Credit Score Needed for Loans???

[ZekeMD]

I know this is in the wrong forum, but the finance one is empty as usual.

I just ordered my credit report and I don't know what to make of my credit score. It says its on a scale from 150-930 and I have a 733. I assume thats decent, but is there an optimal score that you would want to be above before entering medical school? I'm pretty clueless about this whole process.

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[medstylee]

I used to work in a mortgage department at a bank (hellishly boring job) and, from what I learned there, 733 is a very good credit score. It would at least qualify you to get a mortgage on a house. So, I'm guessing it would also be apt to qualify you for loans.

 

[toomuch]

I had a credit report and I was given two scores. The first one was a score for the range 350-850 and the second score was a scaled score in the 0-100 range. I'm not sure which score most people look at.

 

[jlee9531]

well luckily fafsa doesnt need any of that.

i dont even want to get my credit report. i know its gonna be sub 600s

 

[Taleof50]

I highly recommend getting copies of your credit reports. If you have the need to apply for a private loan for med school, they will look at it. And credit reports are notorious for having wrong information -- I recenlty ordered mine from the three bureaus (Equifax, TrasnUnion, and Eperian), and they each said I had filed for bankruptcy... which obviously I have not! I called each and disputed, and the bankruptcy was taken off after an investigation.

So, it's for your benefit to look at yours!

 

[hypersting]

Learned at an interview today that the general minimum benchmark needed for private loans is 620. Congratulations, you are financially qualified to attend medical school.

 

[RoccoWJ]

If you have someone to co-sign, you can get money from anywhere......

You will not not go to medical school because you have bad credit.

 

[Ranger47]

How can I get my credit report?

 

[hypersting]

There's 3 agencies' reports. Try myfico.com. It costs around 40 bucks for all of them.

Edit- This was the website recommend by a FinAid person at a school. I haven't used it myself, but apparently there's calculators you can play around with that would help you project what your new credit score would be if you did things (i.e. closed a card, paid off a card, etc)

 

[ATPase]

There are three credit reporting bureaus, and they're all a bit different so you should request one from each. If you go to www.equifax.com (Equifax is one of them), you can get a copy of your credit report from each of these agencies, I think.

 

[ZekeMD]

I used http://www.creditreport.com . It cost $35 for all 3.

 

[finnpipette]

For the op, a FICO rating of 733 is outstanding. In general, your credit rating is considered very good as long as it is 700+. Last year the cutoff for a housing loan was 680, so for a med school loan, since they're considered relatively low risk, you're in good territory.

Just a couple of things-
If you're recently out of school like I am, these are the things that you should watch out for.
Timely payments - obviously
Duration of bank accounts - don't go closing accounts that you don't need. Just keep em open and let em sit.
and don't check your credit rating too frequently, as it will bring down your rating.