Comments on: The FICO® Score Breakdown

By: Cheryl Spencer

Cheryl Spencer — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:31:01 +0000

what interest rate can I expect to be charged with a FICO score of 717-720?

By: mike gusler

mike gusler — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:25:20 +0000

how does the credit cards credit to balance ratios effect FICO scores

By: Jenny

Jenny — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:41:27 +0000

I have a 780 credit score, a couple years ago, when the market was good, we purchased some properties, we’ve had great difficulties renting them and keeping them rented , one has been empty for a full year and i cannot afford it anymore so we handed it to a company to try to get it to short-sale if that doesn’t work give it back to the bank, meanwhile i wont be paying for it. i have another 5 mortgages all up to date a car lease and various cards, will not paying on this property affect my credit so bad that it will bring down my score under 675???

By: The Secrets of Successful Credit Management

The Secrets of Successful Credit Management — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:15:47 +0000

[...] 2. Keep Your Balances Low – The amount of credit you have available to borrow vs. the amount of credit you have already borrowed is known as your debt-to-credit ratio. Your debt-to-credit ratio makes up 30% of your FICO score. [...]

By: CB

CB — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 23:04:33 +0000

Hi,

I have a couple of credit cards that I have been 30 days past due on. This is just because I’m a little tight strap for cash right now. One of my options is to enter a prepayment plan with the credit card company, I am willing to do it but will this hurt my credit score? What effect that this have on my credit history? Please advise.

Thanks,
CB

By: Melody

Melody — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 02:02:11 +0000

Hi,

I had opened up a new credit card with the hopes of transferring a balance, unfortunately, the new credit card gave me a very small credit limit. Would it be detrimental to my credit score to open up another credit card so I can proceed with a balance transfer? Or will I be dinged hard for opening 2 credit cards in a 6 month period and if so, will this affect my APR on my current credit cards?

Thank you so much for your time and your informative website!

With sincerity,
Melody

By: Jenna

Jenna — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:47:31 +0000

Christine and Ben,

Thank you for your questions. We will answer them next week. One on Monday, and one on Wednesday, so check back!

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:36:05 +0000

I have a credit card account with a credit line of 20K that I opened with a 0% balance transfer for 15 months. I just paid off the card with another balance transfer offer with similar terms and will be paying off the loan by the time the 0% interest ends. I have an excellent credit and have a couple of other credit cards with no preset spending limit that I use regularly but never carry a balance.

My questions:

1.) Should I close my first balance transfer account which now has no balance?

2.) Should I close my second account once the balance has been paid off?

3.) I have a couple of Visa/MasterCard type of charge cards that have very small credit lines and do not intend on ever using them. Should I close them out?

4.) I have several store cards that I opened only to take advantage of their initial purchase discounts (i.e. JC Penney, Old Navy, etc.) and do not typically use them–I want to close the accounts so I can take advantage of discounts by opening new accounts after 6 months if I choose to. Should I close out the accounts?

Thank you in advance for your reply.

Ben

By: Christine

Christine — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:29:50 +0000

I have a FICO score of 824. I have credit card debt totalling 27,000. I would like to get a personal loan for 30,000(I found a good offer with a low rate and no pre payment penalties) and pay it all off. I would not get rid of my cards but I wouldn’t use them either. Will paying these off hurt my score?

By: Steve Crowder

Steve Crowder — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:06:12 +0000

I work in the credit card business and I have read your information on how the FICO score is computed. Good information but too bad that more people don’t get it. There are many credit counselors out there telling people to close out most, if not all, of their credit cards to protect their credit? I am seeing people closing out multiple accounts with wonderful credit histories that go back several years. It would seem that most of these so called credit experts are actually handing out advice that is directly counter to your information and can harm their believers. Is there any entity that monitors or certifies these credit counselling services?