Credit Trending

[Odiseous]

I just got off the phone with a customer, who says his friend (a mortgage loan originator) told him that the credit bereaus are now providing utilization trends when someone applies for credit. Apparently, when you apply for credit, in addition to showing your current reported balance, they'll also report your previous utilization trends as well.  No word on how far back it's supposed to show the trends. This reportedly started on June 1.

Has anyone else heard of this?

[Dahlia77]

No, but thanks for sharing.  Makes me feel better about always reporting under 10% of my overall available credit.

[Gmood1]

Thanks for the great info! I'm glad I let everything report! Lol

[Discover2016]

I did some minor research on the web and it looks like it was designed for use in the mortgage industry.

[core]

Two things...

1.  If this started 3 weeks ago, why are we just hearing about it now?  Loan officers are large in number and what's present in a credit report isn't secret or anything like that (unlike FICO algos).  I would have thought this would have been big news, if it's true and already live.

2.  If I request my paper reports now, am I going to see all this new information on them?  If they are showing mortgage lenders information that they are NOT showing to me, then it isn't really a full file disclosure, is it?  I'll be requesting mine tonight.

[CatOfSpades]

I got updated reports today and yesterday from FreeCreditReport.com and Credit Karma. There is nothing new on there. Is it possible that the mortgage lender is talking about how the bureaus report the highest balance you've ever carried? Because they have always done that. 

[RobertEG]

Historical account balances have been included in consumer file histories for years.. similar to historical payment history profiles.

That is nothing new.

However, most commercial credit reports do not include that information.

You are likely seeing a commercail vendor who is offering that standard into.

Check a copy of your report obtained via annualcreditreport.com, which may show historical balances.

You can, of course, recreate historical  % utils if you know the credit limits.

[RonM21]

I do see the high balance reported on my reports. I have not heard about this, and wonder if it isn't what Robert described, which is commercially related.

[Anonymous]

I've seen this info on my credit reports in the past.  Basically it shows you your monthly balances, payment amounts, payment dates, etc.  A little quick math yields utilization percentages that could go back a year or longer.

I'm not sure I see all too much significance in seeing past utilization amounts.  Like anything with credit such as late payments/derogs, utilization that is most current is what matters most.  What it's at now is most meaningful and scoring is reflected as such.  Same way a late payment now is going to sting more than one from a year and a half ago, utilization now matters far more than what it was a year and a half ago.

[takeshi74]

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@Odiseous wrote:

I just got off the phone with a customer, who says his friend (a mortgage loan originator) told him

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So double hearsay? 

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@Odiseous wrote:

TU98 751, EQ 766, EX 766 (Lender

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Make sure you're considering the specific scoring models for all your scores.  "Lender" doesn't really mean anything.  Lenders don't all use the same scoring model.