Congrats, but wierd.
Are you certain nothing else changed in your report? Installment loans don't work like that under FICO 8: if you look at the actual tradeline data is there a difference between the two accounts and what they're reported as?
@merlinflex wrote:
@Revelate wrote:Congrats, but wierd.
Are you certain nothing else changed in your report? Installment loans don't work like that under FICO 8: if you look at the actual tradeline data is there a difference between the two accounts and what they're reported as?
Not that I can see, other than the amount is lower than the original loan. Maybe rebucketed?
From a loan refinance? Can't see how unless you had some other change on your report.
FICO doesn't appear to have ever calculated on absolute amounts (unlike Vantage) to my knowledge; that said we don't have a whole lot of data around mortgage reporting as frankly house buying doesn't happen all that often for the vast majority of folks. Maybe when my own mortgage reports in another month or whatever will be able to tease something out, but short of the tradelines being fundamentally different there's really no explanation that I can think of.
@Thomas_Thumb wrote:Another data point supporting a potential Fico 8 ceiling without an installment loan/mortgage.
I have a long standing hypothesis that an open mortgage increases maximum score potential up to 30 points but not initially as some points are deducted (10 points generally but maybe up to 20 until a certain age and/or % of balace remaining threshold is reached). Also suspect a closed installment loan on file may account for 10 of the 30 points - in which case a 2nd one that is open may only have the potential to add 20 points.
Food for thought. Any data supporting or discrediting the hypothesis is welcome.
This is a mortgage refinance though; presumably there was one already on there which is why I am so skeptical of this being the reason for the change.
Other datapoints of a new mortgage reporting have been a loss, much like an auto loan refinance; we'll see with mine as I have godlike installment utilization currently after my reindeer game playing: if I suddenly drop 18ish points on FICO 8 and FICO 04 does natch, it'll be pretty conclusive that mortgages = installment and nothing extra.
@Thomas_Thumb wrote:Agree, a new mortgage should result in a short term drop (up to 6 months?). However, it should also increase long term score potential - if it is an only mortgage and more certainly if no other installment loans are on file.
Not sure how a re-fi on an existing mortgage works particularly if the mortgage went under ground for a few months and then resurfaced under a different identity as the OP seems to indicate.
The second part likely depends on how it's reported honestly.
The elephant in the living room is nobody can accurately tell me if a mortgage is counted as simple installment, or if it's held outside that. If it is simple installment, then I'm going to get whacked hard and we know how that works pretty well in the FICO 8 04, and 98 algorithms. We're missing some precise breakpoints but we know they're there and it's pretty conclusively aggregate rather than individual tradeline metrics.
If the mortgage counts as something else, I don't know how it's going to work. There's been lots of things I've seen online that maybe it's counted seperately: FICO reason codes, the old and maybe current Equifax reports from the bureau, but we just don't know explicitly. I'm really really hoping my new Cap 1 reports soonish so that I can get a good checkpoint before my mortgage lands. Need to get my report more stable than it is.