Interesting. Thank you for that.

But when you have above 800 score will your income still determine how much boat $$ your can buy?

nice..its been over a year since ive been outa the lending game. 681 isnt that great, and while it isnt an indicator of any late payments it does show some checkered past and or some over extending. I now leave the lending to somebody else....and handle the RE sale side of it.

It will determine the amt of $$ they will loan you. We used a program that factored in every debt that shows up on the credit report + what they reveal to us + income + specific loan program + rate. What we get is a debt to income ratio. Any one input can push the ratio over the acceptable limit.

been in lending for a long time,
fico's in the 800's + are getting more and more rare,
a few key tips for credit score.
keep balances on revolving debt below 30% of max credit line, this is key!
( Fyi; some companies like cap 1 dont show the max and will hurt your score )
dont have too many open accts, i have seen folks with 25 open revolving accts,
cut it down some.
new accts will hurt your score short term.
inquiries will hurt you, But multiple Mortgage inquires will not if within 30 days,
verify that you dont have multiple aka's and addresses that conflict, keep it as clean as possible,
there are so many things that trigger the fico model to make deroagatory adjustments, but in general,
the obvious simple ones are;
no late's
keep revolving balances down below 30%
no judgments / public records
avoid new accts if possible, only;
(if you have sufficient number of trade lines established)
Dont be afraid to dispute issues,
a good time is between holidays coming up,, this is due to short staff and if they cant resolve and verify they must remove.

j

very well said...I was lending in the nor cal area for Pulte homes. Done any work for them jonas?

myfico.com is the company that determines the credit scores for all of the bureau's, they also have enhanced scores for people in the mortgage business, car business etc. if you really want to raise your score become a member and then you can take your actual report and see what hypothetical changes you make do too your scores. having lots of credit available but not using any of it is the key to a higher score, assuming you have a perfect pay history and are just trying to raise the score.

Never join a credit counseling service and always pay off your high interest rate debt first...

just my two pennies
andy

It should determine how much boat you buy but my suggestion is lie about your income, they never ask for proof of income on a score that high if it is justified by lots of pay history and some other big loan amounts and payments ( within reason, if your house payment and car payment are 300 a month each, dont expect to get a 4000 month boat note ) if you have an 800 score you should know what you can pay comfortably and thats what the banks figure too...

andy

who do you contact for a dispute??
if i have medical bills that have gone to a debt collector should i just pay them or pay who the bill was orginally for??

sometimes the account is sold for pennies on the dollar and you cant pay the original creditor but always try that first. but NO matter WHO you pay make a deal with them, dont pay unless they promise to remove the record in its entireity, a paid collection isnt much better than an unpaid one and get them to write you a letter stating is was a reporting error so if it ever shows up again you can send the letter straight to the bureau. if they will not promise to remove the collection, the letter posted earlier is a good way to get things done. whenever they cant confirm something the law is they have to remove it. I know lenders like ford credit will still loan with medical collections but beacon drives the rate and it takes into account the collections