What is your Credit Rating?

What is your credit rating?

  • 360-580

    Votes: 1 14.3%
  • 580-640

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 640-700

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 700-750

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 750-850

    Votes: 6 85.7%
  • I don't have one

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    7
Sounds stupid. TBH, I'm not sure how it really works. I'm not a business guy.

Obviously, it has to do with debt levels vs income. Anyone who defaulted or declared bankruptcy would have a problem.

During the housing crisis, people who walked away from overpriced homes that they were speculating upon would have bad credit, I expect.

I think it has to do with available credit vs credit utilized, but that's only one factor. According to Transunion, which is what my Capital One accounts use, it's six factors. Oldest credit line, on-time payments, credit used, recent inquiries, new accounts, credit available.
 
Yeah, we froze ours years ago too, for the same reason. I was going to use that credit thing from Chase that DU linked to. But they wanted your social security #, plus it appeared that it would do just what you said -- inform the credit agencies and your existing accounts that an inquiry had been made.
Yup. And...we both already know what our ratings are if we have Discover/Citi cards.
 
Sounds stupid. TBH, I'm not sure how it really works. I'm not a business guy.

Obviously, it has to do with debt levels vs income. Anyone who defaulted or declared bankruptcy would have a problem.

During the housing crisis, people who walked away from overpriced homes that they were speculating upon would have bad credit, I expect.
Yes...but it's actually little more than nonsense in many cases. If banks want to loan you money, they will find a way to do it. During Dubyah's tenure, money was free for the taking.

After that failed miserably, everything tightened.


But in actuality, the credit to debt ratio is a big factor. If you have a dozen cards with $100,000 in total credit, they like when you aren't using the vast majority of it.

Ironically, having a lot of credit can be bad, because they assume you can max out everything overnight. Which does give credence to your comment above.

Still, a lot of it is nonsense. And mortgages are very different than unsecured debt.
 
Yes...but it's actually little more than nonsense in many cases. If banks want to loan you money, they will find a way to do it. ...

For a higher interest rate for those with lower credit ratings. Do you see how quickly the differences in credit ratings could be seen as racist by JPP racists? People with lower credit ratings are charged higher rates.
 
I think it has to do with available credit vs credit utilized, but that's only one factor. According to Transunion, which is what my Capital One accounts use, it's six factors. Oldest credit line, on-time payments, credit used, recent inquiries, new accounts, credit available.
And mortgage lenders are more stringent than CC lenders.

Mine fluctuates between 820+ and 810+ depending on the weather.

I believe that once you hit 800, it doesn't matter. You're automatically considered a very low risk.
If you peruse the supposed factors, they tend to contradict each other.


Having a lot of creditors is good because it shows that banks have faith in you.

Having a lot of creditors is bad because you can max out your credit in an instant.


It's just a game, but one that is much more fun if you have great credit.

Ironically, we are considered 'deadbeats' by credit card companies, but they will always give us credit.
 
For a higher interest rate for those with lower credit ratings. Do you see how quickly the differences in credit ratings could be seen as racist by JPP racists? People with lower credit ratings are charged higher rates.
All investing involves risk/reward. People like trump have to travel far and wide to find financial backers.

Lower rated bonds pay more, because you are taking more risk. People who are a higher risk should pay higher interest rates, but even auto insurance rates are higher for people who have lower credit ratings. Not sure I agree with that.

Many people truly don't understand the concept of how valuable your reputation is when it comes to paying your debts. I've always separated other people's money from my own. Many contractors get into trouble because they are always using the new deposit to pay last job's bills, which is not a good business model.
 
Yeah, Capital One does. They update it weekly.
I don't have Capital One because I have a Citi card that pays the same 2% on everything.

But...I'm reminded of a stand up bit by one of the Wayans brothers during the height of the Samuel L Jackson Capital One commercials. He went on about how C1 will give a card to anyone, especially those in the black community.


"What's in my wallet?"

"NOTHING...that's why I need this credit card!"
 
I have it to put out, and bad lots that are deemed "unbuildable"--particularly those in a USGS / FEMA designated "flood plain" are cheap to acquire. They require fill and grading to bring them up to a sufficient height to make them no longer in that flood plain. You can get people to give you fill for nothing and then the process is grading and compacting the fill. Once that's done, I bring in my soils engineer to certify the compaction and my hydrogeology engineer to certify it is no longer in a flood plain. They run about $1500. That doubles to triples the value of the lot and you get an easy sale because of the paperwork.

Wait a second. If someone is looking for a lower-cost building site and sees your newly-renovated lot for sale, why would they consider buying it? In the event of a flood *their* building might escape damage, but wouldn't they still be cut off from accessing it unless the surrounding land was also raised?

I worked at this plant in the mid-1980s. It was built up on a massive berm and is less than half a mile from the Missouri River. When it flooded in 1986, no one could get into the building, which stayed dry. So they gave us a week off work with pay. Cheap land and a good place for a missile plant (not many residences nearby due to the flooding problem).

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2019/07/17/boeing-eyes-70m-addition-in-st-charles.html
 
I don't have Capital One because I have a Citi card that pays the same 2% on everything.

But...I'm reminded of a stand up bit by one of the Wayans brothers during the height of the Samuel L Jackson Capital One commercials. He went on about how C1 will give a card to anyone, especially those in the black community.


"What's in my wallet?"

"NOTHING...that's why I need this credit card!"

Good quip. lol I've got three Capital One cards... one for "miles" that only pays 1% back. One is called "Savor" and pays 3% back for groceries, dining out, movies, etc. The third is a Walmart card that I seldom use, but if you buy at Walmart it pays 2% back. I don't know if they still have them, but I encouraged my daughters to apply for a Capital One card when they were in their late teens, to establish credit. They did pretty good; they all have good credit ratings, newer cars, and own their own homes.

Isn't it great to be able to pay off the balances in full each month, never pay a dime of interest, and they give you money? lol
 
Not sure if by credit rating you mean FICO score, but my FICO score is around 805.

At one point it was 830 but it went down to 805 because I don't have any loans that I'm currently paying off.

850 is as high as it gets, BTW.

805 is still considered excellent.
It’s crazy why it does that.
 
Wait a second. If someone is looking for a lower-cost building site and sees your newly-renovated lot for sale, why would they consider buying it? In the event of a flood *their* building might escape damage, but wouldn't they still be cut off from accessing it unless the surrounding land was also raised?

I worked at this plant in the mid-1980s. It was built up on a massive berm and is less than half a mile from the Missouri River. When it flooded in 1986, no one could get into the building, which stayed dry. So they gave us a week off work with pay. Cheap land and a good place for a missile plant (not many residences nearby due to the flooding problem).

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2019/07/17/boeing-eyes-70m-addition-in-st-charles.html

In Arizona the typical flood plain is one cut by sandy washes that are intermittent flow. A heavy rain will cause them to run for maybe a day or two.

image


That's what they look like 98% of the time.

The other two percent, give or take, they look like this:

RillitoCleaned@Swan.JPG


So, all I am doing is raising the land relative to the main wash sufficiently that it won't flood if the wash overflows its banks. For that, it's typically just 2 to 4 feet. You put the soil in in 6" lifts after compacting the current soil to stabilize it. Each lift is compacted. It makes for a very hard, stable soil base for building, often better than the original "undisturbed soil" would.
 
Good quip. lol I've got three Capital One cards... one for "miles" that only pays 1% back. One is called "Savor" and pays 3% back for groceries, dining out, movies, etc. The third is a Walmart card that I seldom use, but if you buy at Walmart it pays 2% back. I don't know if they still have them, but I encouraged my daughters to apply for a Capital One card when they were in their late teens, to establish credit. They did pretty good; they all have good credit ratings, newer cars, and own their own homes.

I always look at the bottom line. I don't travel much, so miles mean little to me. Even if they did, if I'm getting the equivalent of 1% back in miles, I'd be much better off using one of my handful of cards that pays 5% back on rotating categories each quarter and buying an airplane ticket with the money I earned. My worst card pays 2% back on everything. I have a Sam's Mastercard that pays 5% back on gas every day of the year. Recently, that equated to $.25/gallon. I have Discover/Citi cards that pay 5% back on some categories that I use, and others that I don't. Before Covid, I rarely used cards at the grocery store, but I got into the habit of only using cash when I have to. Now I swipe everywhere. This quarter I get 5% back at grocery stores on one of my cards. I have to go check which one! Discover/Citi regularly give 5% back on gas, and I use them when they do instead of my Sam's card which only lets me use points toward purchases at Sam's.

I hate Amex, but every so often they have a program that pays very nicely. Last year I was getting 10% back on gas for a limited time.

Isn't it great to be able to pay off the balances in full each month, never pay a dime of interest, and they give you money? lol
Yes it is. But it's a mindset that exists before you get your first card. Some use them out of necessity as a high interest loan. I hope I'm never there.


I just read something interesting that pertains to this discussion. Unless you pay your full balance before the statement is generated, it shows up on your credit rating as debt owed even if you pay by the due date. In essence, the only way to avoid it showing is to get rid of it before it posts. Of course, it disappears by the next month anyway. That might be why we see our credit rating drop a bit even if we don't have a balance after payment.

I've never done it yet, but if a card was giving 5% back but my credit line wasn't enough to make a qualifying high dollar purchase, I could always make a large payment in advance in order to be able to get the points for the entire purchase.
 
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