And now what did you do TODAY?

[aardvark baguette]

16 minutes ago, Hopstretch said:

Cheap well drinks for slutty interns?

elsa jean.  literally.

[Knuckledragger]

From my twitter: There are three definitions for "plowed."  Two are funny, and one means "I can finally get out of my %@#$& driveway."

[Grahame]

Pre-seasoned my Searzall

https://vimeo.com/154944533

[crappyjones123]

Deshi deshi basara

[aardvark baguette]

This is a complete joke.

I recently had something like $27k of CC debt. 
The credit score game is officially worthless.  I wouldn't loan to me.
I feel like I've cheated or something.
 

[Dreadhead]

You paid it. That is all they care about.

[skullguise]

39 minutes ago, Dreadhead said:

You paid it. That is all they care about.

This.  And if you always paid at least minimum due and on time, that's a GOOD thing in their book.

[Aimless1]

1 hour ago, skullguise said:

This.  And if you always paid at least minimum due and on time, that's a GOOD thing in their book.

Not exactly correct Todd.  I've had clients that paid on time (always) who either had their line of credit taken away or saw a spike in their interest rate or had their card limit reduced.  However, bottom line is all they care about is profit, whether that is through interest and/or getting the loan amount paid off.  But they do manage perceived risk.

[grawk]

I had credit lines decreased on a couple of cards (I've always paid on time etc) immediately prior to the economy tanking, and lately I've had unrequested increases on 3 cards.  There are a lot of variables in the credit industry.

[HeadphoneAddict]

My score went from 788 on Experian to 832 in January as I paid my credit usage down from 28% to 7%, then we paid off 4 of the 5 cars and a timeshare, reducing installment debt by $53,000 and yesterday our score dropped back to 792 with no negative factors, inquiries, hard hits, or new accounts.  

I have a copy of my credit report from 2/1 and 2/11 and there's nothing there to explain the 40 point drop in 10 days.  It seems that having $90,000 available credit that I'm not using but that's available to spend on our credit cards actually hurts the score. 

We have one mortgage, one car loan, one student loan, and we only rotate through 3 of many credit cards, and usually pay them off each month.  Someone told me that if I use the credit cards instead of using my debit card (for the rewards), and then pay it off each month after we get the statement, that the balance on the statement in the only thing they report, but that the zero balance after the statement is paid off is never reported.  He said if we pay off the cards BEFORE they print the monthly statement, then our credit usage on the report would be the correct zero amount.

[grawk]

my understanding is the score experian reports is only vaguely related to the fico score. It's affected by different things, and is just a marketing thing for experian.

[grawk]

or not worry about your score except when you're getting ready to make a big purchase, then game it

 

[Augsburger]

Despite what you may all want to believe your FICO score is merely a marketing tool with which to justify the margin or points your lender is going to use to gouge you with. Do you really think that the institution that issues you the loan really gives a crap whether you will pay back the loan over time?  No, the issuer bundles all the consumer loans they issue into a package and sells it to a institutional investor as quickly as possible because the initiating lender makes their money on the profit margin of the sale versus the value of the asset they offload to some poor sap aka pension fund retail investor or mutual fund.

Sorry but Dan is more on target than most of you realize. Again sorry if this comes off as a bit too harsh but you give the industry far too many ethics points than are deserved. The fewer of you screwed by the man the better.

Edited February 13, 2016 by Augsburger

[Augsburger]

To me your post implied that the variability was a joke but the score had relevance.  I was not posting to anyone specifically.

My point was that the significance of the score is marketing subterfuge.

 

[shellylh]

I don'treally understand how credit cards decide who they want as a customer.  Several years ago I applied for a credit card from CapitalOne 360 (I wanted one that would not change a fee when using it internationally).  Even though I use my current cards a lot and pay them off each month AND had a ton of money in a CapitalOne 360 account that had been open since it was owned by Netbank, I was denied!  I wonder if it was a mistake or if they though, nope, we don't want this person because they aren't going to run up cc debt.

[HeadphoneAddict]

4 hours ago, grawk said:

my understanding is the score experian reports is only vaguely related to the fico score. It's affected by different things, and is just a marketing thing for experian.

Where is the best place to track your real score?

[Sherwood]

A coworker of mine was recently declined for a Chase Sapphire card.  I know what she makes, as a public servant, and I know what her husband makes, too, since I hired him.  They are clearing ~$60,000 a year disposable (as in, after taxes, student loan payments, housing expenses, etc.)  She was a practicing attorney in New York and Munich for three years, has tenure at a position where it's nearly impossible to fire her, and is a married, 30 year old woman.

She suspects it's because she's only ever had one credit card, and she never increased the $2000 limit.  I am sure she's right, but that seems like an awfully narrow risk for Chase.

[Dusty Chalk]

10 hours ago, grawk said:

or not worry about your score except when you're getting ready to make a big purchase, then game it

 

Or, be more methodical, and "game" it the entire time, so that one is ready for a large purchase at any time.  I don't think Larry's doing it wrong, in fact I'm glad the conversation came up.  I for one learned a few things already.

[jvlgato]

4 hours ago, grawk said: my understanding is the score experian reports is only vaguely related to the fico score. It's affected by different things, and is just a marketing thing for experian.

Where is the best place to track your real score?

Discover Card allows you to see your FICO on your cc statement and on your online account. It also tells you the factors that affected your score for that month.

[aardvark baguette]

What is interesting is I was going to refinance when my rate went up.  But the timing with the market and things like a potential recession and negative interest rates for institutions means I may benefit from waiting a bit longer.  I've heard the rates may go as low as 2%, depending on the 10 year treasury and however the hell that relates to mortgages.

but I'm also getting increasingly interested in moving closer in to Bethesda.  

Another economic downturn could be quite good for me.  Not for the 403/b though.

 

Google and under amour stock are going to be my savings account this year.  Likely an averaging down savings account

[tyrion]

Went for a stroll.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Voltron]

Did you shoot the gator?

[Augsburger]

My bet is that Mike was using this  http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=754508&gclid=CjwKEAiAxfu1BRDF2cfnoPyB9jESJADF-MdJlOjdKPbqbX86aSvLVsEMNSoQhnFEQAz3RDaicHlLxBoCQsTw_wcB&is=REG&ap=y&m=Y&A=details&Q=

 

to shoot those photos.

[Augsburger]

So this morning I was in charge of taking Lance to fencing practice since Mary was at the hospital checking in on one of our friends who is very very sick.

Since I had three hours to kill I decided to pop into Performance Bicycles to update myself on the latest bike porn which I cannot buy.  While roaming the carbon fibre wheel section I hear some loud racket in the next aisle.  I look around the corner and see two guys bent over a recumbent bike and working on the chain ring.  That's odd I thought, then I notice one of the guys is in a wheel chair with a US Marines sticker and a Gary Sinise Foundation sticker fixed prominently on the back of his wheel chair. Soon they are joined by a second man, also in a wheel chair with a US Marines sticker on the back.  Between the two veterans they had a total of three working limbs and a lot of carbon fiber prosthesis.

My "appreciate what you have" button took a massive reset at that moment. 

[aardvark baguette]

Tried to cook a grilled cheese sandwich.

It did not go well.

 

At least the windows are closed now.