Understanding FICO® Scoring

[robandmichele]

i finally got very curious and ordered one from myfico.com tonight. i wonder if i'm gonna get addicted to this game. TU 810

[ChumChurum]

TU, Mar 15, 2008: 788

EQ, April 2, 2008: 806

EX - don't know, but probably close to TU.

[ilovepizza]

760+ all 3 CRAs.

[fused]

Here are a couple of High Achiever credit files. Interesting, it's my credit history length, average-age of accounts and inqs that have set me back quite a bit with EX. With the first two, there's not much I can do.

FICO Scores:

EQ: 777

EX:  734

TU:  792

EQ Report (777):

overall revolving utilization is 9% (< 10%)

credit history length 28.5 years

average-age of accounts is 6 years

0 inqs

no lates and no other derogs

14 total trade lines

9 open trade lines:

1 unsecured loan 10K/bal 6.8K

1 BoA unsecured LOC 26.5K CL/ bal 5211

Amex Blue 20K/bal 0

Amex Plat

Chase Visa 19.3K/bal 1871

Discover Motiva 10K (suppose to be 50K)/bal 0

FIA Fidelity Visa 25K/bal 2521

First Hawaiian Bank Visa 10K/bal 0

Macy's Gold 2.7K/bal 0

5 closed trade lines

1 auto loan paid and closed; never late

1 unsecured loan paid and closed; never late

Amex Gold AU account $0 bal; never late

Amex Gold account (dupe account); never late

CITI Dividends MC $0 bal; never late

EX Report (734):

overall revolving utilization is 9% (< 10%)

credit history length is 14.5 years

average-age of accounts < 3 years

3 inqs

no lates and no other derogs

13 total trade lines

9 open trade lines:

1 unsecured loan 10K/bal 6.8K

1 BoA unsecured LOC 26.5K CL/ bal 5211

Amex Blue 20K/bal 0

Amex Plat

Chase Visa 19.3K/bal 1871

Discover Motiva 10K (suppose to be 50K)/bal 0

FIA Fidelity Visa 25K/bal 2521

First Hawaiian Bank Visa 10K/bal 0

Macy's Gold 2.7K/bal 0

4 closed trade lines

1 auto loan paid and closed; never late

1 unsecured loan paid and closed; never late

Amex Gold account (dupe account); never late

CITI Dividends MC $0 bal; never late

TU Report (792):

overall revolving utilization is 9% (< 10%)

credit history length 28.5 years

average-age of accounts is 6 years

0 inqs

no lates and no other derogs

14 total trade lines

9 open trade lines:

1 unsecured loan 10K/bal 6.8K

1 BoA unsecured LOC 26.5K CL/ bal 5211

Amex Blue 20K/bal 0

Amex Plat

Chase Visa 19.3K/bal 1871

Discover Motiva 10K (suppose to be 50K)/bal 0

FIA Fidelity Visa 25K/bal 2134

First Hawaiian Bank Visa 10K/bal 0

Macy's Gold 2.7K/bal 0

5 closed trade lines

1 auto loan paid and closed; never late

1 unsecured loan paid and closed; never late

Amex Gold AU account $0 bal; never late

Amex Gold account (dupe account); never late

CITI Dividends MC $0 bal; never late

The differences in scores is big and here is why:

- EX has a credit history length of 14.5 years comapred to EQ and TU which is 28 years 5 months

  (estimated loss in points is 10-15)

- EX average-age of accounts is < 3 years compared to EQ and TU which is 6 years 

  (estimated loss in points is 15+)

- EX has 3 inqs compared with EQ and TU which have 0 inqs

  ( estimated loss in points is 15-20)

I think these differences account for at least 40-55 points.

[psychic]

fused--

You have wonderful balance in your trade lines and varied card issuers.  When the Discover Motiva card starts reporting as a 50K credit line, you must let us know how it reports (i.e., revolving, installment, etc.) and is considered in utilization calculations. 

Message Edited by psychic on 04-06-2008 08:49 PM

[sh9730]

Just joined this group yesterday....

TU - 700

EQ - 720

EX  - 782!! 

The difference is that EX dropped off the last baddie on my CR a couple months earlier than the other two will.  Wasnt officially supposed to drop until June.  I posted on this over on FICO SCORING forum also. 

With a little luck I might actually crack 800 soon.  Payments that will post this month will click me below the 20% utils mark and my understanding is I ll get a bump from that.

[psychic]

sh9370--

Congratulations on becoming a FICO High Achiever!!!

[ChumChurum]

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psychic wrote:

fused--

You have wonderful balance in your trade lines and varied card issuers.  When the Discover Motiva card starts reporting as a 50K credit line, you must let us know how it reports (i.e., revolving, installment, etc.) and is considered in utilization calculations. 

---

psychic: I am curious as to why would the Motiva report as "installment".  Is there something special about the 50K level?

[ChumChurum]

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fused wrote:

Here are a couple of High Achiever credit files. Interesting, it's my credit history length, average-age of accounts and inqs that have set me back quite a bit with EX. With the first two, there's not much I can do.

FICO Scores:

EQ: 777

EX:  734

TU:  792

---

fused: it seems that your credit profile is better than mine in every respect, yet your scores are lower.  I wonder why.

Here is my post showing my Equifax file and score:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=ficoscoring&message.id=18503#M18503

[psychic]

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ChumChurum wrote:

---

psychic wrote:

fused--

You have wonderful balance in your trade lines and varied card issuers.  When the Discover Motiva card starts reporting as a 50K credit line, you must let us know how it reports (i.e., revolving, installment, etc.) and is considered in utilization calculations. 

---

psychic: I am curious as to why would the Motiva report as "installment".  Is there something special about the 50K level?

---

Each CRA is different.  I have a $33,300 revolving CL that is not included my TransUnion (and I suspect) Experian utilization calculations.  However, this CL is included in my Equifax utilization calculations.  We've always been a little "fuzzy" about these cut-off points.  I'm just trying to determine each CRA's behavior when it comes to high credit lines.