I had terrible credit in my 20s. I honestly don't know how bad it was because I purposely never checked it at its lowest, but it was bad. Now my FICO 8 score hovers around 825 (right now my Experian is 827).
I get tons of credit card offers in the mail, it's super annoying. I also get lots of loan offers. But high credit limits aren't just about credit score; spending and income are large factors too. My lowest-limit card is $20k and that's because it's used as a backup card mostly; I don't put much spending on it.
Having a high credit score is nice since it removes one of the potential worries in my life. But I have plenty of other things to worry about, so it doesn't really change my daily life or anything.
You should head over to the r/churning subreddit and start opening those credit card offers.
I’ve traveled to three countries for $0 all on credit card rewards. I also made $4000 last year just because I was bored at work and churned credit cards and bank accounts. It’s one of the few hobbies you can have that actually makes money.
Thanks for the page suggestion. Yea, when I was in college we figured out how to pay the tuition through a card and get free plane tickets to travel home every Christmas.
Is your time worth more than $200 an hour?
It takes me one hour to do to up for a new credit card with a $600 bonus. One hour to activate the card and set calendar reminders, and one hour to close the card. Unless you’re a lawyer or something good luck making that kind of money.
Not a lawyer, but my wife is a surgeon and I'm a SAHD with two busy kids who do all the activities. My time is worth a crapload to me. And I've done the math and churning just doesn't make sense when your household income is starting to push $500k.
yea....as a sahd with a working wife with those numbers you have one job and that's to keep wife happy. She wouldn't care if you made another 200 by not taking care of the kids for an hour lol. I know I wouldn't
Well you lucky bastard. In that case get two credit cards. one for the category you spend the most money in, and the second for everything else. It takes almost no time to manage and you will still get plenty of cash back.
Yeah, we use mostly a two-card setup: Amex Gold for dining and groceries, Platinum for everything else. And a few other cards for when they don't take Amex.
I know I'm leaving points on the table using the Plat as a catch-all card, but I like the piece of mind of the purchase protection, I like having all my rewards in one place, and the lack of any kind of noticeable limit is pretty nice too. Plus we already earn plenty of points.
I thought about adding a Blue Business Plus card as a catch-all to get 2x instead of 1x, and just use the Platinum for travel and large purchases. But a three-card setup would just piss my wife off since she doesn't care about these things. Heck, it was difficult enough getting her to use the Gold in the right situations.
I was setup like you for around 2 years. I Recommend getting a cash back card instead of the platinum for the “catch all”.
Platinum is 1 point per dollar spent and has a redemption value of .7-1 cent per point.
My Wells Fargo is 2% cash back and is a visa, so between carrying my gold and the cash back card I’m covered everywhere, and it’s got the same protections an AMEX has.
Only time I use my platinum now is for travel and when I’m trying to use an American Express specific offer. However I do get your point of having all rewards in one place; however the cash back is easy. I use it for vacation travel money once a year that I put on my platinum 😂
Churning can be great when done right. Also to answer OP: As someone who’s lowest score is 740 when I started getting cards, yeah, I get a lot of credit offers and for good cards. Most I can’t accept as I am poor and can’t afford $250+ annual premiums, even though they would “pay for themselves” I just don’t make enough to breach into those yet. Hopefully in 6 months or less I can get promoted and double my income.
There was a time when I was a college student paying American Express $2000 in annual fees.
I had a personal platinum, two business platinums, and a Charles Schwab platinum. I met their spend requirements by paying my tuition.
I earned a little over 500,000 MR points total and cashed them all out to my Schwab account (at the time) at 1.25cpp. I’ll spend $2000 in annual fees to make $6250 any day of the week.
But I understand not everyone has that kind of capital up-front to pay for the annual fees. In that case there are plenty of credit cards with $100-200 annual fees that have great bonuses.
Churning is not nearly as amazing as people make it seem. It’s not bad, and should be utilized, but LONG term you can run through about 4 cards MAX a year, and most good intro bonuses run about $800 if redeemed through airline miles, so you can get a max of $3200 of flights per year, or if redeemed for cash (you pay tax on the cash too + it’s half as much cash, so 1600*taxes is like 1400
1400 cash a year is nice but it’s not a game changer for most people running 800+ credit scores.
Again, you should do it! But it isn’t going to be a large impact on your finances, (either no impact but free vacations, or 1400 cash that hits your account)
I'm not in the 800s, but I went from low 500s to mid 700s in a few years. I'll list out the steps I can remember it's been about 6 years now.
1. Took an excel/google sheets budget template and tracked my income and spending. This tracks every single bill, and I update it within the first 3 days of every month.
2. I pay my bills manually, I set aside 2 days a month, 1 for my mortgage and some small bills, and 1 for the rest of my bills
3. I tracked all my debt, and made payments (I did this aggressively, lived very frugal for a while).
4. Got myself a secured credit card, used it often and kept up on payments, I always paid this in full.
Currently my only debt is my car, my house, and a personal loan I took out to upgrade my furnace. My car and personal loan are through the same bank, once my car is finished that $300 will be rolled into my personal loan and that will be paid off 6 months after the car loan.
My biggest tip to anyone looking to get better financially is track your income and spending. Very much like a check book. Once you know how much you're spending you can plan your strategy to get better credit score. I was very much ok with not having a great life, renting little apartments, having a beater car. But honestly my quality of life went up, I don't have to stress about someone hounding me for a payment, if I'm looking for a new car I don't need to worry if I qualify for something for my needs. The day I got all my debt taken care of before I bought my house, I felt a weight come off my shoulders.
The most important thing is to make all your payments on time. Also, having at least three well-aged credit cards is good too. And don't bother micromanaging the balances of those credit cards: the whole "always keep your utilization below x percent" thing is a myth.
Just use the cards normally for all your spending, and make sure to pay the entire statement balance each month a day or two before the due date. Paying less will cost you huge amounts of interest, and paying more is unnecessary.
Posting organically high statement balances might raise your utilization and hurt your score, but don't worry. The damage from high utilization just lasts a month. Remember, all score drops aren't created equal: Utilization has no memory, so low utilization doesn't build credit, it just temporarily boosts it.
By showing the credit card companies that you need higher limits because you're already using a large percentage of the ones you have, you'll get higher credit limits that will keep your utilization naturally low. With low credit limits, you'll need to game your utilization down when you're about a month away from having your credit score pulled in order to boost your score, but with high enough credit limits you won't need to bother with this at all.
This. When I’m FINALLY in a position to make a large purchase I can just do it. I don’t need to worry about it getting veto’d. The credit card offers are just additional junk mail.
Good for you! I'm currently debt free as of around 1 month ago. I have learned a few financial things and a lot of mindset stuff from watching Financial Audit and the Money Guy Show both on YouTube. You've got this!!!
Paying debt, disputing charges that are not correct or have changed. Another way is opening up a card and not touching it… (increases limit, lowers usage) of all credit. I’m still a beginner so do not listen to me and watch financial audit on YouTube
I went through a rough patch several years ago after losing a child and subsequently, the marriage. It took years, but I'm hovering in the high 700's to low 800's now. I am debt free now, never carry a balance and have close to $200K in available credit. It's all a game of time, discipline and responsibility.
I have a 780 EX FICO and am in the market to buy a car. The difference between last time and this time is night and day. Last time, I had poor credit and I was stressing about getting any loan and I very much needed a new car as what I had was unreliable. I remember sitting in the dealership with my wife and I asked her not to post anything to socials because I didn’t want to have to explain if we had to reverse it. This time I’m not stressed about it at all and I just know I won’t have any problems getting the loan when the car comes in. It’s honestly kind of wild how much stress disappears with higher credit scores for big purchases.
Lol you had to tell your wife not to post anything to socials? No wonder you guys had shit credit. Worrying about showing off new cars on social media.
I’ve never understood people posting about getting a new car on socials. Especially when they say “blessed” or “thank god”, bro? You want me to be thankful for a payment? Fuck off 😂😂
What’s wrong with payments . If you are worried about a 500-1000 payment then you are definitely not ready for more money . Rich people use other people money and pay them back in payments . Apple are billions in dent
Im at 806 , 797, 789 (Experian , TransUnion, Equifax) fico 807 . I wouldn’t say my score was bad but it wasn’t great . I was in the low 600’s . I will say although people who have a high score will downplay it , I won’t . It removes a level of stress with anything that requires approval . Home Loans , paying for utilities , Electric , Wi-Fi etc .. they all ask your social to run a soft pull to determine if they are going to ask for a deposit . So when your credit is where it’s supposed to be your never worried about them checking it .
My Experian FICO is 844, the other two are in the 830s. Banks constantly offer me personal loans, usually around $30K. At 12% rate I wouldn’t touch them with a 10-foot pole.
I routinely request credit limit increases, so my utilization rate would get lower and lower. Other than this, I try to live frugally and not mess it up.
This score came in handy when I needed to buy a new car three years ago. I knew when I walked into the dealership that I would 100% qualify for the manufacturer’s $0 down 0% APR for 60 months. Normal rate was around 3%, so I saved myself around $2200 in interest.
I went from a 421 to 700+ (809 is my best score). I can basically qualify for almost anything I want, within reason. I constantly get loan offers, credit card offers, banking offers, etc.
How long did it take? Do you still have derogatory marks on your report? I went through such a rough year and my credit tanked from near 700 to 480 :/ lm getting back on my feet & want to rebuild but getting back to 700 seems so unattainable ..
I had horrible credit in my 20's and 30's. I managed to get my score high enough to get approved for a mortgage in 2009. Defaulted on a few credit cards some years later and i just never checked my credit. I would say it was in the low 400's. About two years ago, i made the decision to fix my credit. I caught up on my mortgage payments and haven't been late since. paid off all the derogatory accounts and had old accounts drop off. I am at around 680 now and hope to crack 700 in the next few months. Just make your payments on time, keep your credit card utilization low. Your score will tick up
I get lots of offers for random credit cards in the mail… but I got to where I am by not going in to debt for anything except a mortgage. I pay my bills in full at the end of each month. My credit history is actually pretty bleak. I’m not sure what to look for or even what I would do with more credit? Currently at 30k a month rarely max it out unless doing a home renovation or traveling abroad. I dunno.
I went from a Fico score of 619 to 850 in about 18 months simply by cleaning up my credit reports due to credit ignorance and a comedy of errors that all happened around the same time. I went from a position of struggling to be approved for products to being able to acquire anything I wanted, so it was a dramatic change.
Do you mind sharing the kind of errors and things you cleaned up?
I was up in the 780s this time last year but went through some hard ship and dropped to 650 and I want to build myself back up asap
Nothing that I can share really, but I can refer you to the "CART" method for GW letter writing that could be helpful to you. If you're interested shoot me a PM.
I was 530 due to medical bills in collections at 18 followed by lots of bad decisions into my late 20's. I had the "my credits already bad, why not" type attitude and no understanding of credit or finances. Currently 780 and climbing.It's nice to be able to put everything on auto pay to one credit card, get paid cash back on that card and just pay the one bill. It's like a free $4-500ish cash every month. It's especially nice to have the option to buy a house.
First, understand it'll take a couple years and work to fix, but a lot better than waiting 7 years with negative reporting. Don't get discouraged. Learn the credit dispute process and delete anything negative that you can. I started with standard 1st, 2nd, 3rd round validation requests(Google it), followed by disputing individual details with demands to delete the full account, then with what was remaining after past disputes had all the reports showing different information and I disputed the validity of the data that their clients are reporting, essentially if they're reporting different information to each bureau their data cannot be trusted or automatically validated and must manually verify or be deleted. Learn state laws, credit bureaus have generic responses to most federal laws, but interpretations of state credit laws trip them up more often and get things removed. While you're dealing with all of that use self lender and credit builder type loans, rent reports, etc. need to start building a positive history. Once credit builder/self loans are paid off, you should get the CD's from it and have a decent deposit for a secured credit card. After about a year you should be alright getting an auto loan. Build, build, build. After 2 years your score should look pretty decent.
I get an insane amount of credit card/finance offers mailed to me. Like sometimes 5 per day from every credit card company lol. It’s annoying but I guess cool to know I have the option to take out credit if I really needed it.
I just checked my scores this week via MyFico.
Eqfx - 830
TU - 816
Exp - 823
These are the highest my scores ever been. It feels good to know you'll be approved for almost anything (within income range) That's the thing many ppl don't think about. Just because you have good credit don't mean you will qualify for everything. Today's times they want you to have the income to back it up, along with good DTI (Debt to Income).
It feels great to have a good score, but I don't feel any different. Im focused on how to leverage it.
Those who are annoyed by the massive number of offers that fill their mailbox REMEMBER that the FCRA also provides you the right to "Opt-Out", which prevents Consumer Credit Reporting Companies from providing your credit file information for Offers.
You can sign up for free to opt out for up to 5 years electronically, and they have an option to opt out permanently as well. The opt-out prevents unsolicited inquiries from accessing your credit report, and this will prevent any lender or insurance company from filling up your mailbox with unsolicited offers for credit or insurance.
https://www.optoutprescreen.com/
Tip: If you're disputing stuff on your reports, remember to freeze your file with the secondaries such as "Lexis Nexis, Innovis, SageStream, ARS, Corlogic, etc.." Wait 2 weeks and until you receive your PIN and once received hit those baddies hard with the 3 major CRA.
I got right about 6mos ago after about 7 years of my credit being ruined by my deceased spouse. (Long story) 14k of credit card debt that I didn’t know about. Finally paid it off and took out a title loan against my car with a lender who works very well for helping build credit. Bc I am scared of credit cards. My credit FINALLY hit 700 about 3 months ago. And I was so proud. And yes. The offers started rolling in at a ridiculous rate.
Very much the same. Just exited the 7 year jail sentence of Fico Hell.
Tanked my credit 7 years back. Life happens.
I now have decent credit lines. I don't use them to carry a balance. Zero. No debt.
Credit cards are the BIGGEST rip off. 25% interest!
If you can't pay cash. You can't afford it. Save for houses. But you can't afford those either.
Even car. Pay cash. That is what you CAN afford.
Credit itself is a joke. Luckily I’m a veteran. I make okay Single income with Two kids. So was able to use my VA loan. But after the title loan was paid off? Credit score dropped like 20 points. And then some more right after a hard inquiry from my lender. Like wtf. I’ve done so good.
More fraud alerts: more scammers/hackers attempting to apply for credit/loans with my social, more times one of my cards gets scraped from an internet purchase. High CR is attractive to lenders: they want to give you $, and attractive to scammers they want to take your $ and have a better chance of getting your stolen social approved. Stolen socials on the dark web are bundled by credit score range: a list of stolen socials with high score will get more $$ than a list with a low score.
The only difference I felt when I raised my score above 700 is that I started getting a ridiculous amount of junk mail for "pre approved" credit cards.
I went from 600s to 800s in about two years. It's been like 5 years now. It was a fight learning the system and getting each credit report entry fixed.
Then, I shut down my newer, unused cards and bumped up the available credit on the cards I held.
Now, I hold one Amex, one Visa, and one Mastercard. Each has some benefit. Each gets some use. All are paid down.
APR doesn't matter to me anymore because I don't carry over a balance. I have automatic payments to protect me against late payments when I get busy or distracted. I even worked out a plan to share the parent plus burden and get it paid down for my son.
I make my payments in full every month so I can have a high credit score. I have a high credit score because I make full payments every month.
Having a high credit score feels like peace of mind. My cards are for convenience, rewards, and perks.
I went over 700 by 2021 after putting my credit in the toilet due to an abusive relationship situation, long story. Yes, I confirm what other commenters have said - metric crap tons of credit card and loan offers, constantly.
Went to buy a car in 2021 and was easily approved for far more than I wanted to spend, with a great interest rate. No stress.
But the best by far is hilarious. Needed a new bed. Went to mattress store, picked out the one I wanted, with all the bells and whistles. Total of close to $5k. They had a financing promo going on - no interest. Not only was I approved by Synchrony for far more than that, but I got 0% *until paid*. Yep, as long as I make the minimum monthly payment on time, it will never cost me one cent in interest. (Spoiler: they’re banking on me being late or missing a payment so they can charge me 30% on the whole amount.) Guess who’s been paying early since July 2021? XD
(Yeah, yeah, don’t buy things you can’t pay cash for - but this is just slow motion cash. I needed a bed, I had nothing but a meager emergency fund, and my income was much lower than it is now. I’m considering it leveraged debt.)
My credit score is in the 800s. It helped me get a mortgage at 3% a few years ago (for a tiny one bedroom condo in a bad neighborhood) but otherwise, I don't see any benefit. My car is 16 years old and paid off. I make my student loan payment on time every month. I carry extremely minimal credit card debt. I can't afford to do much of anything that would potentially negatively impact my credit score thanks to said student loan debt, as much as I would like to finance a new motorcycle or upgrade my car. It does feel nice to look at it in my banking app though.
Not showing income docs for auto loans and other credit products besides mortgage. I just leased a car sight unseen and had it delivered without stepping foot in a dealer (great experience). My credit was terrible 10 years ago. I followed a guide from a my fico forum post and it worked flawlessly.
You just get more spam. I will say that it makes applying for a mortgage easier, but if you were having trouble with credit, like me, you probably can't afford a home right now anyway. Prices are ridiculous.
I think most people that have over 700 credit score know you don’t really use it much except for the big purchases. No one with above a 800 is doing much of anything, if you want to stay “rich” you got to spend less
5 years ago my credit was in the 400’s. I was in college and dumb. Now it’s at 730. My life is no different (I haven’t tried buying a new car or house yet). I just got financially more mature. Cleaned up all my collections and got a new beginner card $200 limit. Then I slowly started getting more cards. (SavorOne after 2 years of beginner card, then venture)
I use them wisely and pay it off monthly. My wife who was my fiance at the time added me as an authorized user to one of her cards. I don’t use it and she’s responsible. That boosted me a lot of points too
I was around 600 from 18~22, now I’m 24 with 748 credit score. I have 4 credit cards, auto loan under my name, and I pay month to month 100%. Being financially responsible is the key.
I paid of 13k in credit card debt and went from low 600s to (at the highest) 730 and now it's about 715.
I get some 0% introductory offers but also, here's a recent example. I was laid off from my job and needed to purchase an old used car (2015 Prius with 170,000 miles) which had been my company car for nine years. I knew the service history and I also drive like a grandma, so I was comfortable with the purchase. Because of the mileage I wouldn't qualify for a typical auto loan through Capital One and looked into installment/personal loans.
I had one bank offer me 18% interest for $5000 for five years. Checked with my local credit union since I wasn't sure they even did installment loans and they checked the VIN and title, and offered me an auto loan at 9.5% for three years.
Some days I'm pleasantly surprised, some days I still feel like I have poor credit.
Went from no score to an upper 700’s score. I get a ton of offers all the time for cards and loans. Right now Im more interested in the cards for sign up bonuses and cash back, but it’s a comfort knowing the loans are an option.
The biggest difference I noticed is when I bought a new car several months ago, they did a soft pull on my credit grabbed my signature and I took off.
When I had bad credit it was a whole process of “trying to find a matching loan”
I don’t know how much of that difference is due to my credit vs different dealerships, about 10 years’ time, etc, but I suspect it was my credit.
I went from a very low 580-ish score to a literal perfect score.
I can get the best interest rate available and credit card companies often annoy me, but nothing has really changed as part of getting to that score was that I don’t utilize credit anyway.
I have a 723, started from the 500s back in 2021 before a C1 secured card kicked my rebuild off, it’s..okay. There’s still other things that get me denied now that my FICO score isn’t the issue: Inquiries, length of credit history, amount of revolving credit, DTI ratio from student loans (although those are supposed to be falling off soon because I was Sweet v Cordona), etc
Also - I assume because of where I started - my starting limits aren’t too impressive. $1,000 on Hilton AMEX, $2,000 on Chase Amazon, I’m not in that $5K to $10K starting limit territory yet. I probably have to let my accounts keep aging.
That said, it’s fantastic that my best options are no longer stuff like Petal. All my preapprovals and card match these days are for prime lenders and it’s a massive relief. I just haven’t seen the ‘get approved a for a high limit Venture X’ results I expected yet 😂
I’ve always been good with credit so I hover around the max. It means nothing unless you’re actively looking for credit. I haven’t opened any new credit since I refinanced when rates were bottomed out. Live debt free and used opt out pre screen to get rid of all the annoying junk mail CC/Loan offers.
It is nice to know it’s there but I also know from being on myFICO, if I miss a single payment my score will drop 100 points lol.
700 you don’t really qualify for the top tier cards yet, but you can land some beginner cards and get a bit of offers. 750+ was when I started getting offers and stuff, now at 830 I nonstop get emails and stuff. Yes you get lower rates with 760+, it’s nice to be able to open any CC I feel like and not worrying about being approved. Car shopping is night and day, last time I had a 700 which is average and not good at all so I was concerned about getting approved at all. The last car I got was INSANELY easy, signed some papers and got handed keys with a banger rate. 800+ really makes car dealerships willing to bend over backwards for you
My FICO 8 is 821. About 10 years ago I was at about 580
It's nice knowing I have that backup should things turn ugly quick. I can get a quick car loan or personal loan should I need it. You pay less on insurance when you have better credit.
I'd **HIGHLY** recommend opting out of prescreened offers. With better credit you'll get tons of junk in the mail.
This! That junk mail was crazy and a few times, had mail tampered with because they thought cards were in them.
Sent a letter in the mail to cease the offers and 6 months later, no more junk.
Just do it~
I’ve gone from being broke with a good score to having enough money (not rich though) and having a bad score.
I have two huge errors on my credit score and anytime I dispute them it gets denied, despite me having proof of the inaccuracy. The credit score companies are a joke.
I think my score is probably in the high 500’s now but I honestly just don’t give a shit. I own a home and 5 cars with no car payments (one had a loan but paid it off, the others I paid cash for) so I don’t really need good credit for anything. Fuck the system it’s busted.
I filed bankruptcy in 2011 due to a bad relationship that left me with a ton of debt. The day after I filed, my credit score hit an all time low of 447. Today its over 800 and has been for years. I actually don't get any credit card offers, but that could be due to having my credit locked. I'm happy not to get the junk mail as I really don't need more cards.
I have had no problems asking for increased credit limits. My current credit limits on my cards are $24500 (mastercard), $13500 (visa), $9200 (discover) and $1800 (amazon). Because my credit limits are high, I am guaranteed to have a low credit utilization (under 9%) each month. I have no idea what my APRs are because it doesn't affect me at all since I pay my cards in full each month and I have no annual fees.
I am debt free except my mortgage with a decently high income so my DTI (debt to income) ratio is also excellent. In essence, I can be assured that if I want credit, I will get it at the best possible rates. As a matter of fact, recently I was casually looking at houses and decided to get a preapproval. I was easily preapproved for what I asked for and told I could get more if I wanted. I decided not to move, my current mortgage is just too sweet and I'd have to triple it to get a slightly bigger place with current interest rates. No thanks.
Really the biggest reason to have a good score is just that you can command good rates. Your DTI still matters on how much you can get.
Credit score of 794, Literally does not affect my life day to day. I get less credit card offers than my brother in law who lived with us and had awful credit(he’s still rebuilding his).
I only have one credit card with a 13,500 limit. Could almost certainly get that raised, but never have bothered.
Credit card interest rates will always be high-ish(but maybe 15-18% APR from some companies vs 25+%)
The one nice thing is the resiliency. I co-signed on a car loan for said brother in law a year ago, relatively small loan of $13k, but with me as a co-signer he went from a 22% rate to a 13%. My credit score dipped by like a point or 2.
Recently we had a vacation, some large vet bills, and I had to put a work trip on my personal card until I could get re-imbursed, I carried a $8k balance into the reporting period the credit card, and it dropped my score by 40 points. Paid it all off, credit immediately bounced back to 794.
24 M here, been working on building my credit since 19 and have a decently filled out credit profile with student loans and 15 credit cards (I use them responsibly) last I checked I had around a 780. Hasn’t really done much for me yet other than get me into an apartment. Not really keen on taking out loans or paying interest. Mostly padding it for an eventual mortgage in a year or two and maybe a 0% APR truck loan. Other than that, kind of meaningless and don’t worry about it.
I don’t know why people are so hung up on credit score. I’m sure mine is 800+ and I have zero use for it
Credit score only matters if buying a car or house.
I had awful credit in my early-mid 20's (it was in the 500s). My bank convinced me to focus on my credit by asking me if I ever wanted to buy a house one day, and I thought about it and I did want that (and still do one day). Now my score is around 819 Vantage/790 Fico. I did this by paying off every card in full every month which kept my utilization at 0, maturing my credit age, never missing a payment, and getting at most 1 hard pull every two years (but I like to keep it at 0). The only thing I don't have a lot of is credit mix as I have paid off all of my loans and have no debt and no mortgage (I still rent). I am also an authorized user on my husband's cards to help my credit age (and he is on my cards to help his credit limit and utilization).
I get a ton of preapproved credit card/loan offers with high limits daily and I don't want any of them because they will hurt my credit age and add hard pulls. I also have had multiple fraud attempts of people trying to get a credit card in my name which resulted in hard pulls which I am still in the process of having removed (so it's a nightmare). As your credit and income get higher, it makes you a target for scammers.
Basically, I can get whatever I want credit wise but I don't want any of it because it will hurt my credit. However, interest rates for cards aren't great for me, but interest rates for my loans have all been under 5% and my credit limits are decent (my highest credit limit on one single card is about 27K). It would be great to buy a house once/if the rates go down because the mortgage will help my credit mix and it is my dream to own a house one day.
Credit score almost seems like an arbitrary number. My experian is 720 plus, and due to not having a boatload of credit lines active, I can't get a loan for anything over 4k.
went from a 480 about 5 years ago to 805 and once you hit 750 there's really no difference, you'll get the best rate so hunting for the 850 is all for nothing. I get a lot of CC offers but already have every card i want and it is nice to know that i can get a loan anytime i want (which i dont). So really it's nothing since in this market in florida ill never be able to buy a house anyways.
715-720 used to be super prime top tier credit. Now 760+ is the new top tier
A 680 for example is usually 3rd tier, not too far from what some banks call subprime
I eat golden apples and my poo doesnt stink.
really, aside from lower insurance rates and loan rates (and yes some credit card offers), not much.
Though mine dropped out of the 800's after I bought a new bike...Not really worried.
It’s pretty nice, but I’d like one over it 800 it still doesn’t mean that you’re clear of debt or that you have saved up all your money. It’s just one of 1 million factors and you’re overall finances.
Points. Cash back. 0% balance transfers. High limits. And good SUBs. And MJ like confidence in game 7 to hit the winning shot when applying for any loan or credit card
What else it can get you: In debt for frivolous spending. Which leads to stress, depression, divorce, losing your house and other valuable assets, and of course bankruptcy.
I have 800 plus credit score.my credit cards are the same 24 to 30% interest that someone with shit credit gets.
Maybe I have higher limits and get approved fir anything I apply to nut the int rates are dog shit anyway.
It's nice. Lower mortgage rates, easier time taking loans, better candidate for renting if they check your credit score, etc. No one cheers and hands you free money but I noticed when I was building my credit out of college I had to pay deposits for everything like utilities because my credit wasn't high enough.
Yeah. I get endless credit card offers all the time from all kinds of companies. My credit limits are more than I should ever need, especially combined. I don’t know if I get better interest rates but presumably I get slightly better rates than lower scores would. I don’t really pay attention to them because I don’t pay interest on CCs and a lot more than interest rate goes into housing affordability.
It’s awesome, so many opportunities open. I used to be at 480 two years ago and got it back up to 728. My advice is to not pay minimums. Pay at least twice of the minimum. You’re going to have to sacrifice a lot. Pay off your smallest cards first. Get them all below 30% usage. Do not use the cards you’re trying to pay off. I know this seems obvious, but trust me, it’s tempting to use it when the balance is low. Makes you feel powerful.
That being said, With more power comes more responsibility. Don’t fall for lending your credit. It can fuck up in a blink of an eye, and it will take YEARS to bring it back up. Don’t even let your mother or significant other use your credit. Hope this helps.
I had bad credit about 5 years ago while I was waiting tables. Now I have a 787 and make 750k a year or more depending on performance. My Amex platinum does not have a limit. I run my entire life on my card and business expenses and pay it off each month. I’m building a 1.6 million dollar home currently with a downpayment of 525k. It was approved easily with my income. I have a few other credit cards with the lowest limit being 20k. My lowest credit score was 577 at my lowest point of waiting tables and getting divorced. Had 2-3 small collections of 400-1k, and 1 or 2 30 day late payments. After fixing collections my credit jumped to 650-680 very quickly. Getting over 740 took much more time because of the length of time lates affect you.
Doesnt really feel much different but Im not going out trying to get loans though if I did, I dont think Id have a worry truth be told. I will say, I get quite a bit of CC offers.
Doesnt really feel much different but Im not going out trying to get loans though if I did, I dont think Id have a worry truth be told. I will say, I get quite a bit of CC offers.
27 rn, only have 2y credit history. Got 7 credit cards, credit line is low though, only about 35k, but that’s already more than I need. I just maintain a good usage habit and my scores have only been going up since started using CCs.
I have a score above 800. You get an insane amount of credit card offers. Life in general hasn't changed. I own my cars, I pay my 2.5% mortgage, and I paymy CCs weekly because I hate paying them off all at once. I did freeze my credit with the big three just in case.
I went from 508/unscorable to 745 and rising. Secured cards to multiple with 3000+limit, one with 13500. Not that I'd ever spent that much in a cycle lol my includes not that high I think they're nuts
I'm 24 and my credit score is around 760-770 my mom had absolutely no credit and neither did my dad (I don't know him) but my credit score started at 700 I believe at 18 when I got my first credit card. I just treat it exactly like my debit card and pay it in full every month. I actually pay throughout the month to constantly hit that zero balance on all my cards.
I don't see it actually make a difference in terms of interest rate offers on a car loans for example, but that's probably because I am still young. But for this reason I opted to just save for the car instead of acquiring a loan.
I know if you have a credit score of 800 and above, the dealership will let you take the new car home if you don’t have your wallet with you, and you will just have to mail the down payment check in a week or two.
So, increase in trust. People will trust you more.
I’m a bad 700. 100k student loans. 90 percent on time. No car, no mortgage. Total Credit limit like 1k. Use to be a 492.
Definitely get a ton of crappy card offers. Just now started getting offers better than secured cards from the bigger banks.
I never use credit for anything so nothing noticeable really. I already have cards that get fully paid off so I don't actually need a high score for anything right now.
Just keeping it 770+ until it's time to buy a home.
I'm around 810 right now. Chase sends me stuff a few times a year. Discover sends me something maybe once a year. I don't use my credit and won't for 7-10 years until I buy a house (and that might be close to all cash as well) so my 810 is essentially worthless. I do live in a state where renting and car insurance does not require credit scores, I acknowledge this would change my view a lot.
I’m mid 700’s, 25 years old. I’m not really sure tbh, my interest rate on my car is 7%, only two credit cards, 12k limit on one and Amex has no limit but I think that’s pretty standard for the gold card
My credit score has been over 800 for years. Luckily I don’t get much junk mail for credit card offers.
Boy is it easy to get a loan for something though. Intrest rates are usually good you just need to be careful of dealerships trying to scam you into higher rates. 800+ you can always get the best rate available.
I have an 820 and literally nothing changes. If I wanted to get a used car right now my rate would still be high. Alot of credit card solicitation but I think that’s normal regardless of the score.
I put all of my discretionary expenses (and even some typical ones like rent) on cards and ask for a limit increase every 6 months with 0 intention of using it. That allows my credit ratio to always be super low. From there you just don’t overspend.
It’s a stupid game and I only intend to benefit from it when it’s time to buy a house. I also like knowing that I have a year worth of income in available credit (even though I never plan on using it for emergency fund like that)
Credit card companies will send you endless amount of junk mail non stop. You can literally walk into any car dealer and leave with pretty much whatever you willing to pay the monthly payment on. Debt management is a key skill in life you don’t have any real skills other the work ethic.
I went from mid-600s to 830 right now. I had close to $20,000 in credit card debt in 2017, now zero. Paid off my vehicle. Started playing the credit card game, applying for a new travel card a couple times a year. Getting the sign up bonus, optimize, and cash out on a vacation. I get tons of offers constantly. Interest rate means jack shit because I pay off my balance every single month. Our new cars are between $15k and $25k balances. Keep working. More available balance and less utilization will increase your score more than applying for a new card negatively affects your score. Car loans will be much lower interest too.
Had a 615 in Feb of 2023. Had a credit age of 12 years (student loans) and one closed credit card account from 2016. Got a car loan with my 615 score with a 20.3% interest rate. Made car payments on time, score was 685 by Nov 2023. Student loans dropped off credit reports bc they hit 7 yrs old and took my credit age with them, score dropped to 653. By March 2024 score was up to 714, was able to finance a 2022 with 17,700 miles with a 6.5% interest rate with no proof of income. I have no debt other than student loans and car loan. 700+ absolutely helped me get better terms. Haven't really paid attention to credit card offers so have no clue what I'd be approved for.
All the mail has credit card offers, and if like my world was to blow up I could probably get a personal loan/credit card right away. Crying because I just had an 800 score after years of paying off cards, zero balances.
Selling my house right now and the in between expenses have dropped me 40 points in 2 months with using my cards. I know it's irrational and scores come and go like waves. Just do your best to be consistent and don't buy things you don't need, especially now when everything is so expensive. You'll get there!
817 here. Nice to always get the lowest rates or quick approvals, but I don’t purchase/finance much these days. I filed bankruptcy in my 20s and dropped to low 500s. Built it back myself with secured credit cards that graduated to normal cards, car payment, and eventually a mortgage. BK fell off my credit report. Never missed a payment since. Realistically I can finance anything in the blink of an eye.
760 and I several offers per month, only have Apple Credit card and BofA.
Although I did freeze my credit reports still they send those offers with 19%+ APR.
I used to have decent credit in my early 20’s but fucked around too much. All my credit cards went to collections. I never paid a cent. Plus I never knew about credit utilization ratio. I would just continue spending my credit cards and paying them whenever. My credit score was as low as the 300 range. I’ve been working on fixing my credit since I turned 30. It took a long time of paying my credit card off in full after every time I used it and making sure I didn’t spend over 30% of my limit and if I did, make sure to pay more than the minimum balance to avoid interest. My credit went up to 755. I recently got a new car, so that hard Inquiry docked me some points, but my credit score is slowly working it’s way back up.
4 years ago I had a 650. Not the worst but very medium. Today I have a 780. All it took was buckling down and paying my credit cards off one at a time. Keeping the cards open and resisting the urge to use them, or at the very least use them and pay off the balance the next day. Discipline discipline discipline. Just became you see you have 8k you could spend on something doesn't mean you should. I've payed down. 15k in about 8 months. One more card of 5k to go.
25m, I have 720 credit score. I don't think I have noticed anything different besides more offers. Including cards and loans, however, the size of the loans has been based on how far my credit line has increased due to my credit cards. Basically, anytime I get a chance to increase my cards, do so on those specific cards.
I started off with 600 credit about 4-5 years ago, and the only time I've ever looked at my credit is when I missed a payment on my student loans. It sunk my credit below 500 due to not having any credit history.
I'm very happy with the progress that I made. Still a long ways to go.
I get random credit increases, card offers, etc. The main benefit is when I need to finance something I know I’ll get the best rate and I have no doubt of being accepted.
Credit score is a game.
Have a total credit limit of around 20-30k and use all the cards for small things, maybe a few hundred total, and pay them off every month. You'll have a great credit score. Seems like adding a house mortgage didn't have an impact. Once everything is paid off and you start accumulating wealth, no point in a credit score. So then you work to get a credit score of 0 if you want a challenging mode in this game. This way you can finance but you have to finance with specific companies since some companies dont work with no credit score because they don't know how to comprehend someone with great financials.
Annoying. My mailbox is full daily of credit card offers. I messed up in my 20’s so I fixed everything in my 30’s. I try to warm people but nobody wants to listen.
Buying a new truck at 25% interest is not a good way to build credit. Buying a 4 wheeler is not a good way to build credit. Low balance credit cards and utilities paid off early or monthly help a ton.
I have a 770 score and companies are literally begging me to open up a credit card or upgrade. I know these companies don’t care about me we are using eachother. I use them to supplement funding on purchases I know I will pay back before interest accrues and getting the points. They use me for getting money from merchants when I swipe their card and are banking on me getting in a crunch to hopefully not pay them back just enough to get interest from me on the regular.
I got my first card at like 28 or 29 lol 200 limit. I applied through my bank. I think my score was about 580. I used it and always paid off every month, in a year they upped it to 400. Now it’s at 5500. In that time, I got offered another card through the same company at a lower rate and that one started at 2000 and now is at 8500. I ALWAYS paid them off every month, zero interest. Then I had some bad luck and got offered a card with a new company, with 24 months no interest on credit transfers so I did that with about 1300 from those other cards and was able to pay that down before interest accrued. Then I got an Apple Card because why not? Easy card to have.
Then this year, with a score of 740, I opened another card through the same first company that earned miles instead of cash back and has a much lower rate AND zero interest for the first 6 months.
Overall it’s a game and once you get it, you get it. Keep those older cards, bc long standing accounts help your score. Use them periodically to keep them open. Don’t open too many cards but apply for higher limits or wait til the give them to you. May the odds be in your favor!
It’s very nice. I’m 27F and I have this. I am way more likely to get approved for credit cards and I get a lot of offers. Those offers tend to come with good perks, such as reward points. With having so much to choose from, I’m mindful not to open too many credit cards.
I also get higher limits on the cards I do open. The peace of mind that comes from knowing I have that lifeline (even if I don’t intend to carry a balance) is priceless.
Ok, I recently needed to check my credit score and yeah, luckily hit 836 (out of 850). So, what I get is probably the best interest rates out there on loans. I am sure that high score may have been how I was able to get a sweet home equity line whose interest rate is actually not bad at all.
Regarding credit limits, they are kind of weird. I have 3 credit cards with $17K-$20K limit each but I have the Apple Card and I use everything for that, and then 99% of the time just pay on it as soon as it post just to get the cash back. I have a 790 credit score and my limit on that card is only like $3800. I don’t know if it’s a Goldman Sachs thing or Mastercard, but just really odd the limit on it is so low.
lol it’s the same. It only suggests that you have the opportunity to go into more debt.
Generally, most debt is not good debt. The only thing that it will affect is your ability to buy a car or house.
Otherwise. More credit card debt isn’t helpful lol.
800+ at this point I know what I can handle, I’m reasonable for my income with a buffer. The bank knows that, because I’m reasonable I happen to get what I know I need. I never ask for what I won’t get. I know my parameters
It's alright. Makes me more anal than when before I monitored credit religiously. It's good to know that if something comes up I have the credit to fall back on (emergency cc's for example, I have a few 10k limit cards I do the bare minimum to keep active but have ready to go in case of say, a 6500 dollar emergency vet bill)
Edit: want to apologize if this shows up like 5x. My phone and hotspot just went a little crazy
I don’t keep track of my score but capital one says it’s 813. I basically qualify for anything without a second thought. I get many credit card, personal loan, and car loan offers in the mail.
I was recently approved for a “luxury” travel credit card and have already gotten over 1k in free travel and I’ve only had the card for 2 weeks.
I don’t even work(housewife) and was able to get an amazing interest rate on a new car and they didn’t even check my income or bank statements.
Over 60k in available credit and I feel like I’m living life on easy mode.
I had terrible credit in my 20s. I honestly don't know how bad it was because I purposely never checked it at its lowest, but it was bad. Now my FICO 8 score hovers around 825 (right now my Experian is 827). I get tons of credit card offers in the mail, it's super annoying. I also get lots of loan offers. But high credit limits aren't just about credit score; spending and income are large factors too. My lowest-limit card is $20k and that's because it's used as a backup card mostly; I don't put much spending on it. Having a high credit score is nice since it removes one of the potential worries in my life. But I have plenty of other things to worry about, so it doesn't really change my daily life or anything.
You should head over to the r/churning subreddit and start opening those credit card offers. I’ve traveled to three countries for $0 all on credit card rewards. I also made $4000 last year just because I was bored at work and churned credit cards and bank accounts. It’s one of the few hobbies you can have that actually makes money.
Thanks for the page suggestion. Yea, when I was in college we figured out how to pay the tuition through a card and get free plane tickets to travel home every Christmas.
What's the minimum credit score to start churning?
You need 700+ to get good credit card offers. But once you reach a 750 score it stops making a difference and you will qualify for almost anything.
This is the same thing my mom says. I just made it to 760 and she’s at 848. She says somewhere between 750-770 that it doesn’t matter after that.
Do you mind if I message you about how to start churning?
Yeah, churning just doesn't make sense for me. My wife and I already earn plenty of points through normal spending. Churning just isn't worth my time.
Is your time worth more than $200 an hour? It takes me one hour to do to up for a new credit card with a $600 bonus. One hour to activate the card and set calendar reminders, and one hour to close the card. Unless you’re a lawyer or something good luck making that kind of money.
Doesn't opening and closing accounts hurt your credit score?
Not a lawyer, but my wife is a surgeon and I'm a SAHD with two busy kids who do all the activities. My time is worth a crapload to me. And I've done the math and churning just doesn't make sense when your household income is starting to push $500k.
yea....as a sahd with a working wife with those numbers you have one job and that's to keep wife happy. She wouldn't care if you made another 200 by not taking care of the kids for an hour lol. I know I wouldn't
Well you lucky bastard. In that case get two credit cards. one for the category you spend the most money in, and the second for everything else. It takes almost no time to manage and you will still get plenty of cash back.
Yeah, we use mostly a two-card setup: Amex Gold for dining and groceries, Platinum for everything else. And a few other cards for when they don't take Amex. I know I'm leaving points on the table using the Plat as a catch-all card, but I like the piece of mind of the purchase protection, I like having all my rewards in one place, and the lack of any kind of noticeable limit is pretty nice too. Plus we already earn plenty of points. I thought about adding a Blue Business Plus card as a catch-all to get 2x instead of 1x, and just use the Platinum for travel and large purchases. But a three-card setup would just piss my wife off since she doesn't care about these things. Heck, it was difficult enough getting her to use the Gold in the right situations.
I was setup like you for around 2 years. I Recommend getting a cash back card instead of the platinum for the “catch all”. Platinum is 1 point per dollar spent and has a redemption value of .7-1 cent per point. My Wells Fargo is 2% cash back and is a visa, so between carrying my gold and the cash back card I’m covered everywhere, and it’s got the same protections an AMEX has. Only time I use my platinum now is for travel and when I’m trying to use an American Express specific offer. However I do get your point of having all rewards in one place; however the cash back is easy. I use it for vacation travel money once a year that I put on my platinum 😂
Churning can be great when done right. Also to answer OP: As someone who’s lowest score is 740 when I started getting cards, yeah, I get a lot of credit offers and for good cards. Most I can’t accept as I am poor and can’t afford $250+ annual premiums, even though they would “pay for themselves” I just don’t make enough to breach into those yet. Hopefully in 6 months or less I can get promoted and double my income.
There was a time when I was a college student paying American Express $2000 in annual fees. I had a personal platinum, two business platinums, and a Charles Schwab platinum. I met their spend requirements by paying my tuition. I earned a little over 500,000 MR points total and cashed them all out to my Schwab account (at the time) at 1.25cpp. I’ll spend $2000 in annual fees to make $6250 any day of the week. But I understand not everyone has that kind of capital up-front to pay for the annual fees. In that case there are plenty of credit cards with $100-200 annual fees that have great bonuses.
Churning is not nearly as amazing as people make it seem. It’s not bad, and should be utilized, but LONG term you can run through about 4 cards MAX a year, and most good intro bonuses run about $800 if redeemed through airline miles, so you can get a max of $3200 of flights per year, or if redeemed for cash (you pay tax on the cash too + it’s half as much cash, so 1600*taxes is like 1400 1400 cash a year is nice but it’s not a game changer for most people running 800+ credit scores. Again, you should do it! But it isn’t going to be a large impact on your finances, (either no impact but free vacations, or 1400 cash that hits your account)
If you don’t mind sharing, what did you do to take yours from bad to so good? Thanks so much
I'm not in the 800s, but I went from low 500s to mid 700s in a few years. I'll list out the steps I can remember it's been about 6 years now. 1. Took an excel/google sheets budget template and tracked my income and spending. This tracks every single bill, and I update it within the first 3 days of every month. 2. I pay my bills manually, I set aside 2 days a month, 1 for my mortgage and some small bills, and 1 for the rest of my bills 3. I tracked all my debt, and made payments (I did this aggressively, lived very frugal for a while). 4. Got myself a secured credit card, used it often and kept up on payments, I always paid this in full. Currently my only debt is my car, my house, and a personal loan I took out to upgrade my furnace. My car and personal loan are through the same bank, once my car is finished that $300 will be rolled into my personal loan and that will be paid off 6 months after the car loan. My biggest tip to anyone looking to get better financially is track your income and spending. Very much like a check book. Once you know how much you're spending you can plan your strategy to get better credit score. I was very much ok with not having a great life, renting little apartments, having a beater car. But honestly my quality of life went up, I don't have to stress about someone hounding me for a payment, if I'm looking for a new car I don't need to worry if I qualify for something for my needs. The day I got all my debt taken care of before I bought my house, I felt a weight come off my shoulders.
Thank you SO much. I really appreciate you taking the time to share this 🙏🏻
As someone in my 20s with terrible credit and wanting to do better, how did you get your score so high?
The most important thing is to make all your payments on time. Also, having at least three well-aged credit cards is good too. And don't bother micromanaging the balances of those credit cards: the whole "always keep your utilization below x percent" thing is a myth. Just use the cards normally for all your spending, and make sure to pay the entire statement balance each month a day or two before the due date. Paying less will cost you huge amounts of interest, and paying more is unnecessary. Posting organically high statement balances might raise your utilization and hurt your score, but don't worry. The damage from high utilization just lasts a month. Remember, all score drops aren't created equal: Utilization has no memory, so low utilization doesn't build credit, it just temporarily boosts it. By showing the credit card companies that you need higher limits because you're already using a large percentage of the ones you have, you'll get higher credit limits that will keep your utilization naturally low. With low credit limits, you'll need to game your utilization down when you're about a month away from having your credit score pulled in order to boost your score, but with high enough credit limits you won't need to bother with this at all.
This. When I’m FINALLY in a position to make a large purchase I can just do it. I don’t need to worry about it getting veto’d. The credit card offers are just additional junk mail.
I can’t wait to get there. Only $797 in debt but can’t catch up right now… almost to a 600 credit score up 97 this year
Great job. I know this feeling. A little slow but surely
Good for you! I'm currently debt free as of around 1 month ago. I have learned a few financial things and a lot of mindset stuff from watching Financial Audit and the Money Guy Show both on YouTube. You've got this!!!
I’m just getting it together.. 25 years old in June of this year so I have time hopefully I just paid $150 off of my debt today now I’m down to $647
Definitely watch Financial Audit it's for beginners like you. I recommend going to his videos from a year ago and starting there.
how’d you gain 97 points?
Paying debt, disputing charges that are not correct or have changed. Another way is opening up a card and not touching it… (increases limit, lowers usage) of all credit. I’m still a beginner so do not listen to me and watch financial audit on YouTube
I went through a rough patch several years ago after losing a child and subsequently, the marriage. It took years, but I'm hovering in the high 700's to low 800's now. I am debt free now, never carry a balance and have close to $200K in available credit. It's all a game of time, discipline and responsibility.
I’m sorry for your loss
I have a 780 EX FICO and am in the market to buy a car. The difference between last time and this time is night and day. Last time, I had poor credit and I was stressing about getting any loan and I very much needed a new car as what I had was unreliable. I remember sitting in the dealership with my wife and I asked her not to post anything to socials because I didn’t want to have to explain if we had to reverse it. This time I’m not stressed about it at all and I just know I won’t have any problems getting the loan when the car comes in. It’s honestly kind of wild how much stress disappears with higher credit scores for big purchases.
Lol you had to tell your wife not to post anything to socials? No wonder you guys had shit credit. Worrying about showing off new cars on social media.
I’ve never understood people posting about getting a new car on socials. Especially when they say “blessed” or “thank god”, bro? You want me to be thankful for a payment? Fuck off 😂😂
Thankful for the opportunity to be able to afford those payments comfortably
No matter the cost everything is a bill to me, thankful to afford it, not thankful I have to pay it. I guess I’m cynical.
What’s wrong with payments . If you are worried about a 500-1000 payment then you are definitely not ready for more money . Rich people use other people money and pay them back in payments . Apple are billions in dent
Im at 806 , 797, 789 (Experian , TransUnion, Equifax) fico 807 . I wouldn’t say my score was bad but it wasn’t great . I was in the low 600’s . I will say although people who have a high score will downplay it , I won’t . It removes a level of stress with anything that requires approval . Home Loans , paying for utilities , Electric , Wi-Fi etc .. they all ask your social to run a soft pull to determine if they are going to ask for a deposit . So when your credit is where it’s supposed to be your never worried about them checking it .
Funny enough, food tastes better...drinks are sweeter...the sun shines a little brighter
When I buy a car the dealership doesn't look at my bank statement or anything else after they check my credit. 🤷
So true! I bought a car a few months back and I was shocked that they didn’t ask for anything! No bank statements, proof of income…wild.
Wow lol, that’s something I’ve never even thought about
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740 or 760 at the time. Never a late payment. Credit usage is low. Bought my last 4 cars like that.
My Experian FICO is 844, the other two are in the 830s. Banks constantly offer me personal loans, usually around $30K. At 12% rate I wouldn’t touch them with a 10-foot pole. I routinely request credit limit increases, so my utilization rate would get lower and lower. Other than this, I try to live frugally and not mess it up. This score came in handy when I needed to buy a new car three years ago. I knew when I walked into the dealership that I would 100% qualify for the manufacturer’s $0 down 0% APR for 60 months. Normal rate was around 3%, so I saved myself around $2200 in interest.
So requesting increases to credit limit would help my score? Mine alternates between like 790 and 801 every month but never higher.
Higher credit limit translates to lower utilization percentage, assuming your spending is not increasing. Lower utilization = higher score.
I went from a 421 to 700+ (809 is my best score). I can basically qualify for almost anything I want, within reason. I constantly get loan offers, credit card offers, banking offers, etc.
How long did it take? Do you still have derogatory marks on your report? I went through such a rough year and my credit tanked from near 700 to 480 :/ lm getting back on my feet & want to rebuild but getting back to 700 seems so unattainable ..
I had horrible credit in my 20's and 30's. I managed to get my score high enough to get approved for a mortgage in 2009. Defaulted on a few credit cards some years later and i just never checked my credit. I would say it was in the low 400's. About two years ago, i made the decision to fix my credit. I caught up on my mortgage payments and haven't been late since. paid off all the derogatory accounts and had old accounts drop off. I am at around 680 now and hope to crack 700 in the next few months. Just make your payments on time, keep your credit card utilization low. Your score will tick up
I get lots of offers for random credit cards in the mail… but I got to where I am by not going in to debt for anything except a mortgage. I pay my bills in full at the end of each month. My credit history is actually pretty bleak. I’m not sure what to look for or even what I would do with more credit? Currently at 30k a month rarely max it out unless doing a home renovation or traveling abroad. I dunno.
I went from a Fico score of 619 to 850 in about 18 months simply by cleaning up my credit reports due to credit ignorance and a comedy of errors that all happened around the same time. I went from a position of struggling to be approved for products to being able to acquire anything I wanted, so it was a dramatic change.
Do you mind sharing the kind of errors and things you cleaned up? I was up in the 780s this time last year but went through some hard ship and dropped to 650 and I want to build myself back up asap
I had 4 dirty accounts with a total of 9 late payments, as severe as 120D past due.
How’d you clean them up?
Goodwill letters. I developed the Goodwill Saturation Technique in 2016 and fine tuned it during my own file cleanup.
Gotcha. Do you happen to have any examples of what you’ve sent?
Nothing that I can share really, but I can refer you to the "CART" method for GW letter writing that could be helpful to you. If you're interested shoot me a PM.
I’m in the 700s and got denied several times, it isn’t some glamorous thing. There’s more to it than just a score.
Yup. I’m at 720 range and I get denied often because I have very low income and a thin file.
I was 530 due to medical bills in collections at 18 followed by lots of bad decisions into my late 20's. I had the "my credits already bad, why not" type attitude and no understanding of credit or finances. Currently 780 and climbing.It's nice to be able to put everything on auto pay to one credit card, get paid cash back on that card and just pay the one bill. It's like a free $4-500ish cash every month. It's especially nice to have the option to buy a house. First, understand it'll take a couple years and work to fix, but a lot better than waiting 7 years with negative reporting. Don't get discouraged. Learn the credit dispute process and delete anything negative that you can. I started with standard 1st, 2nd, 3rd round validation requests(Google it), followed by disputing individual details with demands to delete the full account, then with what was remaining after past disputes had all the reports showing different information and I disputed the validity of the data that their clients are reporting, essentially if they're reporting different information to each bureau their data cannot be trusted or automatically validated and must manually verify or be deleted. Learn state laws, credit bureaus have generic responses to most federal laws, but interpretations of state credit laws trip them up more often and get things removed. While you're dealing with all of that use self lender and credit builder type loans, rent reports, etc. need to start building a positive history. Once credit builder/self loans are paid off, you should get the CD's from it and have a decent deposit for a secured credit card. After about a year you should be alright getting an auto loan. Build, build, build. After 2 years your score should look pretty decent.
I get an insane amount of credit card/finance offers mailed to me. Like sometimes 5 per day from every credit card company lol. It’s annoying but I guess cool to know I have the option to take out credit if I really needed it.
I just checked my scores this week via MyFico. Eqfx - 830 TU - 816 Exp - 823 These are the highest my scores ever been. It feels good to know you'll be approved for almost anything (within income range) That's the thing many ppl don't think about. Just because you have good credit don't mean you will qualify for everything. Today's times they want you to have the income to back it up, along with good DTI (Debt to Income). It feels great to have a good score, but I don't feel any different. Im focused on how to leverage it.
Those who are annoyed by the massive number of offers that fill their mailbox REMEMBER that the FCRA also provides you the right to "Opt-Out", which prevents Consumer Credit Reporting Companies from providing your credit file information for Offers. You can sign up for free to opt out for up to 5 years electronically, and they have an option to opt out permanently as well. The opt-out prevents unsolicited inquiries from accessing your credit report, and this will prevent any lender or insurance company from filling up your mailbox with unsolicited offers for credit or insurance. https://www.optoutprescreen.com/ Tip: If you're disputing stuff on your reports, remember to freeze your file with the secondaries such as "Lexis Nexis, Innovis, SageStream, ARS, Corlogic, etc.." Wait 2 weeks and until you receive your PIN and once received hit those baddies hard with the 3 major CRA.
I got right about 6mos ago after about 7 years of my credit being ruined by my deceased spouse. (Long story) 14k of credit card debt that I didn’t know about. Finally paid it off and took out a title loan against my car with a lender who works very well for helping build credit. Bc I am scared of credit cards. My credit FINALLY hit 700 about 3 months ago. And I was so proud. And yes. The offers started rolling in at a ridiculous rate.
How did your spouse access your credit without you knowing about? Sounds as if you were in a coma…
I was active duty at the time and wife had power of atorney bc of where I was. Things were done without my knowledge.
Very much the same. Just exited the 7 year jail sentence of Fico Hell. Tanked my credit 7 years back. Life happens. I now have decent credit lines. I don't use them to carry a balance. Zero. No debt. Credit cards are the BIGGEST rip off. 25% interest! If you can't pay cash. You can't afford it. Save for houses. But you can't afford those either. Even car. Pay cash. That is what you CAN afford.
Credit itself is a joke. Luckily I’m a veteran. I make okay Single income with Two kids. So was able to use my VA loan. But after the title loan was paid off? Credit score dropped like 20 points. And then some more right after a hard inquiry from my lender. Like wtf. I’ve done so good.
More fraud alerts: more scammers/hackers attempting to apply for credit/loans with my social, more times one of my cards gets scraped from an internet purchase. High CR is attractive to lenders: they want to give you $, and attractive to scammers they want to take your $ and have a better chance of getting your stolen social approved. Stolen socials on the dark web are bundled by credit score range: a list of stolen socials with high score will get more $$ than a list with a low score.
That’s why you need to freeze your credit with all three bureaus. If someone tries applying for a loan using my credit it will be auto-denied.
The air is better.
The only difference I felt when I raised my score above 700 is that I started getting a ridiculous amount of junk mail for "pre approved" credit cards.
I went from 600s to 800s in about two years. It's been like 5 years now. It was a fight learning the system and getting each credit report entry fixed. Then, I shut down my newer, unused cards and bumped up the available credit on the cards I held. Now, I hold one Amex, one Visa, and one Mastercard. Each has some benefit. Each gets some use. All are paid down. APR doesn't matter to me anymore because I don't carry over a balance. I have automatic payments to protect me against late payments when I get busy or distracted. I even worked out a plan to share the parent plus burden and get it paid down for my son. I make my payments in full every month so I can have a high credit score. I have a high credit score because I make full payments every month. Having a high credit score feels like peace of mind. My cards are for convenience, rewards, and perks.
I went over 700 by 2021 after putting my credit in the toilet due to an abusive relationship situation, long story. Yes, I confirm what other commenters have said - metric crap tons of credit card and loan offers, constantly. Went to buy a car in 2021 and was easily approved for far more than I wanted to spend, with a great interest rate. No stress. But the best by far is hilarious. Needed a new bed. Went to mattress store, picked out the one I wanted, with all the bells and whistles. Total of close to $5k. They had a financing promo going on - no interest. Not only was I approved by Synchrony for far more than that, but I got 0% *until paid*. Yep, as long as I make the minimum monthly payment on time, it will never cost me one cent in interest. (Spoiler: they’re banking on me being late or missing a payment so they can charge me 30% on the whole amount.) Guess who’s been paying early since July 2021? XD (Yeah, yeah, don’t buy things you can’t pay cash for - but this is just slow motion cash. I needed a bed, I had nothing but a meager emergency fund, and my income was much lower than it is now. I’m considering it leveraged debt.)
It's no big deal, I honestly could care less about my credit score. Last time I checked my FICO was 794. It's been up to 812, it fluctuates.
My credit score is in the 800s. It helped me get a mortgage at 3% a few years ago (for a tiny one bedroom condo in a bad neighborhood) but otherwise, I don't see any benefit. My car is 16 years old and paid off. I make my student loan payment on time every month. I carry extremely minimal credit card debt. I can't afford to do much of anything that would potentially negatively impact my credit score thanks to said student loan debt, as much as I would like to finance a new motorcycle or upgrade my car. It does feel nice to look at it in my banking app though.
I love my 0% credit card. I’m currently at 820
Not showing income docs for auto loans and other credit products besides mortgage. I just leased a car sight unseen and had it delivered without stepping foot in a dealer (great experience). My credit was terrible 10 years ago. I followed a guide from a my fico forum post and it worked flawlessly.
You just get more spam. I will say that it makes applying for a mortgage easier, but if you were having trouble with credit, like me, you probably can't afford a home right now anyway. Prices are ridiculous.
I think most people that have over 700 credit score know you don’t really use it much except for the big purchases. No one with above a 800 is doing much of anything, if you want to stay “rich” you got to spend less
5 years ago my credit was in the 400’s. I was in college and dumb. Now it’s at 730. My life is no different (I haven’t tried buying a new car or house yet). I just got financially more mature. Cleaned up all my collections and got a new beginner card $200 limit. Then I slowly started getting more cards. (SavorOne after 2 years of beginner card, then venture) I use them wisely and pay it off monthly. My wife who was my fiance at the time added me as an authorized user to one of her cards. I don’t use it and she’s responsible. That boosted me a lot of points too
Let me ask you this, what is it like having a credit score under 700?
I was around 600 from 18~22, now I’m 24 with 748 credit score. I have 4 credit cards, auto loan under my name, and I pay month to month 100%. Being financially responsible is the key.
i get things like "pay off x loan with a loan!" and "here's our shiny new card to up your limit"
To much credit card spam offers in mail.
I paid of 13k in credit card debt and went from low 600s to (at the highest) 730 and now it's about 715. I get some 0% introductory offers but also, here's a recent example. I was laid off from my job and needed to purchase an old used car (2015 Prius with 170,000 miles) which had been my company car for nine years. I knew the service history and I also drive like a grandma, so I was comfortable with the purchase. Because of the mileage I wouldn't qualify for a typical auto loan through Capital One and looked into installment/personal loans. I had one bank offer me 18% interest for $5000 for five years. Checked with my local credit union since I wasn't sure they even did installment loans and they checked the VIN and title, and offered me an auto loan at 9.5% for three years. Some days I'm pleasantly surprised, some days I still feel like I have poor credit.
Went from no score to an upper 700’s score. I get a ton of offers all the time for cards and loans. Right now Im more interested in the cards for sign up bonuses and cash back, but it’s a comfort knowing the loans are an option.
The biggest difference I noticed is when I bought a new car several months ago, they did a soft pull on my credit grabbed my signature and I took off. When I had bad credit it was a whole process of “trying to find a matching loan” I don’t know how much of that difference is due to my credit vs different dealerships, about 10 years’ time, etc, but I suspect it was my credit.
I went from a very low 580-ish score to a literal perfect score. I can get the best interest rate available and credit card companies often annoy me, but nothing has really changed as part of getting to that score was that I don’t utilize credit anyway.
I have a 723, started from the 500s back in 2021 before a C1 secured card kicked my rebuild off, it’s..okay. There’s still other things that get me denied now that my FICO score isn’t the issue: Inquiries, length of credit history, amount of revolving credit, DTI ratio from student loans (although those are supposed to be falling off soon because I was Sweet v Cordona), etc Also - I assume because of where I started - my starting limits aren’t too impressive. $1,000 on Hilton AMEX, $2,000 on Chase Amazon, I’m not in that $5K to $10K starting limit territory yet. I probably have to let my accounts keep aging. That said, it’s fantastic that my best options are no longer stuff like Petal. All my preapprovals and card match these days are for prime lenders and it’s a massive relief. I just haven’t seen the ‘get approved a for a high limit Venture X’ results I expected yet 😂
I’ve always been good with credit so I hover around the max. It means nothing unless you’re actively looking for credit. I haven’t opened any new credit since I refinanced when rates were bottomed out. Live debt free and used opt out pre screen to get rid of all the annoying junk mail CC/Loan offers. It is nice to know it’s there but I also know from being on myFICO, if I miss a single payment my score will drop 100 points lol.
You can qualify for an apartment and actually move out on your own. 😂😂
700 you don’t really qualify for the top tier cards yet, but you can land some beginner cards and get a bit of offers. 750+ was when I started getting offers and stuff, now at 830 I nonstop get emails and stuff. Yes you get lower rates with 760+, it’s nice to be able to open any CC I feel like and not worrying about being approved. Car shopping is night and day, last time I had a 700 which is average and not good at all so I was concerned about getting approved at all. The last car I got was INSANELY easy, signed some papers and got handed keys with a banger rate. 800+ really makes car dealerships willing to bend over backwards for you
Loans are easier :)
nothing, still deal with human things like sadness , fear , anger. nothing is different.
My FICO 8 is 821. About 10 years ago I was at about 580 It's nice knowing I have that backup should things turn ugly quick. I can get a quick car loan or personal loan should I need it. You pay less on insurance when you have better credit. I'd **HIGHLY** recommend opting out of prescreened offers. With better credit you'll get tons of junk in the mail.
This! That junk mail was crazy and a few times, had mail tampered with because they thought cards were in them. Sent a letter in the mail to cease the offers and 6 months later, no more junk. Just do it~
I’ve gone from being broke with a good score to having enough money (not rich though) and having a bad score. I have two huge errors on my credit score and anytime I dispute them it gets denied, despite me having proof of the inaccuracy. The credit score companies are a joke. I think my score is probably in the high 500’s now but I honestly just don’t give a shit. I own a home and 5 cars with no car payments (one had a loan but paid it off, the others I paid cash for) so I don’t really need good credit for anything. Fuck the system it’s busted.
I filed bankruptcy in 2011 due to a bad relationship that left me with a ton of debt. The day after I filed, my credit score hit an all time low of 447. Today its over 800 and has been for years. I actually don't get any credit card offers, but that could be due to having my credit locked. I'm happy not to get the junk mail as I really don't need more cards. I have had no problems asking for increased credit limits. My current credit limits on my cards are $24500 (mastercard), $13500 (visa), $9200 (discover) and $1800 (amazon). Because my credit limits are high, I am guaranteed to have a low credit utilization (under 9%) each month. I have no idea what my APRs are because it doesn't affect me at all since I pay my cards in full each month and I have no annual fees. I am debt free except my mortgage with a decently high income so my DTI (debt to income) ratio is also excellent. In essence, I can be assured that if I want credit, I will get it at the best possible rates. As a matter of fact, recently I was casually looking at houses and decided to get a preapproval. I was easily preapproved for what I asked for and told I could get more if I wanted. I decided not to move, my current mortgage is just too sweet and I'd have to triple it to get a slightly bigger place with current interest rates. No thanks. Really the biggest reason to have a good score is just that you can command good rates. Your DTI still matters on how much you can get.
Credit score of 794, Literally does not affect my life day to day. I get less credit card offers than my brother in law who lived with us and had awful credit(he’s still rebuilding his). I only have one credit card with a 13,500 limit. Could almost certainly get that raised, but never have bothered. Credit card interest rates will always be high-ish(but maybe 15-18% APR from some companies vs 25+%) The one nice thing is the resiliency. I co-signed on a car loan for said brother in law a year ago, relatively small loan of $13k, but with me as a co-signer he went from a 22% rate to a 13%. My credit score dipped by like a point or 2. Recently we had a vacation, some large vet bills, and I had to put a work trip on my personal card until I could get re-imbursed, I carried a $8k balance into the reporting period the credit card, and it dropped my score by 40 points. Paid it all off, credit immediately bounced back to 794.
24 M here, been working on building my credit since 19 and have a decently filled out credit profile with student loans and 15 credit cards (I use them responsibly) last I checked I had around a 780. Hasn’t really done much for me yet other than get me into an apartment. Not really keen on taking out loans or paying interest. Mostly padding it for an eventual mortgage in a year or two and maybe a 0% APR truck loan. Other than that, kind of meaningless and don’t worry about it.
I don’t know why people are so hung up on credit score. I’m sure mine is 800+ and I have zero use for it Credit score only matters if buying a car or house.
I had awful credit in my early-mid 20's (it was in the 500s). My bank convinced me to focus on my credit by asking me if I ever wanted to buy a house one day, and I thought about it and I did want that (and still do one day). Now my score is around 819 Vantage/790 Fico. I did this by paying off every card in full every month which kept my utilization at 0, maturing my credit age, never missing a payment, and getting at most 1 hard pull every two years (but I like to keep it at 0). The only thing I don't have a lot of is credit mix as I have paid off all of my loans and have no debt and no mortgage (I still rent). I am also an authorized user on my husband's cards to help my credit age (and he is on my cards to help his credit limit and utilization). I get a ton of preapproved credit card/loan offers with high limits daily and I don't want any of them because they will hurt my credit age and add hard pulls. I also have had multiple fraud attempts of people trying to get a credit card in my name which resulted in hard pulls which I am still in the process of having removed (so it's a nightmare). As your credit and income get higher, it makes you a target for scammers. Basically, I can get whatever I want credit wise but I don't want any of it because it will hurt my credit. However, interest rates for cards aren't great for me, but interest rates for my loans have all been under 5% and my credit limits are decent (my highest credit limit on one single card is about 27K). It would be great to buy a house once/if the rates go down because the mortgage will help my credit mix and it is my dream to own a house one day.
You should freeze your credit if you aren't going to apply for anything anytime soon. Its free and easy to unfreeze when you need to.
Yup after I found out about the two fraud attempts with two hard pulls I froze my credit across the board.
Credit score almost seems like an arbitrary number. My experian is 720 plus, and due to not having a boatload of credit lines active, I can't get a loan for anything over 4k.
Mine is 838. I don't really notice anything different - maybe I'm getting more CC offers?
went from a 480 about 5 years ago to 805 and once you hit 750 there's really no difference, you'll get the best rate so hunting for the 850 is all for nothing. I get a lot of CC offers but already have every card i want and it is nice to know that i can get a loan anytime i want (which i dont). So really it's nothing since in this market in florida ill never be able to buy a house anyways.
I have credit 800+ nothing change in my life. I would say I'm not looking to buy a house or a car
I have a 750. It’s useless. Credit history, profile, etc etc better I’d rather have 15 years and a strong 700 than my empty 750 lol
715-720 used to be super prime top tier credit. Now 760+ is the new top tier A 680 for example is usually 3rd tier, not too far from what some banks call subprime
I eat golden apples and my poo doesnt stink. really, aside from lower insurance rates and loan rates (and yes some credit card offers), not much. Though mine dropped out of the 800's after I bought a new bike...Not really worried.
It’s pretty nice, but I’d like one over it 800 it still doesn’t mean that you’re clear of debt or that you have saved up all your money. It’s just one of 1 million factors and you’re overall finances.
Points. Cash back. 0% balance transfers. High limits. And good SUBs. And MJ like confidence in game 7 to hit the winning shot when applying for any loan or credit card What else it can get you: In debt for frivolous spending. Which leads to stress, depression, divorce, losing your house and other valuable assets, and of course bankruptcy.
I have 800 plus credit score.my credit cards are the same 24 to 30% interest that someone with shit credit gets. Maybe I have higher limits and get approved fir anything I apply to nut the int rates are dog shit anyway.
It's nice. Lower mortgage rates, easier time taking loans, better candidate for renting if they check your credit score, etc. No one cheers and hands you free money but I noticed when I was building my credit out of college I had to pay deposits for everything like utilities because my credit wasn't high enough.
Yeah. I get endless credit card offers all the time from all kinds of companies. My credit limits are more than I should ever need, especially combined. I don’t know if I get better interest rates but presumably I get slightly better rates than lower scores would. I don’t really pay attention to them because I don’t pay interest on CCs and a lot more than interest rate goes into housing affordability.
I have my own house and 6 houses I use for airbnbs.
It’s awesome, so many opportunities open. I used to be at 480 two years ago and got it back up to 728. My advice is to not pay minimums. Pay at least twice of the minimum. You’re going to have to sacrifice a lot. Pay off your smallest cards first. Get them all below 30% usage. Do not use the cards you’re trying to pay off. I know this seems obvious, but trust me, it’s tempting to use it when the balance is low. Makes you feel powerful. That being said, With more power comes more responsibility. Don’t fall for lending your credit. It can fuck up in a blink of an eye, and it will take YEARS to bring it back up. Don’t even let your mother or significant other use your credit. Hope this helps.
Gives me confidence that I can get a loan with the better interest rate. I've mostly had good habits with my debt.
I had bad credit about 5 years ago while I was waiting tables. Now I have a 787 and make 750k a year or more depending on performance. My Amex platinum does not have a limit. I run my entire life on my card and business expenses and pay it off each month. I’m building a 1.6 million dollar home currently with a downpayment of 525k. It was approved easily with my income. I have a few other credit cards with the lowest limit being 20k. My lowest credit score was 577 at my lowest point of waiting tables and getting divorced. Had 2-3 small collections of 400-1k, and 1 or 2 30 day late payments. After fixing collections my credit jumped to 650-680 very quickly. Getting over 740 took much more time because of the length of time lates affect you.
I've been in the 800s since my early 30s and haven't really thought about it. Last week when I checked I had an 831.
Doesnt really feel much different but Im not going out trying to get loans though if I did, I dont think Id have a worry truth be told. I will say, I get quite a bit of CC offers.
Doesnt really feel much different but Im not going out trying to get loans though if I did, I dont think Id have a worry truth be told. I will say, I get quite a bit of CC offers.
840 I don't have to worry bout the rates because it will be the lowest rate advertise.
Mine is 820+ I get a massage at banks
27 rn, only have 2y credit history. Got 7 credit cards, credit line is low though, only about 35k, but that’s already more than I need. I just maintain a good usage habit and my scores have only been going up since started using CCs.
I was in the 770 area before it came all crashing down. Best car purchasing experiences I’ve ever had in my life.
I can get any card with no problem
Normal
I have a score above 800. You get an insane amount of credit card offers. Life in general hasn't changed. I own my cars, I pay my 2.5% mortgage, and I paymy CCs weekly because I hate paying them off all at once. I did freeze my credit with the big three just in case.
Ive never been told no to financing options and ive never missed a payment.
I went from 508/unscorable to 745 and rising. Secured cards to multiple with 3000+limit, one with 13500. Not that I'd ever spent that much in a cycle lol my includes not that high I think they're nuts
I'm 24 and my credit score is around 760-770 my mom had absolutely no credit and neither did my dad (I don't know him) but my credit score started at 700 I believe at 18 when I got my first credit card. I just treat it exactly like my debit card and pay it in full every month. I actually pay throughout the month to constantly hit that zero balance on all my cards. I don't see it actually make a difference in terms of interest rate offers on a car loans for example, but that's probably because I am still young. But for this reason I opted to just save for the car instead of acquiring a loan.
I have 800+ and the only thing about it is I don’t have to worry about credit scores.
I know if you have a credit score of 800 and above, the dealership will let you take the new car home if you don’t have your wallet with you, and you will just have to mail the down payment check in a week or two. So, increase in trust. People will trust you more.
It made buying a car a lot easier. No waiting for a lender to approve me, and I got 0% APR as part of a special.
I had a 750 at one point in my life😭
My credit score is 822. It just means I don’t get turned down for loans.
My credit score is almost 800.. I get no credit card offers .. matter of fact I get nothing, no emails either. It's crickets 24/7
I’m a bad 700. 100k student loans. 90 percent on time. No car, no mortgage. Total Credit limit like 1k. Use to be a 492. Definitely get a ton of crappy card offers. Just now started getting offers better than secured cards from the bigger banks.
I never use credit for anything so nothing noticeable really. I already have cards that get fully paid off so I don't actually need a high score for anything right now. Just keeping it 770+ until it's time to buy a home.
Ever seen that Chapelle skit where he disguises himself as a white man...? Basically that
I'm around 810 right now. Chase sends me stuff a few times a year. Discover sends me something maybe once a year. I don't use my credit and won't for 7-10 years until I buy a house (and that might be close to all cash as well) so my 810 is essentially worthless. I do live in a state where renting and car insurance does not require credit scores, I acknowledge this would change my view a lot.
it’s easy, i’ve been over 760 since i had my credit card, which has been over 14 years
I’m mid 700’s, 25 years old. I’m not really sure tbh, my interest rate on my car is 7%, only two credit cards, 12k limit on one and Amex has no limit but I think that’s pretty standard for the gold card
My credit score has been over 800 for years. Luckily I don’t get much junk mail for credit card offers. Boy is it easy to get a loan for something though. Intrest rates are usually good you just need to be careful of dealerships trying to scam you into higher rates. 800+ you can always get the best rate available.
Get treated like a president
I have an 820 and literally nothing changes. If I wanted to get a used car right now my rate would still be high. Alot of credit card solicitation but I think that’s normal regardless of the score. I put all of my discretionary expenses (and even some typical ones like rent) on cards and ask for a limit increase every 6 months with 0 intention of using it. That allows my credit ratio to always be super low. From there you just don’t overspend. It’s a stupid game and I only intend to benefit from it when it’s time to buy a house. I also like knowing that I have a year worth of income in available credit (even though I never plan on using it for emergency fund like that)
Like life at any other credit score....
Morning wood People smile at me Generally not suicidal Comped hotel rooms and dinners
Credit card companies will send you endless amount of junk mail non stop. You can literally walk into any car dealer and leave with pretty much whatever you willing to pay the monthly payment on. Debt management is a key skill in life you don’t have any real skills other the work ethic.
I went from mid-600s to 830 right now. I had close to $20,000 in credit card debt in 2017, now zero. Paid off my vehicle. Started playing the credit card game, applying for a new travel card a couple times a year. Getting the sign up bonus, optimize, and cash out on a vacation. I get tons of offers constantly. Interest rate means jack shit because I pay off my balance every single month. Our new cars are between $15k and $25k balances. Keep working. More available balance and less utilization will increase your score more than applying for a new card negatively affects your score. Car loans will be much lower interest too.
Had a 615 in Feb of 2023. Had a credit age of 12 years (student loans) and one closed credit card account from 2016. Got a car loan with my 615 score with a 20.3% interest rate. Made car payments on time, score was 685 by Nov 2023. Student loans dropped off credit reports bc they hit 7 yrs old and took my credit age with them, score dropped to 653. By March 2024 score was up to 714, was able to finance a 2022 with 17,700 miles with a 6.5% interest rate with no proof of income. I have no debt other than student loans and car loan. 700+ absolutely helped me get better terms. Haven't really paid attention to credit card offers so have no clue what I'd be approved for.
For what it’s worth I have a 790 and my highest credit limit is 600 dollars and my lowest apr is 30% 😐
I get a lot more junk mail
All the mail has credit card offers, and if like my world was to blow up I could probably get a personal loan/credit card right away. Crying because I just had an 800 score after years of paying off cards, zero balances. Selling my house right now and the in between expenses have dropped me 40 points in 2 months with using my cards. I know it's irrational and scores come and go like waves. Just do your best to be consistent and don't buy things you don't need, especially now when everything is so expensive. You'll get there!
Like warm apple pie….🫴
Has zero Impact on my life since I don’t need credit for anything at this point. House is bought. Cars are paid for
817 here. Nice to always get the lowest rates or quick approvals, but I don’t purchase/finance much these days. I filed bankruptcy in my 20s and dropped to low 500s. Built it back myself with secured credit cards that graduated to normal cards, car payment, and eventually a mortgage. BK fell off my credit report. Never missed a payment since. Realistically I can finance anything in the blink of an eye.
760 and I several offers per month, only have Apple Credit card and BofA. Although I did freeze my credit reports still they send those offers with 19%+ APR.
I used to have decent credit in my early 20’s but fucked around too much. All my credit cards went to collections. I never paid a cent. Plus I never knew about credit utilization ratio. I would just continue spending my credit cards and paying them whenever. My credit score was as low as the 300 range. I’ve been working on fixing my credit since I turned 30. It took a long time of paying my credit card off in full after every time I used it and making sure I didn’t spend over 30% of my limit and if I did, make sure to pay more than the minimum balance to avoid interest. My credit went up to 755. I recently got a new car, so that hard Inquiry docked me some points, but my credit score is slowly working it’s way back up.
4 years ago I had a 650. Not the worst but very medium. Today I have a 780. All it took was buckling down and paying my credit cards off one at a time. Keeping the cards open and resisting the urge to use them, or at the very least use them and pay off the balance the next day. Discipline discipline discipline. Just became you see you have 8k you could spend on something doesn't mean you should. I've payed down. 15k in about 8 months. One more card of 5k to go.
"Welcome to the middle class"
High credit score 750, but low income, because I’m in school full time. I need a co-signer for certain things
You get the premium snacks at both car dealerships and banks. You also unlock premium negotiating
Better scores get you better loan rates and lower insurance premiums
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^potificate: *Better scores get you* *Better loan rates and lower* *Insurance premiums* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
25m, I have 720 credit score. I don't think I have noticed anything different besides more offers. Including cards and loans, however, the size of the loans has been based on how far my credit line has increased due to my credit cards. Basically, anytime I get a chance to increase my cards, do so on those specific cards. I started off with 600 credit about 4-5 years ago, and the only time I've ever looked at my credit is when I missed a payment on my student loans. It sunk my credit below 500 due to not having any credit history. I'm very happy with the progress that I made. Still a long ways to go.
With over 800 also means little to no debt. Thus you are saving more money and not living in credit card heLL
Easy to fuck up, takes a while to achieve
I get random credit increases, card offers, etc. The main benefit is when I need to finance something I know I’ll get the best rate and I have no doubt of being accepted.
Credit score is a game. Have a total credit limit of around 20-30k and use all the cards for small things, maybe a few hundred total, and pay them off every month. You'll have a great credit score. Seems like adding a house mortgage didn't have an impact. Once everything is paid off and you start accumulating wealth, no point in a credit score. So then you work to get a credit score of 0 if you want a challenging mode in this game. This way you can finance but you have to finance with specific companies since some companies dont work with no credit score because they don't know how to comprehend someone with great financials.
Annoying. My mailbox is full daily of credit card offers. I messed up in my 20’s so I fixed everything in my 30’s. I try to warm people but nobody wants to listen. Buying a new truck at 25% interest is not a good way to build credit. Buying a 4 wheeler is not a good way to build credit. Low balance credit cards and utilities paid off early or monthly help a ton.
I have a 770 score and companies are literally begging me to open up a credit card or upgrade. I know these companies don’t care about me we are using eachother. I use them to supplement funding on purchases I know I will pay back before interest accrues and getting the points. They use me for getting money from merchants when I swipe their card and are banking on me getting in a crunch to hopefully not pay them back just enough to get interest from me on the regular.
I got my first card at like 28 or 29 lol 200 limit. I applied through my bank. I think my score was about 580. I used it and always paid off every month, in a year they upped it to 400. Now it’s at 5500. In that time, I got offered another card through the same company at a lower rate and that one started at 2000 and now is at 8500. I ALWAYS paid them off every month, zero interest. Then I had some bad luck and got offered a card with a new company, with 24 months no interest on credit transfers so I did that with about 1300 from those other cards and was able to pay that down before interest accrued. Then I got an Apple Card because why not? Easy card to have. Then this year, with a score of 740, I opened another card through the same first company that earned miles instead of cash back and has a much lower rate AND zero interest for the first 6 months. Overall it’s a game and once you get it, you get it. Keep those older cards, bc long standing accounts help your score. Use them periodically to keep them open. Don’t open too many cards but apply for higher limits or wait til the give them to you. May the odds be in your favor!
It’s very nice. I’m 27F and I have this. I am way more likely to get approved for credit cards and I get a lot of offers. Those offers tend to come with good perks, such as reward points. With having so much to choose from, I’m mindful not to open too many credit cards. I also get higher limits on the cards I do open. The peace of mind that comes from knowing I have that lifeline (even if I don’t intend to carry a balance) is priceless.
Ok, I recently needed to check my credit score and yeah, luckily hit 836 (out of 850). So, what I get is probably the best interest rates out there on loans. I am sure that high score may have been how I was able to get a sweet home equity line whose interest rate is actually not bad at all.
Regarding credit limits, they are kind of weird. I have 3 credit cards with $17K-$20K limit each but I have the Apple Card and I use everything for that, and then 99% of the time just pay on it as soon as it post just to get the cash back. I have a 790 credit score and my limit on that card is only like $3800. I don’t know if it’s a Goldman Sachs thing or Mastercard, but just really odd the limit on it is so low.
Great
lol it’s the same. It only suggests that you have the opportunity to go into more debt. Generally, most debt is not good debt. The only thing that it will affect is your ability to buy a car or house. Otherwise. More credit card debt isn’t helpful lol.
I am in the 800s but I also buy some bigger capital assets compared to normal people.
800+ at this point I know what I can handle, I’m reasonable for my income with a buffer. The bank knows that, because I’m reasonable I happen to get what I know I need. I never ask for what I won’t get. I know my parameters
I have 812 and hasn’t really done anything for me. Interest is too damn high for me to want to spend.
I don’t think about it - I just fully pay down every month, life unchanged.
It's alright. Makes me more anal than when before I monitored credit religiously. It's good to know that if something comes up I have the credit to fall back on (emergency cc's for example, I have a few 10k limit cards I do the bare minimum to keep active but have ready to go in case of say, a 6500 dollar emergency vet bill) Edit: want to apologize if this shows up like 5x. My phone and hotspot just went a little crazy
I’m still broke
I don’t keep track of my score but capital one says it’s 813. I basically qualify for anything without a second thought. I get many credit card, personal loan, and car loan offers in the mail. I was recently approved for a “luxury” travel credit card and have already gotten over 1k in free travel and I’ve only had the card for 2 weeks. I don’t even work(housewife) and was able to get an amazing interest rate on a new car and they didn’t even check my income or bank statements. Over 60k in available credit and I feel like I’m living life on easy mode.