The New ‘700 Club’

Just went through "shopping" process for property/casualty insurance since Hartford/AARP raised my rate for no apparent reason (other than to make up for Hartford's investment losses.) I am paying higher rates for my auto/home/liability coverage due to my "credit score/insurance score." Apparently owning your home free and clear, having only one high limit credit card which is paid in full each month, not owing on auto loans, etc. and the fact that the insurance inquiries "do not affect" your credit score, but that was the exact reason cited in one letter explaining why I didn't qualify for the "best rate." I did manage to find a much better price for the new insurance, but could have paid even less if I was a better credit risk. Of course we paid every bill on time, in full, not one day late, ever in the 20 years we've been married. We opened credit accounts when we needed them, closed them when we didn't need them, didn't apply for mortgage or auto loans in excess of amounts we felt we could afford, never filed any claims at all. People who are financially responsible are paying the price for prudence. Those who use credit cards and home equity lines to finance their lifestyles are "better risks." That's the system people.

Hey I control the interest rate. I did put the oil to $147, then $40,
not $200 -it was a choice I made.

Kristina Brooker (126 395 086)

The people on here who are so bitter that they've been mistreated DO have a point, and I've heard of cases like theirs from the media before, but I've never met anyone personally who had these things happen. I'm not saying they don't happen, but my point is that the REVERSE also happens. In my case, I was 60 days late on a mortgage in 2005 and I was late with two credit cards twice from 2005-2006, and yet my current scores from Experian and TransUnion are 838 and 782.

Perhaps this is due to anomaly in the system, but I'd like to think it's due to a perfect record for 17 years prior to this that spanned three mortgages, seven auto loans, a home equity line of credit, and a dozen or so credit cards that were opened and closed during that time. Even when I had over $30,000 of credit spanning four cards fully used up and became late briefly, my score never dropped below 730, and then quickly rebounded when I paid them off fully overnight.

What I find most disturbing is that companies are now using your FICO score to judge your risk factor for auto insurance. While I could possibly understand them denying somebody with a score of 400, in general I find this practice to be a disturbing beginning of things to come. It's unlikely you could have a 400, when you in fact you deserve an 800, and vice versa, but it's my understanding that they use it in a FAR more specific and discriminatory fashion.

However, none of this is as disturbing as the prospect of a hospital ER having access to a scoring system with which they can judge whether or not to treat you! I heard a story on the news a while back that said a new "scoring system" was being developed just for that purpose, based upon your medical "risk factor" for being able to pay a bill for emergency medical care.

At some point Congress needs to step up and draw a line. If a scoring system needs to be in place to judge your credit-worthiness (and I have no problem with that) needs to be in place, then make it based upon a carefully regulated standard. We shouldn't be allowing secret and unregulated "formulas" to control people's lives, and even the thought of a scoring system that decides who may live or die is just beyond reprehensible.

The people on here who are so bitter that they've been mistreated DO have a point, and I've heard of cases like theirs from the media before, but I've never met anyone personally who had these things happen. I'm not saying they don't happen, but my point is that the REVERSE also happens. In my case, I was 60 days late on a mortgage in 2005 and I was late with two credit cards twice from 2005-2006, and yet my current scores from Experian and TransUnion are 838 and 782.

Perhaps this is due to anomaly in the system, but I'd like to think it's due to a perfect record for 17 years prior to this that spanned three mortgages, seven auto loans, a home equity line of credit, and a dozen or so credit cards that were opened and closed during that time. Even when I had over $30,000 of credit spanning four cards fully used up and became late briefly, my score never dropped below 730, and then quickly rebounded when I paid them off fully overnight.

What I find most disturbing is that companies are now using your FICO score to judge your risk factor for auto insurance. While I could possibly understand them denying somebody with a score of 400, in general I find this practice to be a disturbing beginning of things to come. It's unlikely you could have a 400, when you in fact you deserve an 800, and vice versa, but it's my understanding that they use it in a FAR more specific and discriminatory fashion.

However, none of this is as disturbing as the prospect of a hospital ER having access to a scoring system with which they can judge whether or not to treat you! I heard a story on the news a while back that said a new "scoring system" was being developed just for that purpose, based upon your medical "risk factor" for being able to pay a bill for emergency medical care.

At some point Congress needs to step up and draw a line. If a scoring system needs to be in place to judge your credit-worthiness (and I have no problem with that) needs to be in place, then make it based upon a carefully regulated standard. We shouldn't be allowing secret and unregulated "formulas" to control people's lives, and even the thought of a scoring system that decides who may live or die is just beyond reprehensible.

My score is 792 (down 10 points since August '08), yet I can never seem to get the deals like those described in this article.

My score is 792 (down 10 points since August '08), yet I never can seem to play the system like those described in this article.

I find the content and timing of this article highly suspicious....somebody at Newsweek got a phone call to make banks look "nicer". This is pure propaganda.

Anyone left with good credit in this economy can tell you the horror stories of unannounced jacked up fees, credit line reductions, or not being able to qualify for a loan.

In the words of Judge Judy "Don't pee on my leg and tell me its raining".

Save the propaganda for the Chinese Newsweek. OK?

All the credit in the world won't help much if you lose your job and can't find another one, a predicament many people find themselves in.

Ask anyone on unemployment - they'd much rather have a stable job and mediocre credit than be out of work with good credit, which won't stay good for long if they have no income.

What is everyone complaining about? I don't see why there are so many negative comments about this article. Paying lower interest rates because you are a responsible consumer is a REAL BENEFIT. And it's not reserved for the well-to-do. Anyone, of any income level, can learn responsible spending habits and achieve a high credit score that will save them thousands, maybe a MILLION dollars, over the course of their lifetime. How is that a "gimmick"?
The reality is that we ALL need to borrow money at some point. I guess unless you are satisfied to rent rather than own, buy a cheap used car, and never try to open your own business. Doesn't sound like the American Dream to me...

This is nothing more than another bourgeois gimmick to fool people into going into debt to make the credit card issuing banks rich. This article reads like a commercial design to make people with FICO scores lower than 700 envious. The motivate of the article is to get people do all the things, translate that to spend via credit, for the purpose of increasing our FICO score above 700 so we can be counted among the "desired" group of people.

This is an old game Coal Mining companies ran on their badly under paid coal mining employees. Force the coal miner into a situation where they have to accept credit from the Company store for life's necessities at a high cost and high interest. Before long, the coal miner is working for no pay at all because the company is taking his entire pay to pay off interest, penalties, and fees accumulated at the Company store.. PLEASE DON'T FALL FOR IT. IT IS A TRAP

I attempted to finance my last home in 2005, when i spoke with the lender they told me that I had no credit score because I had paid off all credit purchases within less than a 2 year period. After much arguing and hedging for far more colateral than the house was even worth I decided I would repay their new found logic giving a not only never late payer but a early payer a hard time about some ridiculous rating system by letting them work through all the paper work only to buy the house with cash, just to piss them off! It was absolutely hillarious!!! How you like me now, I said, laughing maniacally? Strange, they were not as struck by the irony and humor.

Both my credit score & my husband's are in the high 700s (and we pay our credit card(s) off each month) - but that doesn't make up for the fact that he's been unemployed since November and we cannot qualify for refinancing on my income and his unemployment - so we've applied for a loan modification and are hoping for the best. I just don't quite get the point of the article - yes, if we both still had jobs and our great credit, we likely may have fewer things to worry about - but again, great credit doesn't help you keep your job in a recession.

Credit scores do not account for income or resources. They also penalize people who are conservative with their use of credit and who pay their bills in full each month, like I do. Some of the bureaus report that as a "charge card" rather than a "revolving" credit card and that dings your score. These scores have nothing to do with your wealth or ability to pay, just how you "game the system."

Credit scores do not account for income or resources. They also penalize people who are conservative with their use of credit and who pay their bills in full each month, like I do. Some of the bureaus report that as a "charge card" rather than a "revolving" credit card and that dings your score. These scores have nothing to do with your wealth or ability to pay, just how you "game the system."