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Did your credit drop?


  • Total voters
    91

Sketchr

macrumors 6502a
Jun 15, 2009
929
120
Do a Google search. 800 IS indeed the point where they consider you to have credit that is too good.

Gander Mountain sued their bank because they were turning down anyone who had a score of 800 and above. The bank said it was hard to make a profit off of those customers. Banks like people to make payments or even make late payments due to the increased fees involved.
I can tell you with certainty this is not true with the majority of lenders. I can't answer for Gander Mountain as I never applied for that card. I have all three scores over 800, pay my cards off monthly and admittedly I have - we will just say a large amount of available credit. Lots of credit cards. Lots. I never pay interest. Lenders make plenty of profit off of me because of fixed transaction fees, and percentage of sale. The difference is that I am a heavy credit card user. They do not earn interest off of me, but they do earn fees. That is enough for them. I have never been denied any card I have wanted. I never apply for store only cards. They are all Visa/MC/AMEX/Disc which can be used anywhere is in the US.
 

tjleonard

macrumors 6502a
Jun 25, 2013
581
381
They sell phones...not FICO ratings. I highly doubt they know the first thing about how a FICO rating even works.

It may be beneficial for the OP to figure out what a hard and soft pull are. Anytime YOU are requesting credit, you'll get a hard pull... period.

That's a very fair point too...I just think the Apple Employee should know and be able to tell that it was a hard pull. The thing is, if the OP would've really known it was a hard pull, would he have not signed up?
 

JayLenochiniMac

macrumors G5
Nov 7, 2007
12,819
2,390
New Sanfrakota
I paid off my car loan about 2.5 years ago and my score didn't move either way.

I had a bankruptcy that was discharged about 3 years ago now and my score is finally at 721. It took getting two credit cards, making several high dollar purchases on both, paying one off completely after four months of payments and making payments on the second card to get my score where it is. Each month I make $200 payment on the second card, my score increases by 1.

My mortgage payment doesn't seem to have an affect on my score even though it is paid on time each month.

It's possible that your filing BK is a factor. It's a bigger impact on a score over 800.
 

Sketchr

macrumors 6502a
Jun 15, 2009
929
120
Discouraging anyone from paying an interest accruing loan is absurd. Credit scores change each time activity occurs and/or monthly for each account. If they decrease because of a loan amount payoff it will begin to climb the following month. Why would anyone "need" to retain those extra precious points for one month unless they were applying for a home loan...and even then their score has be be borderline to be that concerned.

The only party I know who would discourage one from paying off loans is a lender seeking to earn more interest. One should never pay interest unless it is absolutely necessary.
 

JayLenochiniMac

macrumors G5
Nov 7, 2007
12,819
2,390
New Sanfrakota
Discouraging anyone from paying an interest accruing loan is absurd. Credit scores change each time activity occurs and/or monthly for each account. If they decrease because of a loan amount payoff it will begin to climb the following month. Why would anyone "need" to retain those extra precious points for one month unless they were applying for a home loan...and even then their score has be be borderline to be that concerned.

The only party I know who would discourage one from paying off loans is a lender seeking to earn more interest. One should never pay interest unless it is absolutely necessary.

That's how FICO works, unfortunately. However, it's also why it doesn't make a difference if your credit score is above a certain threshold. Nothing is going to change for the OP having a score of 809 instead of 829 so making it a quest to aim for 850 is anal retentive and futile.
 

mattopotamus

macrumors G5
Jun 12, 2012
14,744
6,130
That's how FICO works, unfortunately. However, it's also why it doesn't make a difference if your credit score is above a certain threshold. Nothing is going to change for the OP having a score of 809 instead of 829 so making it a quest to aim for 850 is anal retentive and futile.

Discouraging anyone from paying an interest accruing loan is absurd. Credit scores change each time activity occurs and/or monthly for each account. If they decrease because of a loan amount payoff it will begin to climb the following month. Why would anyone "need" to retain those extra precious points for one month unless they were applying for a home loan...and even then their score has be be borderline to be that concerned.

The only party I know who would discourage one from paying off loans is a lender seeking to earn more interest. One should never pay interest unless it is absolutely necessary.

What leno said. 10% of your FICO is "types of credit used" revolving (credit cards) and installments (mortgage/car payments). Obviously paying those down is what you want to do, but it can explain a 20 point decrease.
 

Sketchr

macrumors 6502a
Jun 15, 2009
929
120
What leno said. 10% of your FICO is "types of credit used" revolving (credit cards) and installments (mortgage/car payments). Obviously paying those down is what you want to do, but it can explain a 20 point decrease.
Yes, I do understand the initial points decrease. But it will climb in subsequent months after an adjustment. I follow and am a leader in a credit forum which contains a plethora of credit experiments. My main purpose of my post however is to stress the importance of not paying unnecessary interest.
 
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JulesJam

Suspended
Sep 20, 2014
2,537
308
So I was told in-store there would be no "hard" credit check. Total lie. My score went from 829 to 809 today. Pissed.
There is a credit check yes, how else would they be able to know your creditworthiness?
 

Ceviche Lover

macrumors 6502
Jul 15, 2012
271
420
This is why you should pay for your phones upfront instead of financing them like people with no money do.
 

Mlrollin91

macrumors G5
Nov 20, 2008
14,172
10,187
This is why you should pay for your phones upfront instead of financing them like people with no money do.

Okay, by that logic I should buy a house up front as well. Which btw would hurt your credit score because you aren't building history.
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,392
19,461
This is why you should pay for your phones upfront instead of financing them like people with no money do.
People with money finance things when they are at 0% financing, that way they get to hold on to more of their money longer and perhaps do something with it during that time.
 

Ceviche Lover

macrumors 6502
Jul 15, 2012
271
420
Okay, by that logic I should buy a house up front as well. Which btw would hurt your credit score because you aren't building history.


Please lets not compare buying a house to a 'cell phone'. Not everyone has hundreds of thousands of dollars laying around to buy a house in cash. Cars, same thing although many people can save up enough money for buy a decent used car that's paid for in cash instead of getting into never-ending car payments.

But are we really living in an world where people are financing cell phones? Seriously? Is it that hard to save up for it and buy it in cash? Financing cell phones is something broke/people horrible with money do.
[doublepost=1474659509][/doublepost]
People with money finance things when they are at 0% financing, that way they get to hold on to more of their money longer and perhaps do something with it during that time.

You really think people that are financing cell phones are doing it so to 'invest' those hundreds of dollars into something else? They're financing it because they can't pay for it. Besides the type of people you're referencing are probably good with money and would also think the idea of financing a cell phone is crazy.

I'm not knocking financing things like houses or cars, but financing a freaking cell phone is ridiculous. Especially considering these people already have perfectly working phones but for some reason they want get stuck paying never-ending payments to Apple as if it were a mortgage or something.
 
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C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,392
19,461
Please lets not compare buying a house to a 'cell phone'. Not everything has hundreds of thousands of dollars laying around to buy a house in cash. Cars, same thing although many people can save up enough money for buy a decent used car that's paid for in cash instead of getting into never-ending car payments.

But are we really living in an world where people are financing cell phones? Seriously? Is it that hard to save up for it and buy it in cash? Financing cell phones is something broke/people horrible with money do.
[doublepost=1474659509][/doublepost]

You really think people that are financing cell phones are doing it so to 'invest' those hundreds of dollars into something else? They're financing it because they can't pay for it. Besides the type of people you're referencing are probably good with money and would also think the idea of financing a cell phone is crazy.

I'm not knocking financing things like houses or cars, but financing a freaking cell phone is ridiculous. Especially considering these people already have perfectly working phones but for some reason they want get stuck paying never-ending payments to Apple as if it were a mortgage or something.
So we are basically just going with guesses, assumptions, and overgeneralizations? Well, in that case, it doesn't really matter one way or another since it's not really reality anyway.
 
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bibigon

macrumors member
Aug 29, 2011
79
76
You really think people that are financing cell phones are doing it so to 'invest' those hundreds of dollars into something else? They're financing it because they can't pay for it. Besides the type of people you're referencing are probably good with money and would also think the idea of financing a cell phone is crazy.

I'm not knocking financing things like houses or cars, but financing a freaking cell phone is ridiculous. Especially considering these people already have perfectly working phones but for some reason they want get stuck paying never-ending payments to Apple as if it were a mortgage or something.
I want to do it so I can skip finding a buyer for my cell-phone every year, and not worry about scratching my JB iPhone.

I can either give Apple $550/year for an iPhone, or I can pay $970 upfront, and then have to deal with finding a buyer who will give me at least $420 for the phone. I'd rather do the upgrade program than deal with that hassle, but the hard credit pull does make it seem like it's not a good idea. Losing 20 points on my credit, and maybe paying a marginally higher mortgage payment down the road doesn't seem worth it.
 
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JayLenochiniMac

macrumors G5
Nov 7, 2007
12,819
2,390
New Sanfrakota
But are we really living in an world where people are financing cell phones? Seriously? Is it that hard to save up for it and buy it in cash? Financing cell phones is something broke/people horrible with money do.

You're stereotyping. Some simply want an easier ability to upgrade yearly. You come out roughly the same paying in full and selling each year vs. IUP.
 
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VenusianSky

macrumors 65816
Aug 28, 2008
1,290
47
I just had a credit check for my new car purchase and it was lower than last time I saw my score, when I bought my home. I've added several other credit accounts since but always make payments on time, as well as with my mortgage. No idea how it could have went down, but it didn't go down a crazy amount. It is still the in the excellent range and I got the lowest APR on the car loan, which is all I cared about. I was wondering if I would get another credit check by getting a new iPhone, but as I am reading here, I won't if I go through my carrier, which is good to know. I don't know if I am going to get one though. As long as my 5s continues to hold up, I think I am good and will just upgrade next year.
 

Ceviche Lover

macrumors 6502
Jul 15, 2012
271
420
I want to do it so I can skip finding a buyer for my cell-phone every year, and not worry about scratching my JB iPhone.

I can either give Apple $550/year for an iPhone, or I can pay $970 upfront, and then have to deal with finding a buyer who will give me at least $420 for the phone. I'd rather do the upgrade program than deal with that hassle, but the hard credit pull does make it seem like it's not a good idea. Losing 20 points on my credit, and maybe paying a marginally higher mortgage payment down the road doesn't seem worth it.

Yeah dude I get the whole trade-in part, but then you get get locked into another contract paying Apple for another 2 years every time you do that. Apple basically becomes your landlord and you become their renter. Is it really worth it? Having a new monthly payment in your life on top of everything else we already pay for...especially for something dumb like a cell phone. I like having things fully paid for, instead of adding more bills into my life but that's just me.
 
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