Credit scores will be changing at all 3 credit agencies over the course of this year, here is some of what’s known about the change:
-Scores will remain between 300 an 850
-The biggest change is that authorized users will no longer receive credit for being listed on an account. Until this point one of the easiest ways for a teenager to build credit was to be listed as an authorized user on one’s parent’s credit account. This will no longer be possible. However, joint-account holders will still receive credit for the account. You should contact your credit card issuer and see if it is possible to change from being an authorized user to a joint-account holder!
-Joy! Fico ’08 will be much more lenient on people who apply often for credit!
-People who utilize a high percentage of their available credit will be more severely penalized: If your total available credit between all of your accounts is just $5,000, and your monthly statement is $4,500, you will take an even bigger hit on your Fico ’08 credit score than you did previously. If your total available credit between all of your accounts is $75,000, and your monthly statement is $4,500, then you will come out much better with Fico ’08 than you did previously. The lower the utilization percentage is, the higher your credit score will be.
-People with “thin” credit files will be penalized, making it even harder for a teenager to build credit.
-Fico ’08 will be more forgiving of an occasional late payment, but will be much harsher on chronic late payers, or those 90+ days past-due.
-Fico ’08 will reward those with multiple types of accounts, such as revolving and installment accounts.
Unfortunately the authorized user change will throw a monkey-wrench into just about everyone’s credit scores…
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16 Comments On "More Info On Fico ’08, And What It Will Mean For You!"
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what does that mean to someone who just got a credit card?
what does it take to become a joint account holder. and how old do you need to be, can I be 17? can this be done on the starwoods amex?
joint accounts not recommended – if you have a joint account and one of you has some credit problem, BOTH of you suffer. Like my dad took a credit hit bc my mom didn’t pay a hospital bill for treatment she never authorized.
Also dan, what is your source for these new rules…? When do they go into effect?
well the bottom line is if you cashed in early and got accepted since you had high credit scores base on being authroized users, now even if they are removong that from you, you have your cards and been pay your bills on time you have your own credit now standing for you so you still gonna have a pretty high credit score, so your not gonna really notice anything, its the new people that lost out who it really it gonna efect.
DAN got my amex starwood, which card would you recomend for the retailers that dont accept AMEX as a form of payment?
Will it work retroactivlly and take away any credit history gained from being on another account or just stop any new credit from being gained… And to bz it worked the same way before even when you weren’t a joint account holder
Is there a way i can transfer my account to an authorized user so that the bill is now only on his name? i have a citicard.
Dan,Thanks for this important info, Much appreciated!
when will all these changes go into affect?
i am on a cingular family plan and i get 3000 minutes and 100 international txts and unlimited txt’s for the whole family and the bill ends up being close to 400 every month!!! do you know of any ways to get out of cingular early?
Mendel:
Pay for the cancelation, and move to a Sero plan! Its definetly the best cell phone plan out there. http://www.sprint.com/sero . Depending on the how much you use, it is an awesome plan. Its an awesome plan anyway… Free data, free texting, free everything else… unlimited!!
Thing is, no family plan. I dont know how many people are on your plan now, but it seems that this would still be worth it. use the email “savings@sprintemi.com” and put in a zip code. Then you have access to the plans.
Enjoy!
Dan after the whole article you come to conclusion that the new authorization rule will monkey-wrench just about everyones credit score. How? I learn gemora a lot and dont see how you come to this conclusion…. please advise
OK Dan, I’ve been meaning to ask you this for the longest time. When I activated my Starwood a year ago (it has since been canceled due to financial review) they offered me 2500 Starpoints if I made an additional. Since then I have suggested to newcomers to ask about the additional bonus. In general my friends request have generally been met with “Sorry we don’t know of such a bonus” from the rep who answers the phone! One exception was when my partner activated a business card I told him to make me an additional and request the bonus. When he requested they put him in a conference call with SPG who said we would get 5000! Bonus Starpoints if we did it! The problem is that due to a company overcharging our CC (beyond our control) and spending more then 50% of our card, the card was closed before we were able to get the bonus points!
My question therefor is: Is there a code or a a reference that can be mentioned at the time of Activation that the rep can look up and apply the bonus points for the additional or perhaps do you know, are the bonus points added automatically just by asking for the additional?
I asked the above question because I just convinced a friend and his wife to each open both a personal and a business card and they have so far (he has only activated his personal card at the time that I am writing this)not had any success with the additional. I am not sure what will be down the line but as far as the rep knew, he would not receive any bonus points for the additional.
Dan, can you or anyone reading this throw some light on the situation???
Much appreciated,
stern:
The reason is simple.
Although I have opened hundreds of credit cards over the years, my oldest account is my father’s account on which I am an authorized user.
When authorized user accounts stop counting, then I will no longer have such an old active account, and in all likelihood I will take a credit hit for that.
Moishe:
I don’t know of any code, but it usually must be done at the time of activation.
If the activating rep doesn’t know about it then tell them not to activate the card and try again!
I just got starwoods last week (thanks dan!) and I just added 2 cards in the past 2 days and I got 2500 each. I just asked for it and then gave it. also they overnighted my additional cards! I never heard of this with any other company.