What are the highest FICO scores ever reported on this forum?

[Anonymous]

jello77:

It's great to see someone who shares a similar FICO profile.  For a couple of years, I had an 839 Experian score.  Then, for no apparent reason, my score dropped to 831.  When my oldest account's age increased from 29 to 30 years, my score soared to 842.  I discussed this occurrence here:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Expanded-quot-FICO-High-Achievers-quot-sc...

My scores are always at their highest when my reports show a very small balance (1% utilization) on just one credit card account. 

Good luck!!!!

[jello77]

psychic,

You said your score took an upward bump when the oldest account reached 30 years.

Here is something interesting that supports the idea that good things can happen when your credit file reaches the age of 30.

This 2011 press release describes a study of FICO scores by the company SubscriberWise.

From a sample of 250,000 credit reports, it found that 0.02% had a perfect FICO score of 850. That would amount to about 50 people from the sample.

Looking at those 50 people, it found this:

 Quote:  "the data revealed the average age of the credit file at exactly 30 years"

The most suprising thing about this study is showing that it is actually possible to achieve a perfect FICO score of 850.

So, psychic, you still have 8 points left to go. 

[GregB]

You can't get to 850 with any of the FICO scores that are being pulled by any of these posters. You can get to 850 with at least two, and probably 6, of the FICO 8 based Non-Industry scores. Since the term "Classic" is now dropped and there is now a "Mortgage Industry" score with FICO 8, it is getting a bit confusing again or should I say still confusing.

Using the term "perfect FICO score of 850" is very misleading at this point. It would probably be most accurate to call any EQ Beacon 5.0 above 815, any TU FICO Classic 04 above 835, and any EX FICO II above 840 to be "perfect, or so close it doesn't matter".

Edited: to change the second sentence to double the numbers. My initial version was correct for the full range of 300-850 but not for just reaching an actual 850. 

[jello77]

GregB,

Thanks for this additional information. The details you provide are most interesting and something I have never seen mentioned before.

If the study I cited above actually did involve scores that were literally at 850, am I correct in assuming it must have used FICO 08 model scores, because other models do not allow score to actually reach 850?

Also, can you tell me what "edition" of FICO are EQ Beacon 5.0  and EX FICO II.  Are they 98, 04, or 08?

[GregB]

EQ Beacon 5.0, TU 04, and EX FICO II are all based upon FICO 04. I am actually not 100% sure about EX FICO II. Everything I have says it is based on FICO 04 but the name seems wrong to me, somehow. EX seems very close with their info.  

The "editions" of FICO are 95, 98, 04, and 8. The names seem to have a loose similarity to the year that they were expected to be used except that FICO 8 isn't "08".

They are way off anyway. FICO 8 was "ready" in 2007, FICO 04 in 2000, FICO 98 in 1995, FICO 95 in 1993.

Edited: I forgot part of your question. The first Classic FICO that could actually reach 850 is FICO 8. Previous Industry Option versions could pass 850, at least in theory but don't actually seem to go near 900 in practice. It seems the stuff that actually can help the added Scorecard by the 50 points possible would hurt the base score (Classic) a bit. FICO Next Gen had an Actual Range of 209-897 and the 2003 update was 221-950 in TU versions.

[jello77]

GregB,

Many thanks for attempting to clarify the situation.

When I first started learning about credit scores, I was confused by all the different numbers and score ranges.

Then I learned the difference between FICO and FAKO scores and I thought--  OK, now I get it. Stick with FICO scores and all will be clear.

Then I learned that, even sticking with FICO, my head was still spinning with confusion.

If I understand it right, here is the FICO breakdown:

There are four different editions of FICO.

Each credit agency uses a customized version of each FICO edition.

Each agency version of each FICO edition is available in a "standard/Classic" version plus four industry sub-versions (mortgage, credit card, auto, installment).

Here's how the math works out:

(4 FICO editions)   x   (3 customized agency versions)   x   (5 standard and industry sub-versions)   =   60

So apparently, on the same day I could theoretically have 60 different FICO scores.

And then add the NextGen FICO model, which contributes another layer to the pile.

And then add all the various FAKO scores out there.

No wonder many consumers are perplexed by credit scores. The whole thing is a morass of numerical confusion.

But thanks for trying to un-confuse me.

[GregB]

Lots of possibilities but less than half are common. TU lists their options to a potential customer so is not proprietary:

FICO 95 Classic + 4 Industry Options -- I assume all are about as dead as the Dodo bird

FICO 98 Classic + 4 industry Options -- Dying off?

FICO 04 Classic + 4 Industry Options

FICO 8 Risk Score is not called "Classic" anymore + 2 Industry Options (AU & BC) + Mortgage Score, a new idea

FICO Next Gen and 2003 upgrade -- Dying or Dead?

[jello77]

Regarding confusion about credit scores:

Part of the problem is that FICO did not originally intend consumers to have access to scores. The multiplicity of FICO editions, versions, and sub-versions were intended only for internal use by the credit industry.

After consumers discovered the existence of FICO scores, they demanded access to them. FICO and lenders had to be dragged kicking and screaming into making them easily available.

Allowing consumers access to something that was never intended for them inevitably caused confusion.

I suspect this is one reason why MyFICO has stuck with the outdated TU98 model when selling scores to consumers.  FICO knows that changing to a newer model will cause confusion as people find their scores have gone up or down for no apparent reason.

[Anonymous]

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@jello77 wrote:

psychic,

You said your score took an upward bump when the oldest account reached 30 years.

Here is something interesting that supports the idea that good things can happen when your credit file reaches the age of 30.

This 2011 press release describes a study of FICO scores by the company SubscriberWise.

From a sample of 250,000 credit reports, it found that 0.02% had a perfect FICO score of 850. That would amount to about 50 people from the sample.

Looking at those 50 people, it found this:

 Quote:  "the data revealed the average age of the credit file at exactly 30 years"

The most suprising thing about this study is showing that it is actually possible to achieve a perfect FICO score of 850.

So, psychic, you still have 8 points left to go. 

---

My oldest account was opened 28.6 years ago, it would be nice to see an increase when it hits 30 yrs.

[vanillabean]

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@GregB wrote:

The first Classic FICO that could actually reach 850 is FICO 8. Previous Industry Option versions could pass 850, at least in theory but don't actually seem to go near 900 in practice.

---

Let's say, along these lines and just for the fun of it, that the algorithm for EX operates with a range, whose defined upper end is a number greater than 850, but that upon calculation exit any score greater than 850 is chopped off at 850, for compatibility with EQ and TU. Not a technique entirely unheard of, as credit companies report negative balances as zero. It would statistically result in more EX scores that are "perfect" than for EQ and TU, but the number is miniscule to begin with, in which context it matters little whether the maximum for EQ and TU is 850 or, perhaps more likely, less than 850. How often have you heard of an EQ or a TU greater than 816?