Bankcard industry option fico

[shiftomnimega]

I was recently approved for Citi Dividend World Mastercard and their fat sign on bonus.  They approved me with a score of 753 EX based on a range of 250 to 900.  Huh?  So obviously I do a little research and find out about this bankcard industry option fico.

My research revealed that they first assess your regular FICO and then they apply a bankcard specific bonus to the score.  Well, that's what one link said at least.

I figure, if that is true, then my true FICO can't be anything lower than 703, right?  Any more plain english explanations would be appreciated .

[AndySoCal]

In another article I read I an article  in  the Credit in the news section of the forum. Per my reading of the article this would be a FICO 08 score (see page 3)

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-in-the-News/Fico-8/td-p/1032760

[GregB]

I don't know that we can assume it is a FICO 8 based score since the EX FICO 04 (called v2 by EX) score is also 250-900 range. That post referenced also claims FICO 8 has 16 "buckets", which I know to be incorrect. That makes me wonder about the rest.

It does seem to be true that your AU Industry Score is affected by up to 50 points from the underling "Classic" FICO. It is run through the normal 10/12 FICO Scorecards, or buckets if you want to call them that, and then through two more to get your AU Industry FICO.

More than 50 points change SEEMS to be two differences: First the difference between FICO 04 and FICO 08. Second the AU Industry difference.

Caveat: This is mostly based on the large amount of info I have on EQ and TU Auto Industry Scores and a small amount of info I have on EX.

ETA: It is more likely that Auto and BankCard Industry scores are moving to FICO 8 since they don't have as much regulation holding them back like mortgage scores do. They are more free to move to improved models.

[Uborrow-Upay]

GregB, you never cease to amaze me.

The research you do is outstanding, I don't know if this is a part of your daily business routine or not, but it's awesome, nonetheless.

Thanks! 

[GregB]

Uborrow-Upay,

You could mostly thank my clients that paid for most of the research since they paid me by the hour to work with the CRAs. I have the time to help people on here and another board since I am frequently on-call and stuck on a computer with nothing to do but wait for the next client with a problem......Good thing I don't like video games.

[Uborrow-Upay]

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@GregB wrote:

Uborrow-Upay,

You could mostly thank my clients that paid for most of the research since they paid me by the hour to work with the CRAs. I have the time to help people on here and another board since I am frequently on-call and stuck on a computer with nothing to do but wait for the next client with a problem......Good thing I don't like video games.

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Good for all of us, for sure!

However, I do suggest that you'd be highly proficient at "Whack-A-Banker", or some such...