Credit Score?
 

Just opened a line of credit for some major home improvements this spring. I just got the credit score back, it was 760, what does that mean, am I going to be OK?

760 is pretty good. You should be able to get very good rates, possibly even the best rates with that.

You should find out which of the three major bureaus that score came from, there can be pretty significant variations between them. One of FICO's major shortcomings.

Sometimes a lender will use an average, sometimes they'll use just one in particular (worth finding out which one they use if this is the case), sometimes they'll pick the middle one.

FICO is not perfect by any means - it was originally developed as a way of approximating one's risk of insolvency/bankruptcy, not general creditworthiness, but for whatever reason it has become the standard. It's not bad and is a decent approximator of general overall creditworthiness, but it is far from perfect.

Usually, anything at 750 or above is considered the best. You're in great shape.

I've heard anything over 700 is great. Mine is in the 780 range. I went to buy a new car a while ago and they ran my credit, and they told me I could buy the car, drive it away and come back later in the week if I wanted to think about how to finance it.

Don't ever, ever do that. They do that w/ poor credit also. Gimmick.

I believe the range is 350-850. 760 should be pretty darn good.

Historically, anything 680 or above has been considered "good". Within the morgage industry, there are often price (interest rate) breaks at certain scores above that. Since the demise of the sub prime market June 2007, lenders are now generally looking for minimum credit scores in the 700 to 720 range as the new "good".

You're fine!

700+ Means you will qualify for any loan program. The higher your score is above 700, the more discretion an individual underwriter has to make your particular deal work.

760 is excellent. The highest score I've seen needed for a particular mortgage program/rate is 740. Like Jeff said, there's two other scores you don't know about. Also, the matrix is different for auto financing vs mortgages. You can pull your own report for free through a website set up by the three bureaus once a year. Not a bad idea to make sure nothing funky is happening. This is not a come-on from an outfit looking to sell you anything:
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

yep. past 750 or so it really doesn't matter- your pricing is as good as it's gonna get.

Highest I've ever seen was an 826...

760 is Great! Doesn't get too much better than that!
Good Job, Stay out of trouble.

There's good credit and bad credit.

Good credit use makes you money....... investments, projects, etc.
Bad credit costs you money......... financing toys, cars, trips, etc.
Learn to use your credit properly and catapult yourself ahead of the masses by 10 times!

Most mortgage programs I've seen take your middle FICO score. Mine was 746 at last glance, so I think I'm good to go for a while. Highest I ever saw was 816. My dad was pretty steamed when I did a loan for their house and it came back that he was only a 790. His reasoning was that he should have a perfect score, since he's never been late ever. I really had to do some convincing to calm him down. I told him he could a signature loan for just about anything with a 790.

Hmm, the last time I checked, my score and my wife's were both within 5 points of 800 over or under. Apparently that means that you're pretty good at being in debt.

I guy at work was just bragging about how his score was 'Like, almost 1000'. We just looked at him and laughed.

Hmm, the last time I checked, my score and my wife's were both within 5 points of 800 over or under. Apparently that means that you're pretty good at being in debt.

+1.

You've been reading your "Rich Dad" series, haven't you? Good man. :)

I ran my numbers the other day and got 804 from all three bureau's.
I was chuffed to say the least. Nice to know our fiscal responsibility plan is working and being recognized.

Can someone recommend the best way to find out your number (score)?

I'm a little leery of handing out my credit info online.

How hard did you have to study to get that score, Craig?

I am envious of you guys with 750+ FICOs. Mine has hovered around 700 for the past several years and nothing I do will make it improve. I have a very large number of accounts open (mortgages) and of course, they are all high balance. My credit card ratios are good, I have not been late on any payment for many years, but still I cannot pull it up. I do have a pretty high number of inquiries in the past 2 years (real estate deals) and I was recently the victim of credit card fraud, which resulted in closing of one account. It was reopened as another account, but I know I took a hit. I HATE FICO SCORES!!!!!