Latest responses to “What Is A Good Credit Score?” Copyright 2012, MoneyBlueBook.com 464930 2009-08-22T16:38:10-07:00 Raymond Savings Everything, The mortgage rates published by banks whether in their branch offices or on their websites tend to reflect the best mortgage offers that they offer for their best prime borrowers. Generally the singular rates that are advertised reflect rates that those with good to great credit scores may qualify for. Those with FICO credit scores of around 720 should be in the right ballpark to at least have a shot at the published interest rates. Those with great FICO scores of 760 or higher will almost always qualify, assuming they have comparable savings and annual income to back up the credit score number as well. 464940 2009-08-22T16:21:14-07:00 SavingEverything I'm confused: The mortgage rates that banks publish daily on their signs inside...is the rate for everyone, reserved for high credit scores only, or is it for the average homebuyer credit scores (and you may get higher or lower rate than they advertise on that day???) 464960 2009-08-16T00:31:02-07:00 James Well my credit score according to the FICO (Equifax) free credit score trial offer is a 723 .... good enough to qualify decent rates I suppose. It may be considered a "good credit score" for my purposes, but looking at that chart of yours, I suppose I would need to bump it to a 760 to get the best mortgage rates. Fortunately I'm not in the market for a home mortgage loan anytime soon and I don't really use credit cards too much or even those 0% balance transfers. Which makes me wonder - why do I even care what my FICO score is anyway?? 464950 2009-08-10T14:32:17-07:00 Twinsoo Good to see that you are finally coming around and joining the rest of home owners. Definitely...if you plan to buy a home and anticipate the need to get a mortgage loan, it's smart to plan ahead. Credit scores, VantageScore, Plus Score, or the more popular FICO all take some time to improve with the right corrective actions. Credit score increases don't happen right away. It takes time for the positive changes on your credit reports to get reflected in your credit scores. Plan months ahead of time if you can. When I got my home mortgage a while back, I gave myself up to 6 months and more to boost my FICO score. After paying back all of my outstanding credit card balances and making purchases again on my old credit cards to re-activate old dormant credit accounts and thereby lowering the overall age of my active credit based accounts, my FICO shot up nearly 35 points. It was a pretty big jump and allowed me save a great deal of points on my mortgage rate. Right now I've refinanced my mortgage down to a nice 5.21%.