Paying off your mortgage can make your credit score drop, but maybe that’s OK.
Soft Pull, Hard Pull, Bring It On!
Live your life the way you want. Forget about whether you will have a hard pull or a soft pull on your credit.
Free FICO Score From Your Credit Card
Some credit cards give you your FICO score every month for free. See which ones you should get.
Is a Vantage Score Good Enough?
I don’t care much about my credit score as long as I still get the best rates when I borrow. In previous posts I showed you don’t need a top score to get the best rate. I don’t buy credit scores. My bank Alliant Credit Union shows me a VantageScore by Experian every quarter for […]
Free Credit Score After Credit Application
I wrote several times on this blog I don’t care much about credit scores. Most people shouldn’t either because they have a good enough score that will give them the best rates anyway. Improving a good enough score doesn’t really make a difference. I don’t buy my credit scores. Nor do I give my Social […]
Why Credit Score Is Not Free and Should Not Be Free
Learn the reasons why credit score shouldn’t be free and where to get it if you want your free credit score.
A High Credit Score Is Not Necessary for the Best Loan Rate
My mortgage refinance is almost done. I will sign the docs this week. Long story short, I’m refinancing from a 15-year fixed at 3.75% to a 5/1 ARM at 2.625% with a negative $900 closing cost. It’s a great rate. Getting paid to do it makes it even better. As part of the disclosure, the […]
The Credit Crunch Finally Hit Me
In last week’s post Emergency-Proof Your Emergency Fund, I said I decided to apply for an unsecured personal line of credit from Wells Fargo, where I also have a checking account. I submitted the application online. The questions were as expected: name, address, Social Security Number, employment information, income, size of the credit line requested, […]
Credit Scores After Canceling Oldest Credit Card
My mortgage lender sent me my credit scores. That’s the only time I look at them. Otherwise I don’t bother. I compared the latest scores with what I got from my last refi in February 2008. Credit Bureau Model Feb. 2008 April 2009 Change Equifax FACTA Beacon 5.0 803 794 -9 Experian Fair Isaac (Ver. […]
Quit Obsessing with the Credit Score
I’ve said it before, and I will say it again: dear media, please quit obsessing with the credit score. Last week’s episode of the NPR program Marketplace Money was about credit and credit scores. One of the stories was The power of FICO. It featured Pete Deibel of Winter Park, FL (emphasis added by me): […]
Book Review: Your Credit Score
Today I’m reviewing the book Your Credit Score by Liz Pulliam Weston. The author Liz Pulliam Weston is a columnist at MSN Money. I picked up this book from the library when I browsed for new personal finance titles. I hear a lot of buzz about the credit score and I don’t understand what the […]