Debt $ense

… on getting the magic FICO score.

Last week, I went to the library one morning and read Suze Orman’s YF&B. (Yes, in one sitting. I’m a freakishly fast reader.) I also copied down the access code for her YF&B Web site. I didn’t really think it would work, but it did!

I filled out her action planner. The first recommendation she had was to continue contributing enough to my 401(k) to get my full company match. That was a no-brainer. Once I clicked that to indicate I was done, her second step was to find out my FICO score and improve on it.

The only other time I got my FICO score was about a year ago when I met with a mortgage counsultant at my bank to see what kind of shape I was in. At the time, my score was about 675. Not bad, but well below the magic 720.

I briefly thought about setting up an appointment to see her so I could again get the scores for free, but decided against it. Instead, I went to MyFICO and bought all three of mine. It’s normally $45, but I googled for promotion codes and found one for 20 percent off. So I actually paid about $36. I figured it was worth using some of the $68 I just deposited to see where I was, especially since I’m planning to call my credit card company Monday morning and ask them to lower my rate.

All three of my scores are within six points of 720! The average of the three scores is 717, hence the post title. And since the biggest ding they mention is my high credit card debt, I should be able to get above 720 in the next few months. I didn’t think I was anywhere near that point. Talk about a positive motivator!

Not only that, I’m much more confident about my chances with the CC company tomorrow. I’m close enough to that top bracket, and I have such a good payment history, that I’m sure they’ll knock my rate (now 12.9 percent) down. I was hoping for 7.99 percent, but now I’m beginning to think I might be able to do better, especially after hearing about other PF bloggers who have gotten it down further, even as low as 0 percent.

Normally I don’t like spending money that could go toward my CC, but for a lot of reasons, I think that $36 was money well spent. (Especially since a lower CC rate would probably cover the cost in a month or two.)

As my friend Susan would say, “Go me!”