Are my bills affecting my credit score?

Question

We just got our credit scores in the mail because we applied for a home equity line of credit and they have to tell us our scores. Anyhow, my husband's is 10 points higher than mine. We both have the same thing. One credit card in each of our names, the house is in both our names, and our cars are in both our names. However, all utilites, phones, TV, internet, etc. are all in my name. All bills are ALWAYS paid ON TIME and IN FULL and we NEVER carry a balance on our credit cards. If we need to use a card for a purchase, it is ALWAYS PAID IN FULL AND ON TIME. Is the fact that the bills are in my name affecting my credit score? Simply because the number of "accounts" I have open? I can't think of anything else that would be affecting my score. When we got married, my husband's credit score was quite a bit lower than mine, so what happened that he ended up having a higher credit score?

And I do have a student loan out that is being paid off, but we have no other debt except for the house and one car.

Answer 1

You hit it directly on the head. The fact that the bills are all in your name - the "number of accounts you have open" - is what accounts for the difference in your scores. Bingo.

Answer 2

No having utillities in your name will not affect your score but the fact that the student loan is in your name and not his would affect you. Student loans can put a neg effect on your credit since the payments are deffered for so long while you are in school so your balance is not getting reg payments. 10 points is not a big deal and I wouldn't worry to much unless you make more money than your hubby then they would use your credit score so you want to have the highest. Anything over a 680 is good and if it is over 730 you are golden!
You also said that you both have a credit card, is it the same one? If you each have your own the limit could effect your score too. The credit bureaus want to see that you have a large amount of rev (credit card) credit availible and you aren't maxing your cards.

Answer 3

It could be that right now you just might have too much going on and they would consider you a risk to give you more credit. A similiar thing happened to someone I know; he had a student loan, a number of credit cards, and was paying on items he had bought on time. When he went to purchase a car, they denied him because they considered him a risk with all he had out-standing. All you have to do is be late or miss one payment and that will effect your score.

Answer 4

Because you are paying all the bills, the credit bureau assumes that you have less income available to take on additional debt. If you and your husband were to split the bill payments roughly 50/50, your scores should end up being pretty much equal.

Answer 5

It could be from a number of thing but utility bills are not it. Here is what helps and hurts your credit. This info is straight from Equifax

Beacon is a generic risk score developed by Equifax and Fair, Isaac that predicts the likelihood that an account will become seriously “delinquent” in the next 24 months. “Delinquent” can mean:
•60 days late
•90 + days late
•Charge-off
•Repossession
•Bankrupt

Fair, Isaac also developed a generic risk score for Trans Union and Experian.

Beacon scores range from 300-850. The higher the score, the lower the potential for serious delinquency (The higher the score, the lower the risk).

Beacon is a non-judgmental tool.

Beacon is a living, breathing score. As your credit changes so does your Beacon score. For example: As you open new accounts or start to slow pay a credit card – your Beacon score changes.


PREDICTIVE VARIABLES:

The most predictive variables that affect a Beacon score are:

1. Consumers Previous Credit Performance:

Since Beacon is predicting the future, the most predictive variable is your recent (12-24 months) credit behavior!

Beacon looks to see how long it has been since the most recent 60 day (or worse) delinquency.
Beacon looks to see what the highest level of delinquency reached in the last year.
Beacon looks to see the number of months since the most recent derogatory public record.

Charge-off: A new Charge-off bears more weight than an old charge-off.



Paid/Unpaid Collection Items: Beacon does not care if a Collection Item is paid or unpaid. As far as Beacon is concerned, an account that has gone to Collection status is considered to be as bad as an account can get. However, Beacon does care how long it has been since the last Collection Item.


2. Current Level of Indebtedness:

Beacon does not have the luxury of knowing what a consumer’s debt to income ratio is. Therefore, Beacon concentrates on the level of debt (especially Credit Card debt) that a consumer has.

Beacon weighs heavily against credit card debt due to the fact that credit card debt is unsecured.

To help increase your Beacon score: Make sure that you are never over 50% maxed out on any one credit card.

3. Amount of time credit has been in use (Credit Stability):

Has the consumer had existing accounts open for 10 years or 6 months? Chances are, the more time Beacon has been able to track a consumer’s credit behavior, the better the Beacon score will be.

4. Pursuit of New Credit:

Has a consumer been shopping for credit recently? If a consumer has been shopping for a car or mortgage – all inquiries that occur within a 30 day period will be considered as only one inquiry to Beacon. Beacon realizes the difference between a habitual shopper and a consumer shopping for the best interest rate.


MINIMUM SCORING CRITERIA – Beacon will not score a Credit Report with the following:

A deceased indicator on file
Safescan Warning
“File under Review”
A file with no tradelines
No updated tradelines in the last 6 months. (Beacon is unable to predict the future if it can’t see how a consumer has paid their bills in the last year).




Beacon will ignore the following tradelines:

Child support tradeline
Family Support tradeline
Returned check items
Rental Agreement



INVISIBLE INQUIRIES – Inquiries that do not affect the Beacon score:

Consumers requesting a copy of their credit report from Equifax
PRM (Promotional) Inquiries – Consumers receiving promotional credit card offers in the mail.
AR (Account Review) Inquiries – Credit grantors reviewing their customer’s credit file. Companies review their “loan portfolio” in order to determine if they should close the account (if Beacon has decreased) or increase the Credit Limit (if Beacon has increased).
EMP (Employment) Inquiries – Credit report pulled for Employment purposes.

Note: Inquiry de-duping – For a 45 day period multiple auto inquiries are treated as one and multiple mortgage inquiries are treated as one.

TO IMPROVE A BEACON SCORE:

Obtain a copy of your Credit Report. Address any discrepancies with all 3 Credit Bureaus.
Pay your bills on time. Delinquent payments on mortgages, automobiles, and national credit cards can have a major negative impact on a Beacon Score.
Pay down high outstanding balances. Keep balances low on unsecured revolving debts like credit cards. High outstanding balances can affect a score negatively.
Do not take on new debt. Apply for and open new credit accounts only as needed.

Answer 6

I agree with the guy above me. Try splitting up the bills between the two of you.