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Monday, August 27, 2007

FICO Scores, Part 2

With all the mortgage buzz going on and the lenders new qualifications, it is a good idea that a future borrower understands what they are up against when borrowing money. Most importantly, how good is a 'good' FICO score? We already covered much of FICO scores in a previous blog, now let's talk about the various credit scorings and what it means. This information was obtained from a mortgage lender, who speaks at our meetings regularly.

Think of your FICO score as a report card where 90-100 is Excellent and 75 is Acceptable. This is the speaker's interpretation of the various FICO scores.

Over 750 is Excellent
720-750 is Very Good
660-720 is Acceptable
620-660 is Uncertain
Less that 620 is Risky

If you are a competitive student like I was who always has to have an A, I would make sure I'd have a FICO score of 750. A score of 620 would probably mean I'd have to repeat that class or in lender lingo, they would require additional assets, lower LTV's, and often higher interest rates. Once again, before you seriously start looking at a home, call your lender and get pre-approved. There are no costs involved to get pre-approved, just a few minutes of your time.