EX FICO available here does not score AU accounts?

[cegpn]

I just pulled my DH's scores to see how we are progressing towards our mortgage app and his EX FICO is nearly 100 pts lower than his TU and EQ. His EX report is actually "cleaner" as it does not include the 4 medical collections that show up on TU and EQ that we are working on removing and it does include 2 older accounts that were in good standing that are quite old. Everything else appears to be the same. (I will check more thoroughly after I recover from the shock, but nothing is glaringly different.) The only big thing I noticed was that it stated "There is no recent activity on your credit cards" and "You have few accounts in good standing". Under both it suggests that he open a credit card and use it? He is AU on both my credit cards that are in good standing, with low utilization, and perfect payment history so I assume they don't factor these in the score? What can we do about this? I am  not sure if it is a good idea to open a card at this point since we were hoping to app for our mortgage in March.

[llecs]

Where did he pull his EX FICO from?

[cegpn]

Here. This is the first time we have pulled it.

[guiness56]

They are supposed to be factored in.

[cegpn]

I may have found the discrepancy. Our jackdonkey mortgage servicer has randomly decided to report us as 90+ days past due as of 7/13. Ugh! They are driving me crazy with their incorrect reporting.  We are not only not late, we have been making extra payments. Last month, they had us 120 days past due as of 11/11 when there have been no actual late payments. I am getting really sick of them!

I do wonder about the comments though b/c there are payment amount reported and all payment history is accurate for the AU accounts?

[llecs]

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@cegpn wrote:

I just pulled my DH's scores to see how we are progressing towards our mortgage app and his EX FICO is nearly 100 pts lower than his TU and EQ. His EX report is actually "cleaner" as it does not include the 4 medical collections that show up on TU and EQ that we are working on removing and it does include 2 older accounts that were in good standing that are quite old. Everything else appears to be the same. (I will check more thoroughly after I recover from the shock, but nothing is glaringly different.) The only big thing I noticed was that it stated "There is no recent activity on your credit cards" and "You have few accounts in good standing". Under both it suggests that he open a credit card and use it? He is AU on both my credit cards that are in good standing, with low utilization, and perfect payment history so I assume they don't factor these in the score? What can we do about this? I am  not sure if it is a good idea to open a card at this point since we were hoping to app for our mortgage in March.

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I asked the question because I wasn't sure if you were looking at a FICO or FAKO from somewhere. The EX FICO on here is a FICO8 version and is new for all of us.

For certain, all FICO8 versions (including the EX FICO on here and the TU FICO offered for free via Wal-Mart) do include ALL AUs. At one point when the score was being developed there was talk of excluding AUs to eliminate artificial score-inflation via piggybacking and other similar scams. However FICO reversed that decision prior to releasing the scores because of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. It can be seen as detrimintal for spouses who have no credit at all and rely on the other for credit, loans, etc.

You should also know that your lender likely isn't using this FICO version and the score they get will differ from the one in here. Most mortgage lenders use an older version of EX FICO that was developed in 1998ish (Fair Isaac Risk Model v2). Now the EX FICO8 version on here will exclude CAs under $100 and not so with other versions.

The FICO formula differs across all 3. Don't take away that because EX lacks the reporting medical CAs that the score should be higher. Is there anything different on EX that is not on EQ or TU (aside from the 4 CAs)? How does the length of history and AAoA compare? Do you have any recent baddies on EX in relation to EQ and TU? BTW, are these medical CAs under $100?

Are your scores high enough for approval (e.g. 640)? If so, I wouldn't worry about adding another CC. Does he have any CCs of his own?

[cegpn]

TU and EQ are very close. TU is at 629 and EQ is 646 so I think we should be able to gain the extra points needed once the medical collections are removed. They are all over $100, but less than $200. We are doing a PFD as they are all from the same provider. He does not have any current credit cards of his own.

[mongstradamus]

I think ex from here and Walmart tu use similar scoring formula, where Au don't seem to counted for much. I too have an experian from my face that is 80+ points lower than equifax and tu from here. Wish there was somewhere that clearly states how each version is scored

[guiness56]

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@mongstradamus wrote:

I think ex from here and Walmart tu use similar scoring formula, where Au don't seem to counted for much. I too have an experian from my face that is 80+ points lower than equifax and tu from here. Wish there was somewhere that clearly states how each version is scored

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 FICO 8 does count AU accounts, they ding high utilization harder, are more lienient with a rare late payment if your other accounts are in good standing, they do no not count collections $100 or under.

If it is a spouses CC there should be no issues at all,  It could be one if it is a distant relative because FICO 8 reduces the impact of those AU accounts.

[mongstradamus]

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@guiness56 wrote:

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@mongstradamus wrote:

I think ex from here and Walmart tu use similar scoring formula, where Au don't seem to counted for much. I too have an experian from my face that is 80+ points lower than equifax and tu from here. Wish there was somewhere that clearly states how each version is scored

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 FICO 8 does count AU accounts, they ding high utilization harder, are more lienient with a rare late payment if your other accounts are in good standing, they do no not count collections $100 or under.

If it is a spouses CC there should be no issues at all,  It could be one if it is a distant relative because FICO 8 reduces the impact of those AU accounts.

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In my case I am AU with my mother, is distant relative everybody that isn't your spouse? On my credit reports they are reporting those lines of credit, but doesn't seem like i am getting much benefit out of it oh well. I have tried to keep utilization low usually between 2-3 %.