Differences between FICO 08 and FICO 04?

[Anonymous]

This is probably a question best directed a T.Thumb, if you're available!

My mortgage company has always provided me with a TU FICO 08 score.  I've noticed that the score they provide typically lags about a month behind where it should be, which is no big deal.  I get my TU FICO 08 score through Discover monthly already, as well as a couple of times per month from CCT when I pull my scores.  My TU FICO 08 score over the past 7 months (possibly longer) has been extremely consistent, having fluctuated up 4 points and back down 3 once and remained constant all other times.  When I logged into my mortgage account today and checked my score, I noticed that it was down 8 points which I thought was odd.  Upon scrolling down and reading the fine print, I see it says the it's now a TU FICO 04 score.

Long story short, my TU FICO 04 score is 8 points lower than my TU FICO 08.  Not that I care about the points, I'm just curious what the basic differences are between these two scoring models just for my own knowledge.

[Thomas_Thumb]

BBS - There are quite a few differences between Fico 04 and Fico 8. Here are a few to consider:

1) Fico 8 gives bonus points for an open installment loan. Fico 04 does not.

2) Fico 04 always considers AU accounts in the algorithm. They are conditional in Fico 8 and may be ignored.

3) Fico 04, from what I see, is less forgiving to an increased # of cards reporting balances. Also, this factor appears to be weighted more in Fico 04.

4) Upper score is limited to 818 on EQ Fico 04 and 839 on TU Fico 04. Supposedly 850 is possible with EX Fico 04.

5) Aggregate CC utilization may be weighed more heavily in Fico 8 than it is in Fico 04. Conversely, individual card UT may be weighed more heavily in Fico 04 than it is in Fico 8. [Clarification - regardless of the model Aggregate UT% always carries more weight than individual card]

6) Fico 04 has 10 scorecards whereas Fico 8 has 12 scorecards. The additional 2 in Fico 8 are used to further subdivide dirty files. That likely impacts how baddies are treated. Perhaps minor baddies treated less harshly in Fico 8 but, severe derogs treated more harshly.

7) Under $100 collections discounted in Fico 8 but not in Fico 04. Medical collections treated differently from other collections in Fico 8.

[Revelate]

To add one: you lose substantial points on FICO 8 if you don't have an open credit card in comparison to FICO 04 (680's to 630's when we made the transition to FICO 8 for Scorewatch and all the members had open was installment loans of various types).

Another at least from my data, FICO 8 weights recent information more heavily: additional tax lien on EQ FICO 5 lost 5 points, FICO 8 lost over 50; however, by the time 6 months had passed I'd recovered many of the FICO 8 points.

Also saw similar with my 30D late on TU, my FICO 4 hardly budged, my FICO 8 got slapped but have the points back after a year.

Anecdotal as most folks tracking their scores heavily don't rack up more negatives, but certainly suggests at least for dirty files there's some disparity.

[Anonymous]

All very good stuff to know above.  Thank you guys.