AU curiosity

[Anonymous]

So I recently was added to my mothers Citi Sears card. 

Card has almost 23 years perfect payment history with 89% utilization. Once account was added the following transpired. 

FICO Scores below 

Transunion up 15 points

Experian up 3 points

Equifax up 9 points  

However, I recently pulled my 3B report and my AAOA and AOOA did not increase nor did my utilization. On MF alerts it says total limit increase because of my moms card and then shows score increase. This has me stumped. Maybe it's counting it partially? 

[Anonymous]

It sounds like you're going by what the front-end CMS software is telling you.  It's important to understand that what CMS front-end software (even from MF) is telling you may not be what's going on with the algorithm on the back end.  If your scores went up and the only change was the AU account being added, I would say that the account is being "counted" - it sounds like the benefit of the greater age of accounts factors is slightly outweighing the penalty associated with the higher utilization.  What does this high-utilization individual account do to your aggregate utilization? 

[Anonymous]

It took my total utilization from 20% to 79%. On Experians site it seems to recongnize it on one screen and not on another...

It almost doubled both my AAOA and AOOA. 

[Anonymous]

An aggregate utilization shift from 20% to 79% is really bad.  3 thresholds being crossed (28.9%, 48.9%, 68.9%) at around 15 point each means around a 45 point hit to your FICO scores.  If your net gain is around (say) 10 points, it means that the age of accounts factors being increased seemed to help around 55 points give or take.  Regardless, 79% aggregate utilization is a huge red flag and outside of negative payment history information would be the second biggest sign of high risk. 

I personally would take the 10 fewer FICO points and rock a 20% utilization file as opposed to a 10 point higher 79% utilization file.  Sure aged is "better" than young, but upon a MR it can be seen that the AU account is the only thing causing your file to be aged... so you have to question if it's really "worth it" in the end.

[Anonymous]

All outstanding points! I appreciate you sharing your knowledge with me as I continue my FICO education! I want to ask you 1 more question if you have a second. I have a second AU coming on board in 7 days exactly. If counted it will actually pull my aggregate utilization down to 36%.  It's only 2 years perfect history with this second AU but a higher SL to help wash down the utilization but also slightly reducing my AAOA. 

The original AU that we've been discussing's utilization will be dropping to 50% by next report date. It's already been paid down. So that would more than likely take me well below 30% or better. Do you think with these additional factors I let it ride? With that history along with the utilization dropping I think I'm going to see close to 700's.  

[Anonymous]

Assuming the second AU account "counts" and your aggregate utilization drops to 30% (from 79%) you should see around a 30 point gain on your scores, give or take.  Since your highest utilization card will be dropping as well in addition to aggregate utilization, I could see the score gain being closer to 35-40 points.  How many total accounts do you have?  Where the first account dramatically increased your AAoA, the addition of another AU account that's only 2 years old while having no impact on AoOA could potentially drop your AAoA enough to impact score.  The thicker your file, the less this impact would be.

[Anonymous]

I have the following accounts open. The NFCU Rewards and Capital One secured are going to cut into that AAOA too but also utilization. Lots of new accounts! hahahaha 

Currently

Revolving

Open Sky - 0% Utilization / $200 CL  (perfect payment history) age 8 months

Greent Dot -  0% Utilization / $200 CL - age 2 month

Discover Secured - 0% Utilization / $200 CL - age 1 month

NFCU SSL 8% Utilization - age 1 month (Has not reported to Experian yet)

AU Citi Sears Card 89% Utilization - age 22yrs 

Closed Installments 

Wells Fargo Dealer Services - 11.83 years, perfect payment history PIF

Fifth Third Bank - 9.5 years, 12 30day, 6 60day = 18 total lates. (April 2019 will be 4 years from my last late) PIF

Closed Collection

Enhanced Recovery  4/25/17 (TU only) Dispute should be completed any day. It's been removed from EX, EQ

Accounts yet to be added 

AU Captial 1 Journey Card (0% Utilization) $8500 CL; 2 years 3 months

Secured Capital One $200 CL

NFCU Cash Rewards $1,000 CL

[Anonymous]

Your file definitely isn't thin, so AAoA impact associated with the addition of a new account would be relatively minor.

[Anonymous]

Don't forget you're being penalized for reporting all zero on your own cards.

[Anonymous]

Good point! My discover reports on the 23rd. I’m going to allow it to report something small. So my AU’d don’t count at the 1 for Azeo?