FICO 8 vs FICO 04s !!? What is going on ?

[Anonymous]

Why is my FICO 8 so much higher than my fICO 04s?  It is getting me very upset because lenders who pull FICO 8 approved me with high limits and lower rates ($5,000+) while others deny me outright who pull FICO 04, or approve me with $1,000 limits and 22% APR !!!  Currently my FICO 8s are 680s -700 and FICO 04s are low 600s (EQ 618, EXP 638, TU 647) !!!  Any idea what is going on ? Here are stats:

AAofA: 7 Years, 13 oldest
UTIL: 30% now, once new lines report will be under 20% !
Baddies: - NO Major Derogs (Coll, C/O, over 60 day lates)
- 30 Day late x 2 -- 22 months old, thats IT!!!!!! Student loans, not CC

INQs: Moderate to heavy on EXP & EQ, Light on TU

Does FICO 04 weigh INQs and minor baddies way more heavily?  And UTIL?  I think I heard the 04 model weighs the UTIL way more which would explain that, so hopefully when my UTIL drops to about 17% that will help dramatically ... baddies will age to 2 years old soon, whih should boost my scores a bit too as 30 day lates stop affecting at 2 years (right?)  Weigh in please - this is really bugging me!!  Thank you !

[Anonymous]

UncleB. I feel your pain.  

I am in the same boat as you.  My fico 8's are about 40 to 60 points higher the my fico 04's.   I have utilization at about 6% but I do have several baddies that are 4 to 5 years old.  So who knows what makes the difference in scores.  I've asked the question before and I don't think anyone really knows.

Except the credit bureaus themselves and they're not telling. LOL

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Why is my FICO 8 so much higher than my fICO 04s?  It is getting me very upset because lenders who pull FICO 8 approved me with high limits and lower rates ($5,000+) while others deny me outright who pull FICO 04, or approve me with $1,000 limits and 22% APR !!!  Currently my FICO 8s are 680s -700 and FICO 04s are low 600s (EQ 618, EXP 638, TU 647) !!!  Any idea what is going on ? Here are stats:

AAofA: 7 Years, 13 oldest
UTIL: 30% now, once new lines report will be under 20% !
Baddies: - NO Major Derogs (Coll, C/O, over 60 day lates)
- 30 Day late x 2 -- 22 months old, thats IT!!!!!! Student loans, not CC

INQs: Moderate to heavy on EXP & EQ, Light on TU

Does FICO 04 weigh INQs and minor baddies way more heavily?  And UTIL?  I think I heard the 04 model weighs the UTIL way more which would explain that, so hopefully when my UTIL drops to about 17% that will help dramatically ... baddies will age to 2 years old soon, whih should boost my scores a bit too as 30 day lates stop affecting at 2 years (right?)  Weigh in please - this is really bugging me!!  Thank you !

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My personal experience is that Fico 04 does weigh inquiries more heavily than does Fico 08. I had one inquiry on EQ Fico 08 with an 850 score. However, my EQ Fico 04 was 796. When the inquiry aged off (at one year) my EQ Fico 4 jumped to 809. Also, my experience is that Fico 04 is more sensitive to # cards (open accounts) reporting a balance than is Fico 08.

My motto for Fico 08 model: Some new credit is good, a lot of new credit is not good

My motto for Fico 04 model: All new credit is suspect.

I believe influence of your student loan on score differs between Fico 08 and Fico 04. Also, Fico 08 factors in QTY of 30 day lates in the analysis. For example, 1 or 2 [30 day lates] should impact Fico 08 score less than they impact Fico 04. However, if you had 5 or 6 lates; the impact would be greater on Fico 08 than Fico 04.

Regarding utilization, I believe Fico 04 weighs individual card utilization % more heavily than does Fico 08. Aggregate utilization across all cards combined is the greater area of focus on Fico 08.

[Anonymous]

Good luck with that Joey. I hope it works out for you pal.. 

[JagerBombs89]

FICO8 generate higher FICO scores over older models when all things are the same.  It took me 4 years to get 760+ on FICO 04 while those on FICO8 can hit 760+ in less than 2 years. 

[manyquestions]

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@JagerBombs89 wrote:

FICO8 generate higher FICO scores over older models when all things are the same.  It took me 4 years to get 760+ on FICO 04 while those on FICO8 can hit 760+ in less than 2 years. 

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I've had the same experience. With clean files, FICO 8 scoring is about 40 points more generous on all three of my reports than FICO 4.

[Anonymous]

I'm the exact opposite, my 08 are 636-665 but my 04's are 654, 671, 694. I have a mortgage and multiple auto loans in my history, paid on time and paid off prior to my bk. Post bk multiple auto loans (new, closed and refi). Lots of new cards and tons of inquiries. Can't tell what really makes the computer happy these days.

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I'm the exact opposite, my 08 are 636-665 but my 04's are 654, 671, 694. I have a mortgage and multiple auto loans in my history, paid on time and paid off prior to my bk. Post bk multiple auto loans (new, closed and refi). Lots of new cards and tons of inquiries. Can't tell what really makes the computer happy these days.

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Results vary substantially depending on what scorecard your credit profile is associated with.

As mentioned Fico 8 likes a little new credit but hits your score harder than does Fico 4 if you have a lot of new credit (lots of inquiries under 1 year). Ultimately there is a saturation point on INQ count and once you have 10, adding another 20 won't have any additional impact. However, continued lowering of AAoA can still influence results

[Revelate]

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@JagerBombs89 wrote:

FICO8 generate higher FICO scores over older models when all things are the same.  It took me 4 years to get 760+ on FICO 04 while those on FICO8 can hit 760+ in less than 2 years. 

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Installment utilization breaks that assertion.  As do folks without sufficient mix of open tradelines... people without credit cards get absolutely hammered under FICO 8, whereas they're pretty much just fine under FICO 04.

It's not a one size fits all, but in general I agree all other things being equal FICO 8 will trend higher than FICO 04 for the majority of consumers.  Also adding is there was no way to reach an 850 before the release of FICO 8, so effectively it's scored out of a higher max number as well (i.e. 818 vs 850 when we're talking Beacon 5.0 and Beacon 9).