't affect your credit line. I have an AMEX Platinum Business card and it doesn't show up on my credit report.

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My personal platinum shows up on my credit report.

Worrying about credit scores is for lolpoors who live paycheck to paycheck.
I do whatever I want but with financial responsibility. Always pay off CC monthly and loans as soon as possiible.

I have no loans. Debt free, having paid off my house too. Loan will start in about 4 years when kid goes to college.

If anyone gives me less than 850 then they can kiss my a.

i hit 849 in december, then mysteriously down to 835 in january without any significant changes. who knows.

30wedge said:

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I set up another identity so actually there are two of me. Try to keep each score right at 425.

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I think I had a kid do that with his PSAT. Alas, I can't seem to find his clone.

BlackGoldAg2011 said:

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94chem said:

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I keep reading this thread because I'm fascinated by the mentality of actually caring. It just seems like getting pinky toe augmentation.

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its just another metric for people obsessed with metrics (like myself, the engineer)
also:

https://www.valuepenguin.com/average-credit-score

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I feel so much better about myself after seeing that
chart and where my wife and I fall in it...

hypeiv said:

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DallasAggie97 said:

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Do you close old cards? Did it affect your score?

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I only cancel the ones with annual fees if I can't product change them to something without an annual fee (i.e. I recently changed a chase sapphire prefered to a chase freedom unlimited to avoid paying an annual fee).

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I have a 20+-yo Amex that I rarely use... been thinking about canceling it but supposedly it could hurt my credit history... who knows?

Hit 850 per Discover Card. Paid off a couple of fairly monthly charges in back to back months. Never late., but sometimes have balances.

Mine hits the 840s when my CC is paid off. Ive had one card for over 20 years. Never had a car loan. Have paid off a number of home loans over the last 10 years. The crazy thing is, I slap $10k on the CC and my score drops to 750-760 overnight. Add $500k in real estate debt and it doesn't phase it.

BlackGoldAg2011 said:

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94chem said:

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I keep reading this thread because I'm fascinated by the mentality of actually caring. It just seems like getting pinky toe augmentation.

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its just another metric for people obsessed with metrics (like myself, the engineer)
also:

https://www.valuepenguin.com/average-credit-score

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Wow.. I've been 800+ since age 28 or so. Sitting at 817 now at age 39.

For those interested, I actually had quite a bit of CC debt and regularly paid interest in early/mid 20s.. Even had a few late/missed payments around age 24.

By age 28/29, I started, and have since, paid off CC balances in full, avoiding interest.

Interesting how my young adulthood habits, which would seem to not be someone with good credit, ended up putting me in the top 2% credit score wise in my late 20s.

I also have been churning the last few years, and my credit has not had any significant change.. I think it's crept up a few points this year.

I'm at 844

Bought and sold a few houses
Paid off multiple cars before buying new ones... no real secret, just paid whatever I owed on time and never have over extended by increasing ratios too much.

Last Fico was 847

I gave up on my FICO score a little over a year ago. My score was around 850. Paid off my mortgage and all my debts. Within the next couple of months, my FICO score dropped 30 points, and has continued to slide to around 810.

FICO is not tied to your willingness to pay down your debt...it's all about your credit worthiness. The more debt you repay, and as your total debt slides, there's the likelihood your credit score will drop. And if you pay off a debt, and the account is closed, be prepared for your score to drop...a lot. It's all about having a lot of accounts with credit balances.

Bottom line, my score is lower than it's ever been for the past ten years. Now that I've figured out their angle, I could give a rats a$$.

ToddyHill said:

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I gave up on my FICO score a little over a year ago. My score was around 850. Paid off my mortgage and all my debts. Within the next couple of months, my FICO score dropped 30 points, and has continued to slide to around 810.

FICO is not tied to your willingness to pay down your debt...it's all about your credit worthiness. The more debt you repay, and as your total debt slides, there's the likelihood your credit score will drop. And if you pay off a debt, and the account is closed, be prepared for your score to drop...a lot. It's all about having a lot of accounts with credit balances.

Bottom line, my score is lower than it's ever been for the past ten years. Now that I've figured out their angle, I could give a rats a$$.

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Right on!

Some day, I hope to have a credit score of 0!