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There is no 'Understanding Fico Scoring'

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Anonymous
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There is no 'Understanding Fico Scoring'

You have a short credit history. Your oldest account was opened
37 Years, 3 Months agoFICO High Achievers [?] opened their oldest account 19 years ago, on average. Average age of your accounts
8 yearsMost FICO High Achievers [?] have an average age of accounts between 6 and 12 years.
 
This doesn't even make *sense*!
 
My score also went up 28 points when my utilization jumped 10 points. All of a sudden the negs in the explanation listed last month aren't listed this month (even though nothing changed) and my Positive (Long Credit) became a Negative (Short Credit) even though it is a month later.
 
I think they just use the old wheel from Price is Right.
Message 1 of 10
9 REPLIES 9
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: There is no 'Understanding Fico Scoring'


@Anonymous wrote:

This doesn't even make *sense*!
My score also went up 28 points when my utilization jumped 10 points. All of a sudden the negs in the explanation listed last month aren't listed this month (even though nothing changed) and my Positive (Long Credit) became a Negative (Short Credit) even though it is a month later.
I think they just use the old wheel from Price is Right.



You're in a new score bucket, courtesy of the AU accounts, and you are now compared with other long-term credit consumers. It's typical that things which used to be negatives are now ignored, and new things are dragged out.

What other negatives do you have now, and what are the positives?

That's pretty humorous about your age. (MV will be along directly, I'm sure, or at least when he gets back in town.) I think it's referring to your average age. Although it's certainly much better than mine, for those with 37-year-old accounts, your group probably expects it to be closer to 12 years or more.

You'll keep getting negatives, and they'll be progressively more ludicrous, until you hit score Nirvana. My DH now has no negatives on all three reports, which irks me, kinda.
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 2 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: There is no 'Understanding Fico Scoring'

Well on this one (TU) I have;
 
Midland (trying to get off as OC already took off as not mine, Midland ignored DV, CRAs MOV was to call and verify CA knew my name and ss#)
 
6 3/4 Cap1 CO (trying to pay for update to Paid or re-open account)
 
Professional Collections (falls off end of year, the did DV but ignored PFD request)
 
My Efax is a few points better with the Midland and Cap1 only.
 
Hoping another month or so and Midland fall off and maybe Cap1 cooperation score will be mid 700s.
Message 3 of 10
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: There is no 'Understanding Fico Scoring'



@Anonymous wrote:
Well on this one (TU) I have;
Midland (trying to get off as OC already took off as not mine, Midland ignored DV, CRAs MOV was to call and verify CA knew my name and ss#)
6 3/4 Cap1 CO (trying to pay for update to Paid or re-open account)
Professional Collections (falls off end of year, the did DV but ignored PFD request)
My Efax is a few points better with the Midland and Cap1 only.
Hoping another month or so and Midland fall off and maybe Cap1 cooperation score will be mid 700s.



OK, my bad, that confuses things. I forgot that you're fighting these collections. So now I don't know if you're in a collections bucket and also have crazy long history, or if you're in the long history bucket and also have collections. We're all still trying to figure out which trumps which, so I don't know which it is.

What I was actually asking was, what are the other negatives, and what are the positives on screen 2, where you found the deeply humorous short history comment? Sometimes you can compare these to earlier reports and see where you need to concentrate your efforts.
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 4 of 10
RobertEG
Legendary Contributor

Re: There is no 'Understanding Fico Scoring'

There is a big  difference between FICO scoring and the stupid comments attached to your CR. Just because you get one of those nonsensical comments does not mean that it actuall affected your scoring  The scoring model is generated by FairIsaac and sold to the CRAs, and that is what determines your score, not the comments provided by the CRAs  The comments are generated by a separate program that looks at certain trip factors in your CR. I simply ignore those comments.  Understanding FICO scoring is understanding of what actually scores, and the weight of each in your score..  Thousands of posts on this site go into great detail on what those factors are. 
Yes, there is an understanding of FICO scoring, at  least in the broad sense.
Message 5 of 10
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: There is no 'Understanding Fico Scoring'

And those "nonsensical comments" directly quote the known FICO scoring factors. They vary according to where you are with your current credit profile.

The ones that everyone cracks up over are the age comments, because they contain both your overall history figure and your average history figure.

The positive comments are probably more in the line of "attaboys", but the negative comments come directly from the FICO scoring points, not from the CRA's. If you want to read CRA comments, go read the advice on a TrueCredit report or Experian PLUS score report or other non-FICO sources.
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 6 of 10
RobertEG
Legendary Contributor

Re: There is no 'Understanding Fico Scoring'

Hauling, I may be totally wrong on this, and if so, I welcome clarification, for I too am often puzzled by the inconsistency between what FICO considers in scoring, and the comments attached to the scoring done at the CRAs.  They are surely and consistently inconsistent.
Are you saying that the comments are generated by FairIsaac based upon your scoring, and not by the CRAs based upon their evaluation?
I would find it incredible for FairIsaac to model a credit history of over 37 years, clearly superior, and an avg age of credit of 8 years, clearly average at the least, and then state that you have a short credit history.  I would love to know who generates those stupid comments, and whether or not it is FairIsaac, based on their actual scoring, or the party (e.g, the CRA) that is using the FICO model.
I think the answer to that question, at least in my mind, would go a long way towards resolving the ever-puzzling disparity.
Message 7 of 10
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: There is no 'Understanding Fico Scoring'

Yup, they look like FICO comments to me!

As for OP's history being regarded as short, that's amusing, but think about it: how many people with 37+ years of a continuously open account (not something opened 37 years ago, closed, and now long since vanished) are also going to have an average age of 8 years? So if the High Achievers typically have average ages of between 6 to 12 years, and OP is being compared to them in the I've-had-credit-forever score bucket, then his average age is definitely on the short side.

Of course it can happen, especially if someone in their sixties got their AmEx green in college, and they've clung to it all these years, while their paid-off mortgages and car loans have fallen off, lowering the average. But OP's situation results from having gone AU on his parent's card, I think it was. (nyccc, am I remembering that correctly?) I wouldn't be a bit surprised if OP is actually younger than his credit age!

Just as in any statistical system, there are outliers in FICO land, and comments aren't going to make a whole lot of sense for them. But the comments on my reports are dead on: you've had a serious derog (1 90-day), you've had derogs on multiple accounts (3), you've had lates (12, all 30's except the above), and your history is short and/or you've opened too many accounts in the last year (7). My history is 19 years BUT an average age of 3 years 7 months. So yes, even with 19 years on my oldest account, I have short history!
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 8 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: There is no 'Understanding Fico Scoring'

Hauling, you are indeed right on the parents AU Amex.  The rest of my cards are 0 to 10 years.
 
Still when I look at last months power report, the same exact mix (37/8) was a positive (long credit history).
Message 9 of 10
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: There is no 'Understanding Fico Scoring'


@Anonymous wrote:
Hauling, you are indeed right on the parents AU Amex.  The rest of my cards are 0 to 10 years.
 
Still when I look at last months power report, the same exact mix (37/8) was a positive (long credit history).
That really does make it look like you're in some new sort of bucket. What it is, though, I dunno. Smiley Tongue I suppose another possibility is that last time the 37 years was a positive, and in the meantime something else in your negatives got less bad, and so this time the average age became a negative. I wish they'd split up that comment.

This sort of thing will make you as nuts as when we tried to figure out guys (or girls) when we were 14. Clues all over the place, but they don't want to add up!
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 10 of 10
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