FICO Progress - Jul 07

August 6, 2007

Looks like those 2 new credit cards did hurt my score quite a bit.

It’s down to 742 from last month. I was hoping these 2 new cards would help my score a bit by increasing my credit line, but the limits I got in these cards were not that high ($7k for my Toys R Us Chase Card and $5k for my Sam’s Club Discovery Card).

But not to worry. The only thing you really have to care about is which FICO score tier you fall into and not the actual score.

These tiers vary depending on the lending company. Some would consider anything above 700 and 719 really good and anything above 720, excellent, while others would consider 700-759 a really good score and anything above 760, excellent.

The important thing for me is that I keep the score above 720 and ideally 760, but given my relatively short length of credit history, the second tier is a really good one to be in, and most likely a lot of lenders would actually consider it the best tier.

What factors lower your credit score:

• You opened your first credit account 9 years and 11 months ago.
  This may not include accounts you closed more than 7 years ago.
• You currently owe $2,414 on your revolving account(s).
• You applied for credit 2 time(s) in the past 6 months, as recorded in this credit report.

What factors raise your credit score:

• You have never missed a payment, and no negative public records are listed on your report.
• On average, the credit limit or loan amount of your credit accounts is $42,451.
• You have 10 revolving account(s) listed in your credit report.

Posted in FICO Progress, Finances, Retirement Progress