FICO Scores Increasing?

[Kay_Cee]

I thought this was an interesting post relative to average FICO scores.

http://www.creditmattersblog.com/2009/03/despite-credit-limit-reductions-fico.html

[marty56]

Interesting.  I could have read it wrong but I thought the article stated the average amount of credit available to person is 44K which is a lot higher than I thought and a lot higher than I have.

I am not surpised CLD'd dont effect people with high FICO scores since they wouldnt have a lot of revolving CC debt anyway.

I suspect EQ is the lowest scores for most people who have lates since its the hardest on them.

[CreditAble]

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@marty56 wrote:

Interesting.  I could have read it wrong but I thought the article stated the average amount of credit available to person is 44K which is a lot higher than I thought and a lot higher than I have.

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Credit utilization rate changed little — On average, lenders reduced the total revolving credit available to a borrower in this population (no risk triggers) by $2,200, a relatively small amount. That is approximately 5 percent of the average total revolving credit ($44,000) available to this population during the six-month period.

I believe that a certain segment of consumers is being referenced. That would be the people with no risk triggers. Generally, I believe that people who show no risk triggers might very well have $44,000 available credit. 

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@marty56 wrote:

I am not surprised CLD'd don't effect people with high FICO scores since they wouldn't have a lot of revolving CC debt anyway.

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 Actually people with low risk triggers don't seem to get CLs reduced that much anyway. I have to believe that revolving debt is probably a trigger of sorts. The point is if a person PIFs with an average closing balance of 3% utilization, it would be unlikely that the balanced would get chased.

 People who pay all but a tiny fraction before the statement drops probably will be in the best shape. It is unlikely that a lender would lower the CL even close to the average monthly charges made on the card. Paying all but 3-5% of those charges before the statement drops guarantees low utility all the time.

[specultr]

x

[MattH]

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@specultr wrote:
I posted an interview with Mark Greene, CEO of Fico, sometime a go. He said that the bell curve is flattening. There are less people in the middle and more with higher or lower scores. He said that debt was the biggest factor. A lot of people are paying it off increasing scores, and others are letting it charge off reducing scores. He added that this always happens in a recession, but it is more pronounced this time.

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Interesting.  I suppose this means those who can pay down debts and build up reserves tend to do so when the economy looks bad, while those who already are overleveraged find it harder to keep those balances from creeping up.