FICO scoring model change to include utility payment history, a help or hurt?

[Anonymous]

Interesting article here, Consumerist article

What say you all, would it help or hurt your score? I'm inclined to think help, but it raises the stakes for keeping the scores perfect since a late utility bill could be catastrophic. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Interesting article here, Consumerist article

What say you all, would it help or hurt your score? I'm inclined to think help, but it raises the stakes for keeping the scores perfect since a late utility bill could be catastrophic. 

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Many utilities will already report late payments... They just don't report ontime payments. So we already get the negative side but we don't get the positive side.

Consumerist seriously needs to take a look and see what their page looks like in IE 10....

[Anonymous]

True to some extent, but it usually has to be egregious for it to be reported. Not just a 10/15 day late. I've had a time when I've forgotten a bill and paid double on the next. It's never been reported. It would have to be as closely monitored as the credit bills.

And in the article, moving addresses too often would also be an impact on the score. College students or even young 20s would get dinged for that.

[Anonymous]

I think it would help my score alot.  I'm very good about paying my utilities on time.  I've always felt like it was unfair that they only report us to the CRA's when we mess up but we dont get reported when we're good.  I hope they are eventually required to report all payments.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
True to some extent, but it usually has to be egregious for it to be reported. Not just a 10/15 day late. I've had a time when I've forgotten a bill and paid double on the next. It's never been reported. It would have to be as closely monitored as the credit bills.

And in the article, moving addresses too often would also be an impact on the score. College students or even young 20s would get dinged for that.

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Yeah, I don't like the addresses being relevant part of it either.

[Anonymous]

I wonder what the protocol would be for billing errors? Those folks that get the 3000 water bill for an apartment? Does it impact credit utilizations? Is that going to be on a whole separate level of our credit reports?

And how much will this impact getting utilities started?

[Anonymous]

It would force people, like myself to not be so lax about utilities and such. I constantly pay my cell phone about a week late because it's due at the first of the month, the same time as rent. Rent gets paid first. And the power bill I know I can get away with paying it a little late too. It would be something I would just have to get used to.

[camera_jen]

Honestly I think it would probably hurt.  My electric and gas are fine, auto pay and never late.  But my AT&T bill has been a darn mess even being enrolled in autopay.  THEIR billing system has had a lot of issues.  They don't bill then they bill 3 months at a time, 2 of which are "late", then they give credits.  I'm talking my bill is supposed to be $50 and they'll bill $17 then 3 months later $155.  I don't think consumers should have to be punished because they can't get their s**t together.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure how it will work. Are they going to back date payments? What happens when someone moves but the city doesn't take their name off the water bill (this happened to me, got a $2,500 water bill 8 months later!).

ComEd is notorious for billing errors. I really hope they'd be limited to 30 days late or more.

Why would frequent address changes have anything to do with it? I know lots of people who switch houses/apartments yearly, either for work or just a change of scenery.

[Anonymous]

Apparently it's viewed as a bad thing to move often. I wonder how much this is weighted against the actual credit accounts, too.

I really think it's designed to hurt the young that have great credit and learned to play the game. I think it will hurt the lower end income folks that struggle every month with heat and water.

Honestly it feels like too many people have learned how to play the game to our advantage and now they're changing the rules.