topic Re: 0% to 1% UTI resulted in 17 point increase in Understanding FICO® Scoring

0% to 1% UTI resulted in 17 point increase

Tim_S — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 13:41:56 GMT

I received an alert this morning from MyFICO stating one of my card balances increased $4.00 from 0% to 1% utilization. That $4.00 balance resulted in a 17 point increase on Experian. I"ve heard from many on these boards to only have 1 card reporting a balance and I guess that may not be true. I always have 1 card reporting a balance every month with around a 7% UTI and now a 2nd card reported a $4.00 balance and it gave me a score increase. Still trying to figure out all the little nuances of FICO.

Re: 0% to 1% UTI resulted in 17 point increase

Revelate — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 15:08:05 GMT

@Tim_S wrote:
I received an alert this morning from MyFICO stating one of my card balances increased $4.00 from 0% to 1% utilization. That $4.00 balance resulted in a 17 point increase on Experian. I"ve heard from many on these boards to only have 1 card reporting a balance and I guess that may not be true. I always have 1 card reporting a balance every month with around a 7% UTI and now a 2nd card reported a $4.00 balance and it gave me a score increase. Still trying to figure out all the little nuances of FICO.

I'm guessing something else changed honestly.

We've never had any data that suggested any non-zero number triggered the all $0's penalty (assuming that it was reported to the bureau anyway) unless the card that had a balance was an AU and discounted under FICO 8.

Did you see a similar corresponding drop assuming you went from 2->1 cards previously? Test it would be my suggestion.

Re: 0% to 1% UTI resulted in 17 point increase

RonM21 — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 16:24:22 GMT

How long was that card reporting a zero balance?

Re: 0% to 1% UTI resulted in 17 point increase

SouthJamaica — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 16:54:44 GMT

@Tim_S wrote:
I received an alert this morning from MyFICO stating one of my card balances increased $4.00 from 0% to 1% utilization. That $4.00 balance resulted in a 17 point increase on Experian. I"ve heard from many on these boards to only have 1 card reporting a balance and I guess that may not be true. I always have 1 card reporting a balance every month with around a 7% UTI and now a 2nd card reported a $4.00 balance and it gave me a score increase. Still trying to figure out all the little nuances of FICO.

The score change and the utilization change may have been, and IMHO undoubtedly were, unrelated to each other.

Re: 0% to 1% UTI resulted in 17 point increase

Tim_S — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 19:48:00 GMT

I don't know if anything else changed. All I know is I received an alert from MyFICO stating,

FICO® SCORE CHANGE

UTILIZATION PERCENTAGE
0%1%
- BALANCE AMOUNT
- $0.00$4.00

And shows a 17 point increase from 692 to 709 as a result. It doesn't display any other information.

Re: 0% to 1% UTI resulted in 17 point increase

SouthJamaica — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 19:51:47 GMT

@Tim_S wrote:
I don't know if anything else changed. All I know is I received an alert from MyFICO stating,
FICO® SCORE CHANGE
UTILIZATION PERCENTAGE
0%1%
BALANCE AMOUNT
$0.00$4.00
And shows a 17 point increase from 692 to 709 as a result. It doesn't display any other information.

The MyFICO alert doesn't say "as a result", you're reading that into it. The MyFICO alerts seem almost designed to cause this confusion, but the assumption that the one resulted from the other is not correct.

Re: 0% to 1% UTI resulted in 17 point increase

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 19:55:38 GMT

Whatever caused the increase, big congratulations!

Re: 0% to 1% UTI resulted in 17 point increase

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 20:28:39 GMT

I'm with @So-Jam

There are so many moving internal parts to read into each and every small numerical change within the Fico model, let's be fair...it's designed to have a bit of mystery, if not they've got nothing to sale.

Let's say they 'allow' us access to 80% of exactly how to models work and we intellectually guess another half or 10%, even 15% there will always be 5-7% unknown variables, period.

Re: 0% to 1% UTI resulted in 17 point increase

Tim_S — Thu, 07 Jul 2016 14:04:07 GMT

You're right, I did assume the 17 point increase was due to the utilization increase and you're also correct when you stated MyFICO alerts are designed to give people that impression.