Is 650 derog the same as 650 high balance?

[Anonymous]

When you're applying for credit cards are all scores equal under the sun or would a BK or collections add something to the equation that high balances or short AAoA don't?

[longtimelurker]

They are not quite all equal, just because score is only part (although often a large part) of the issuers decision.   Some issuers won't give a card for a period post BK, whereas they might to someone with a similar score caused by several lates.   And some issuers may worry less about score decreases from high util compared to some other factors.

[NRB525]

The FICO score is only the starting point.

It would seem that the score, if particularly low, could be an instant rejection, because below certain score levels that indicates a certain type of concerns or events in the file. At the 650 level, that would likely be considered marginal for a lot of banks, and they may want to go further into the file to determine why 650.

A BK or late or charge off is probably looked at slightly differently than very high utilization, because the lates represent a specific event: Not paid on time, whereas the high utilization is a risk but may not directly lead to problems with payment. Even if approved, the 650 from utilization would expect a low limit, because of the risk from the high utilization.