Do you know your credit score (FICO)?
By Bethany1202
@Bethany1202 (3431)
United States
February 23, 2009 10:01am CST
Do you know your credit/FICO score? Do you ever check out your credit report?
My score is now 716 but I am trying to raise it. My boyfriend and I want to buy a house. Soon (in the next 3-4 months) I will have my car paid off, so that will help and then I can pay more towards my credit card debt and hopefully set aside at least some money each week to save for a down payment.
What are your plans for the future? Does your credit have anything to do with your short or long-term goals? How often do you check your credit score and report? I try to check mine at least every 6 months, as you never know what can happen!
2 people like this
10 responses
@Bethany1202 (3431)
• United States
23 Feb 09
Why? No one can do anything with the information I supplied. I am not trying to offend anyone by sharing my credit score. : /
1 person likes this
@fasttalker (2796)
• United States
23 Feb 09
I check my credit score weekly. The reason being is I had the terrible experience of identity theft about 5 years ago, well actually it was my husbands business not me personally. It all worked out in the end but it was a major headache. Now we check on it regualry. It is amazing how many things pop in and out of your credit report if you aren't paying attention. It always pays to keep an eye on it. Good Luck with your house purchase.
1 person likes this
@Bethany1202 (3431)
• United States
23 Feb 09
Yes people should monitor their credit on a regular basis. Sorry you had to go through identity theft or credit fraud or whatever happened... Glad it's all worked out now and you are monitoring your credit. Best wishes, and thanks for your kind words! 
1 person likes this
@avonrep1 (1862)
• United States
23 Feb 09
Yep I know my score. We just checked it a couple of weeks ago, and hopefully it raises as I just paid off a credit card. 716 is almost perfect. You will get a low interest rate with that. Medical bills have made things really bad for us, we have been living pay check to pay check for the last year because of them. So we are about to refinance. We are getting 5.0% and have a FICO of 698. (just over a year ago it was 720 before we couldn't pay the medical bills in full) So by refinancing, we will have more money each month, and can pay off all of our outstanding bills. And start saving for the future again.
@Bethany1202 (3431)
• United States
23 Feb 09
Sounds good. I had some medical bills that made it a bit difficult for awhile as well. I'm glad things are getting better for you now, and I wish the best for you and your family! 
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
24 Feb 09
I know my canadian score which is different, my credit is not that good, since I don't have credit cards I am unable to build it up again. Oh well such is life.
1 person likes this
@tea512 (687)
• United States
23 Feb 09
716 is a great number you should be proud sounds like you have a great handle on your credit. I made multiple mistakes when I was younger and I am still paying for them, when something goes bad on your credit report it can stay there for seven years. We have been trying to clean it up a illtle at the time. We get our credit report once a year. Hopefully someday we will have it under control but once it goes bad it is a long slow process back.
@Bethany1202 (3431)
• United States
24 Feb 09
Yes, my score used to be 530 something... I was in a bad marriage and young and irresponsible, but over the last 3-4 years I have been building it back up on my own slowly but surely. Yours will get there soon too, just pay off as much debt as you can and slowly use your credit responsibly! Best wishes.
@ronit_mat (176)
• India
24 Feb 09
no i am not aware of it but ill check it out now
1 person likes this
@prettypinkbug (437)
• United States
24 Feb 09
Congrats Bethany. That's a good score. Most people I know (my parents being the exception) have pretty low scores, around the 600s. My husband and I check our score about 2 to 3 times a year. I was paying for a service for a while, but got tired of paying 10 dollars a month for it though I do think it's a good idea to have something like that which will send you alerts when something changes on your credit score. Good luck buying a home.
1 person likes this
@goldeneagle (6745)
• United States
23 Feb 09
I used to keep a pretty close check on it, but it is so bad now due to being behind on payments and stuff (I lost my good job and had to go back to working part-time in a restaurant), that I don't really even worry about it any more. My credit is shot to hell, so I don't waste my time trying to find out my score anymore. When I start to get things back in order, I will start worrying about my score again I guess. Right now, however, I am having a hard-enough time just surviving from day-to-day. I am looking for a second job, but I am not having any luck...maybe things will turn around for me soon...
1 person likes this
@gitfiddleplayer (10362)
• United States
24 Feb 09
I do know it. You should check it often just to see what its doing and how you can raise it.
1 person likes this
@mrsl2008 (634)
•
23 Feb 09
Hi Bethany,
No I never check my credit score. I'm not totally sure how it all works but I had a lot of credit cards when I was younger but when I met my husband I cut them up and paid them off.
I now own 2 houses and have a credit card which we rarely use as it's emergencies only. It took me 6 months to talk my husband into as we were visiting my father in Holland. We had decided to drive and I did not want to travel without something as a back up.
I also had other loans and car finance but they have all been paid off accordingly along the way.
MrsL x :-)
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