One reader with a 805 credit score e-mailed me saying he recently got denied for the Barclays Arrival World MasterCard. As part of the FICO Open Score Access initiative, he got his credit score in the mail plus the nice rejection letter. The reason for the rejection was a high debt-to-income ratio.

The credit score is supposed to encapsulate everything from outstanding debt, number of credit lines open, and debt to income levels, yet here he is being denied a credit card with just a $3,000 monthly credit limit to start! If someone with a credit score that’s in the top 10% can’t get a credit card, what hope is there for the other 90%? Let’s find out more about his story.

The reader used to make about $200,000 a year for the past three years, but is currently unemployed and earns $40,000 a year from his various passive income streams + his $1,800 a month unemployment checks. He’s only got two other credit cards and always pays them off in full. The problem with his financial profile is that he has a $800,000 mortgage on a $40,000 income. With the industry standard of a mortgage amount no more than 5X your annual income at existing rates, it’s easy to see why a 20X ratio would cause concern.

But here’s the kicker. The reader also has $500,000 in cash, CDs, and liquid after-tax stock investments! Surely if you were the credit card company you’d be OK with approving a potential lifelong client even if he does have a high debt-to-income ratio of 20:1. What’s missing here is the calculation of debt-to-total-assets. 

I recently had a connect the dots moment I’d like to share with you. In a program called FICO Score Open Access, FICO announced on November 4, 2013 that it plans to allow any lender who uses FICO scores to determine an applicant’s creditworthiness to allow the score to also be available to all applicants for free. So far only Barclaycard US and First Bankcard have signed up, but surely a tremendous amount more credit card companies will sign up once the word gets out to consumers.

When I applied for the Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard, I received my latest credit score in the mail of 805. At the time, I didn’t think it was strange because I always got my credit score in the mail during all my previous eight mortgage refinances. I also hadn’t applied for a new credit card in a decade so I thought receiving my score was just status quo or at least a nice gesture by Barclaycard. The reality is that most credit cards don’t send you your credit score if you apply for their card. The reason why we do get our credit scores during a mortgage refinance is because we’re paying to refinance or take out a new mortgage. Nobody pays to apply for a credit card!

As any proud personal finance blogger would do, I proceeded to write a post on how to improve your credit score to 800+ with this newfound information. We know that pulling your credit score too often may bring down your credit score. The idea is that if there’s a sudden rush of credit inquiries, it may signal the person is in a cash crunch.

Can you imagine getting your credit score pulled, getting denied by the credit card company, and being left in the dark as to why? That would be as aggravating as getting a college or work rejection letter in the mail with no reason for denial. The new FICO Score Open Access plan will supposedly allow participating banks to show applicants their credit history, any late payments, and debt levels.

You can still get your latest TransUnion credit score for free from a trusted company like AnnualFreeCredit.com if you aren’t looking for a participating rewards credit card. Just make sure you cancel the credit monitoring service before the grace period is over if you don’t want to get charged for such a service.

I’m predicting Barclaycard US and lesser known First Bankcard are going to gain outsized market share of new credit card applicants until every other credit card company participates as well. The FICO Score Open Access system is a great step for consumer rights.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Check Your Experian Credit Score Today: For only $1 you can check what your latest Experian credit score is straight from their website. It’s a good idea to see what your credit score is before applying for a loan. If it’s below 720, you won’t get the best rate, but at least you can spend time to improve your score. Furthermore, 1 out of 4 credit reports have errors, negatively affecting one’s credit score. I had a $7 late electric bill that crushed my credit score by 100 points and almost derailed my mortgage refinance. The scary thing is, I had no idea! Check your credit score today

Get A Free Checkup On Your Finances: Sign up for Personal Capital, the web’s #1 free wealth management tool to get a better handle on your finances. Run your investments through their award-winning Investment Checkup tool to see exactly how much you are paying in fees. I was paying $1,700 a year in fees I had no idea I was paying. After you link your accounts, use their Retirement Planning Calculator that pulls your real data to give you as pure an estimation of your financial future as possible using Monte Carlo simulation algorithms. I’ve been using Personal Capital since 2012 and have seen my net worth sky rocket during this time thanks to better money management.

Updated for 2017 and beyond.

The corollary between straight A’s and a perfect credit score is beautiful.  With straight A’s in high school, the chances of you getting into a top university with a merit scholarship increases drastically.  After all, how many valedictorians do you see go to Chico State?

With straight A’s in college, you’ll be invited back to interview at all your favorite companies and undoubtedly get a job so long as you aren’t some deranged lunatic with crazy eyes!  With a nice job usually comes nice pay and a nice bank account years down the road.

Five years out of college at your wonderfully rewarding, high paying job, you develop a fantastic credit score of 800.  It’s not the perfect credit score of 850, but it’s 60-80 points higher than the level which is considered “Excellent” (720-740).  When you go to apply for a car loan, the dealer offers you 0% financing on that hard to get 2013 BMW 335is coupe.  When you look for an apartment in a hot job market, landlords actually call you back and give you one month free rent in order for you to be their tenant!  And when you live in a nice apartment in a nice neighborhood, sexy ladies and beefcakes take notice and want to get to know you more!

Which do you choose?

ARGUMENTS FOR A PERFECT CREDIT SCORE

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