Equifax and Buckets

[Anonymous]

I think I have figured out when Equifax holds off on giving points.

 I did a refi on my house, got a 4,000 unsecured loan which is a miracle coming from where my points came from 460 in 2003. Then November 11.2008 they stopped again.

Not sure yet but I have been going thru periods where they stop giving points when you get in the 660 to 677 or so bucket and hold off for 2 months and when everything is going good, then wham they give you a bunch  of good points. I guess they (the formula) want to see what you do.

I was at 677 then the refi then went to 665 then back to 677 the next month, got the $4,000 went back to 663 and have been there since November. I really hope it goes back to at least 670 or better.

[RobertEG]

If you are talking about FICO scoring EQ does not make decisions about what will or will not be scored, or withold information from scoring.  EQ is merely the repository of date from creditors. They license the software necessary to generate your score from FairIsaac, and your full credit data at any point in time is evaluated by the FICO algorithm. 

Point ranges themselves are not "buckets."  So-called buckets are categories of consumers based on such general categories as the presence or lack of any major delinquencies in your CRA file (clean vs dirty file), length of credit history (thin vs thick file), and percent util of existing credit.  There are ten FICO buckets in all, but their exact specifications are a trade secret, and are not fully specified. 

What is done is that FCO scoring first assigns you to one of these ten different algorithms, then generates a score based on comparison of your history with those of similar history in that bucket.  Different things can trigger their decision to move you to a different comparison algorithm, but it is not driven primarily by your score within your current bucket.

What you are seeing is the normal settling of reporting information, which takes a month or two to be fully reported and included in your CR.  I dont think either EQ or FICO is "holding off on giving points."

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the note but, I pulled my credit report from my fico and everybody has reported in for November, December and January which is odd anyway to be so on time but I still have no movement from the score so they must be holding off or this so called algorithm must be doing something. Positive reporting can not generate no points, this has happened before.  

But thanks for the explanation.

[Anonymous]

Zman,

Unless your percent util changes, your number of balances reporting changes, your credit mix changes, or you hit magic dates like 1 year anniversary of an inquiry or account opening, or your average age or longest account gains a year your score will likely remain in a very small range. Even with some of these changes, it is very likely you will remain in a 10-15 point spread.

If you have baddies, some of them aging or falling off could help you significantly. So could reducing your utility to barebones levels, ensuring only 1 card reports a balance, etc.

Sadly we cannot fix the age of our accounts in the short run, we just have to be patient. Often the hardest part is to sit back and wait for age to cure some of the negatives on our reports.

[haulingthescoreup]

I remember moving through that score range pretty briskly. No automatic holding period or anything.

New accounts often flatten scores for a while.

[smallfry]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:
I remember moving through that score range pretty briskly. No automatic holding period or anything.

New accounts often flatten scores for a while.

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As in years. I am experiencing this right now even though I have only 3 accounts opened in the past 15 months 1 being a car loan. Paying for my CC orgy from mid 2007.

[haulingthescoreup]

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smallfry wrote:

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:
I remember moving through that score range pretty briskly. No automatic holding period or anything.

New accounts often flatten scores for a while.

---

As in years. I am experiencing this right now even though I have only 3 accounts opened in the past 15 months 1 being a car loan. Paying for my CC orgy from mid 2007.

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I hear ya. I'm so sick of EQ being stuck between 712 and 716. I lose three EQ inqs next month, so I'm hoping that will jolt something loose. No telling, though.