topic Re: FICO 9 Score: Inaccuracies in Understanding FICO® Scoring

FICO 9 Score: Inaccuracies

WoodlandFlora — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 11:03:39 GMT

I am beyond baffled at the discrepancy between my 08 scores and the 9. My scores are 744, 768, 785 with the thr 08 model and the 9 model ranges from 714, 724, and 726.

I have exceptional payment history on the 08 side, zero negatives, never late. The FICO 9 says one thing hurting my score is a serious delinquency. To say I am shocked is an understatement. I've never had a charge off, no collections, absolutely no late payments.

How do I address this? My 3B scores for the 8 are pretty awesome, and you would think they wouldn't be that high with a serious delinquency. Every single account shows paid and zero lates.

Help! How do I fix this?

Re: FICO 9 Score: Inaccuracies

Revelate — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 13:12:17 GMT

@WoodlandFlora wrote:
I am beyond baffled at the discrepancy between my 08 scores and the 9. My scores are 744, 768, 785 with the thr 08 model and the 9 model ranges from 714, 724, and 726.

I have exceptional payment history on the 08 side, zero negatives, never late. The FICO 9 says one thing hurting my score is a serious delinquency. To say I am shocked is an understatement. I've never had a charge off, no collections, absolutely no late payments.

How do I address this? My 3B scores for the 8 are pretty awesome, and you would think they wouldn't be that high with a serious delinquency. Every single account shows paid and zero lates.

Help! How do I fix this?

The Loan Modification might be it? That's kinda a brand spanking new thing in terms of popularity after the mortgage crisis I think so if it's reflected negatively (which it likely is from a lender's perpspective and there may be statistical data to back that up) it might be included.

Honestly we don't know FICO 9 well, only way to get it is with an instant in time pull and the data around it is very very rare at this point.

http://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/2012/02/15/impact-of-loan-modification-on-scores/

That was the quick Google result that I could find but it's not very descriptive but from your description I don't know what else it might be. On the plus side hardly anyone is using FICO 9 and probably won't be for a while (year or more). Was the LMN tag once or continuously reported on the tradeline when you look at the actual tradeline history?

Re: FICO 9 Score: Inaccuracies

WoodlandFlora — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 14:41:11 GMT

The issue is we didn't ask for it to be modified. BofA did it to adjust escrow. We have never missed a payment or had a late payment in the 9.5 years we've owned our home.

I am not even sure why that would show as a derogatory/60 days late because we have never been.

Re: FICO 9 Score: Inaccuracies

WoodlandFlora — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 14:41:58 GMT

It showed up twice, February and March.

Re: FICO 9 Score: Inaccuracies

Revelate — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 15:07:09 GMT

@WoodlandFlora wrote:
It showed up twice, February and March.

As I understand it Escrow Adjustment is a normal process that occurs annually since taxes / insurance change; I'd talk to BOFA and ask what's up with the reporting status as if LMN stands for loan modication, that's something else entirely.

If there's no other issues on your report, which seems likely based on your FICO 8 scores (or it's something really really old that's still on there, worth double-checking, again probably) then this would be the obvious conclusion.

The only other thing I could suggest, do you have any recent inquiries on your files? I have a big disparity between my EQ FICO 9 and EX (65 points similar to yours), but when I pulled it I had an inquiry that was a week old whereas the ones on EQ were >6 months at that point. FICO 8 doesn't have that differentiation I know, and it's not conclusive on FICO 9 but it was the only thing I could theorize after scrutenizing my reports and scores as the tradelines are line item identical between the two reports other than the usual EX/EQ differences of a month's reporting.

Re: FICO 9 Score: Inaccuracies

WoodlandFlora — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 15:37:12 GMT

I actually called MyFICO about this and they can't see anything and are as baffled as me. The rep and two supervisors confirmed that there is absolutely nothing that is a delinquency. They have zero idea as to why it says that and it could have populated as default, but no solid reasons as to why. They all agreed my report was clean.

The only report that had LMN was TU. They always seem wonky to me. I don't know why it would be a modification either and was shocked it was labeled as such as we have a yearly escrow analysis.

Re: FICO 9 Score: Inaccuracies

Revelate — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 16:07:19 GMT

@WoodlandFlora wrote:
I actually called MyFICO about this and they can't see anything and are as baffled as me. The rep and two supervisors confirmed that there is absolutely nothing that is a delinquency. They have zero idea as to why it says that and it could have populated as default, but no solid reasons as to why. They all agreed my report was clean.

The only report that had LMN was TU. They always seem wonky to me. I don't know why it would be a modification either and was shocked it was labeled as such as we have a yearly escrow analysis.

Well that begs the question, was the notification that there was a derogatory on your report just on TU or was it listed in the factors for all 3? What was the rest of the list in order?

Yeah I don't know about it's being default though I can't confirm that as I actually do have a derogatory (or 2) on my reports. Wierd, but perhaps proscecuting it with MF is the way to go if it's a bug in the software implementation (which of course do exist); did your case get forwarded anywhere?

Re: FICO 9 Score: Inaccuracies

WoodlandFlora — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 16:19:45 GMT

The thing is that it shows these are reasons why your score could be low on FICO9--there and only there--and it basically gives the same exact reasons across the board. It does not make sense that I have exceptional payment history and then this new version says something else. Every single bureau assures me there are no issues and MF agreed.

Again, I have zero actual derogatories as confirmed multiple times this morning. Ive never paid late, ever. Even if there is some weird I forgot I did it would have to be so incredibly old that it shouldn't be on the report. MF combed my report over and over with two levels of supervisors and found nothing that would be amiss.

Re: FICO 9 Score: Inaccuracies

WoodlandFlora — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 16:36:02 GMT

The rest of the list--
too few accounts in good standing(again not accurate as I have five current accounts open and zero derogatories)
Short credit history--oldest account is 11+ years
No balance on revolving account

You would think with zero collections and exceptional payment history FICO9 would not state a serious delinquency. It has to be a bug. There is zero explanation and if MF can't find it then something isn't accurate.

Re: FICO 9 Score: Inaccuracies

WoodlandFlora — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 16:38:41 GMT

Also, it says all 11 of my current and past accounts are in good standing. Five are opened stated prior.

Re: FICO 9 Score: Inaccuracies

Revelate — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 16:45:36 GMT

@WoodlandFlora wrote:
The rest of the list--
too few accounts in good standing(again not accurate as I have five current accounts open and zero derogatories)
Short credit history--oldest account is 11+ years
No balance on revolving account

You would think with zero collections and exceptional payment history FICO9 would not state a serious delinquency. It has to be a bug. There is zero explanation and if MF can't find it then something isn't accurate.

Interesting.

I don't have anything to add as to why something is being interpreted as a derogatory; however, your list does beg some questions regarding FICO 9 where thicker files may well be needed for score optimization vs. FICO 8 and earlier... and are you $0 across the board on your credit cards and other revolving accounts? Let a small balance report on at least one of them.

If you're not at $0 on revolving accounts, wonder if you got some other file calculated for that score / reason codes... which doesn't make a whole lot of sense across 3 different bureaus. I'm just looking for inconsistencies at this point.

Re: FICO 9 Score: Inaccuracies

WoodlandFlora — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 16:53:21 GMT

We have another account which does not have a $0 balance and we are working on paying that account down. I am an AU on that so it apparently isn't factored into my scoring.

It is indeed odd, not to mention frustrating.

Re: FICO 9 Score: Inaccuracies

Revelate — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 16:56:15 GMT

@WoodlandFlora wrote:
We have another account which does not have a $0 balance and we are working on paying that account down. I am an AU on that so it apparently isn't factored into my scoring.

It is indeed odd, not to mention frustrating.

Oh, let a balance report on one of your personal responsibility cards, if your AU is being discounted that's a straight negative on every single FICO algorithm we're familiar with.

I don't *think* that would be the wierd reason code, but it could well be a part of the score difference.

Re: FICO 9 Score: Inaccuracies

WoodlandFlora — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 17:10:52 GMT

So since we aren't using the card it is making us take a credit score hit? We are tying to not use it to pay down the balance. We still have it open, but have made the choice to not use it for the last two months. So this could cause the 9 to drop?

Re: FICO 9 Score: Inaccuracies

WoodlandFlora — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 17:12:30 GMT

The reason code still bugs me even after confirmation my report is squeaky clean.

Re: FICO 9 Score: Inaccuracies

Revelate — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 17:38:44 GMT

@WoodlandFlora wrote:
So since we aren't using the card it is making us take a credit score hit? We are tying to not use it to pay down the balance. We still have it open, but have made the choice to not use it for the last two months. So this could cause the 9 to drop?

No, the problem is the rest of your cards that you are listed as personally responsible for, are $0.

If the AU is being discounted from your FICO 9 (and FICO 9 may have changed the AU implementation from FICO 8) and the rest of your revolving accounts are $0, that is a negative under every FICO model prior to FICO 9 for certain, and likely holds for FICO 9 too.

I would try to fix simple things first in this case, and that's a simple thing. Let $5 report on one card and then see what the scores do.

Re: FICO 9 Score: Inaccuracies

WoodlandFlora — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 18:18:23 GMT

I've used the card so a balance is/will be reporting. I may be confused about the AU factoring in on both models. We just want to pay the balance down and not use it if possible. It is an AMEX, and I'm hoping they don't close it for not using it while we whittle the balance down.

Re: FICO 9 Score: Inaccuracies

cashnocredit — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:23:31 GMT

@WoodlandFlora wrote:
The reason code still bugs me even after confirmation my report is squeaky clean.

As well it should. Reason codes are not generated by MyFICO. They are provided along with the FICO score from a black box algorithm that runs at and on the CRA databases. It is looking at raw database stuff and clearly is buggy. This is a technical issue regarding the FICO 9 proprietary software. The reason codes are mandated by law to accompany the scores and are listed in order of impact.

It is, on it's face, not accurate. I would document the hell out of this and forward it to FICO corporate to help out their programmers find the problem. If you don't get satisfaction there take it to the CFPB. The CFPB likes to work on clear cut cases of error and whatever bug caused this it may well affect many more poeple. Most programming bugs don't show up as blatantly.

ETOA:

Also, the same reason codes would be sent to anyone running your credit using FICO 9. Fortunately that isn't a lot of people. Yet. I really hope FICO resolves this promptly.

Re: FICO 9 Score: Inaccuracies

WoodlandFlora — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:40:58 GMT

I've lost serious sleep over this. The bureaus all show my 8 scores as stellar and no derogatories. MF says well 9 is so new we don't have enough data to tell you what t is and yet it is my scores on the line and a big drop between 8 and 9. They've said don't worry, but how can I not? How can they say I have a derogatory or late when the CRAs show nothing?

I am at a loss. I pulled scores from the CRAs and all show current, never late.

Why would it suddenly change with the 9? MF days oh check back in six months and don't worry. Umm how is that acceptable?!?

If I was 60 days plus late it would show on the 8 one would think, right?

Re: FICO 9 Score: Inaccuracies

WoodlandFlora — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:59:05 GMT

How/where do I contact corporate for MF and get through the gatekeepers?
Reps keep telling me they can't find anything, and one was rude and belittling saying it's all based upon the algorithm and I needed to get over it essentially and they the CRAs showing I wasn't delinquent must be a mistake---insert anger and such here. He refused to dig more and basically negated what the prior rep and two supervisors stated.

I am so frustrated.