Will My Score Ever Go Up?

May 16, 2013 By 1 Comment
will my score ever go up

At myFICO.com we interact with thousands of people every month who have questions about credit scores, credit bureau reports, how lenders evaluate applications for credit, and lots more.   One question we hear often from people with challenging credit situations who score low in the 300-850 FICO score range is: “…seriously, will my credit score ever increase?”   The answer is a resounding yes. But it requires that you set and stick to a focused plan of action to: Pay your credit obligations on time Reduce your debt exposure Avoid seeking any new credit in the near term   Raising your score also requires patience- a virtue that unfortunately is rare in our fast-paced and instant-gratification world.   Are you still a doubter? … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Budget Tips, FICO Score Trends

The Super Bowl of Credit Scores

January 28, 2013 By Leave a Comment
iStock_000006939527XSmall

  Super Bowl XLVII is almost here! As the much anticipated Harbaugh-bowl approaches, there’s non-stop talk and big  predictions about who will win and the final score.   Will it be the Baltimore Ravens or the San Francisco 49ers?   We all have to wait for the game itself to know for sure, but experts have used lots of statistical models to predict who will win and even to forecast the spread of the final score.  Some approaches are unorthodox to say the least; a camel named Princess in a New Jersey zoo reportedly has an uncanny ability to predict the winning team correctly, using graham crackers as her medium.   Other approaches are more traditional and data driven, an approach we appreciate at FICO. Most use mathematics to evaluate hundreds of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: FICO Score Trends Tagged With: ,

Debt Concerns Shape Holiday Spending Plans

December 3, 2012 By 2 Comments
myFICO_Holiday_Spending_800px

According to a study conducted by myFICO, credit card debt continues to be consumers’ biggest financial worry as the new year approaches. Nearly one third of respondents are cutting back on holiday spending and plan to practice conservative credit behaviors this year. Only 20 percent will consider opening new credit card accounts, and approximately 65 percent expect to charge less than $500 on their credit cards – a figure that most consider moderate and within their budget.   … [Read more...]

Filed Under: FICO Score Trends Tagged With: ,

Cyber Theft Meets Cyber Monday

November 27, 2012 By 1 Comment
IDtheft

The Monday following Thanksgiving, now known as Cyber Monday, has become one of the bumper sales days across electronic commerce sites.   Every year the absolute volumes of online sales increases, as does the proportion of electronic commerce spend compared to traditional spend at physical retailers. This shift in consumer behavior has also attracted those from the criminal fraternity, who are seeking to capitalize on consumer’s lack of knowledge about safe online shopping.   The continued strength of "card not present" fraud losses shows that people continue to be duped into providing their credit or debit card credentials in an insecure manner or to unauthorized sources, particularly when online. Customer education and awareness is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: FICO Score Trends Tagged With: ,

Secrets of FICO High Achievers

October 25, 2012 By 2 Comments
infobig

More than 50 million people have the bragging rights of being FICO "High Achiever" (a FICO Score of 785 and above) which can save them thousands of dollars over the lifetime of a loan. A recent myFICO study reveals that these "High Achievers" exhibit strikingly similar credit habits.     … [Read more...]

Filed Under: FICO Score Trends, Personal Finance Tagged With: , , ,

Student Loan Debt and FICO Score Trends

September 26, 2012 By 2 Comments

  As students incur more student loan debt, lenders and investors in student loans are asking how this is affecting US consumers’ FICO Scores. New FICO research provides interesting insights.   With education costs rapidly outpacing inflation, more consumers are taking out student loans to pay for their education. Looking at a large data sample from a credit reporting agency, we found that 6.2% of US consumers had two or more open student loans on their credit report in 2005. By 2012, that number grew to roughly 11.8%.   Consumers also have a greater amount of student loan debt today. In 2005, consumers with an open student loan on file had an average student loan debt of $17,236. In 2012, that number increased 54% to $26,549. This has outpaced growth for … [Read more...]

Filed Under: FICO Score Trends, Students Tagged With: , , , ,

FICO Scores Reveal Slow Economic Recovery

September 19, 2012 By 1 Comment
FICO Scores Reflect Slow Economic Recovery

Our FICO Labs team has taken a fresh look at national distribution of FICO Scores. With a couple of interesting exceptions, we found that consumer scores are continuing their slow return to a pre-recession pattern.       The first two years of the recession (2008-2009) moved the scores for millions of people into the lowest (300-499) and the highest (800-850) segments of the FICO Score range. Correspondingly fewer people had scores in the middle range (600-749). In an earlier post, I explained why these separate shifts happened.   This flattening of the distribution curve peaked in 2009-2010 and has since slowly been reversing. However, the latest numbers suggest two unusual patterns in this recovery. First, the quantity of people with very low … [Read more...]

Filed Under: FICO Score Trends Tagged With: , ,