topic Payment history is EITHER exceptional or poor... in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Payment history is EITHER exceptional or poor...

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 19:12:42 GMT

I'm tired of all these fluff CMS front-end pages showing varying degrees of "payment history." If someone has no late payments at all on their credit report, their payment history is exceptional. If someone has 1 or more late payments, IMO their payment history is "poor." There's no in between with this fair, good, very good stuff I see all the time. The image from Experian that I placed below shows "fair" payment history. This person has 4 dirty accounts from the last year and late payments as great as 120 days just 1 month ago on their reports... but the fluff summary says that's "fair?" Come on now.

It's not OK to miss a payment. I think it's crucial for all members of this forum, especially those that are newer and here trying to learn to understand that anything less than perfect/exceptional payment history (even 1 late payment) is a sign of high risk and FICO scoring will consider that accordingly.

Re: Payment history is EITHER exceptional or poor...

Medic981 — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 19:43:31 GMT

Preach on brother, preach on! Credit scoring isn't an "everybody gets a participation trophy" just for participating.

Re: Payment history is EITHER exceptional or poor...

FireMedic1 — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 23:21:37 GMT

I kinda agree BBS on some points you made. I have 1 30 day late 5yrs 2 months old. Now many have lates for medical, job loss, divorce, ect ect. Thats understandable. Some come on and forgot to pay and admit it and try to find ways to get it removed by asking the forum. My case was have a root canal/ crown, shoot the tooth with my 9mm from the pain or skip a truck payment to Sucktander. Tooth won.

Once they called and I finally answered they said i could have asked for an extension and they would have thrown the payment on the back side of the loan and no late would have shown up but I didnt know that. Asked then if they could, but nope. I wasnt FICO knowledgeable then. Always got approved. So this is how EX list it now:

Re: Payment history is EITHER exceptional or poor...

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 03:10:30 GMT

I'd say a lone 30 day late, especially an aged one, would probably the the one exception to my original post stating that payment history is either exceptional or poor. I think that's really an outlier example, though, as there are definitely more people out there with something other than a lone aged 30 day late.

As for the reasons for a late payment, FICO doesn't discriminate. Late is late and scoring is impacted regardless of the reason. The reason could potentially impact the ability to obtain a GW adjustment, though, so I get bringing up the topic.

Re: Payment history is EITHER exceptional or poor...

NRB525 — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 15:14:51 GMT

When reading new stories from posters, it is quite common to see language such as "perfect payment history for 2 years". It is a dead giveaway that they've got some interesting baddies earlier than 2 years, perhaps even less severe baddies more recently, but have tried to wish that away from scoring impact.

The other sites that offer "Don't worry about those lates, apply for our loan recommendation" are the miscreants here.

If wishing were to make it so.

Re: Payment history is EITHER exceptional or poor...

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 15:22:51 GMT

I had 18 lates - LOL

Re: Payment history is EITHER exceptional or poor...

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 15:24:04 GMT

@NRB525 wrote:
When reading new stories from posters, it is quite common to see language such as "perfect payment history for 2 years". It is a dead giveaway that they've got some interesting baddies earlier than 2 years, perhaps even less severe baddies more recently, but have tried to wish that away from scoring impact.

I think this is true many times, but what's more of a dead giveaway is that they're using a CMS service like Credit Karma that has a front-end summary page that only provides a payment history graphic based on the last 2 years. You'd be amazed how many people because of CMS fluff software actually believe that the only 2 years matter and even if they do have baddies > 2 years old they aren't necessarily wishing them away, they simply don't think they're impacting their score any longer.

Re: Payment history is EITHER exceptional or poor...

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 15:25:57 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I had 18 lates - LOL

Perfect example, Brandon.

So, of your 18 lates, I'm assuming that 17 of them are > 2 years old? Of those 17 out of curiosity, across how many accounts is that and what is the worst severity late you have among that group?

Re: Payment history is EITHER exceptional or poor...

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 15:39:59 GMT

18 of them actually are all greater than 2 years. My most recent late is 3 years and 7 months as displayed above. 60 days is the worst. 13 at 30days and 5 at 60 days. 1 account only

Re: Payment history is EITHER exceptional or poor...

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 17:12:01 GMT

Interesting that the CMS is showing you 1 late payment then... I would think based on what you just said that it would show 0 since all of them are quite aged at this point.

Re: Payment history is EITHER exceptional or poor...

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 17:19:03 GMT

Yup interesting it shows 1 "30" and 1 "60"....makes 0 sense

Re: Payment history is EITHER exceptional or poor...

RonM21 — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 18:19:23 GMT

BBS, I agree with your thought that newer people trying to grasp their credit and how to manage it can take this info the wrong way, and think they are doing something okay. Experienced others like some of us who have been managing our credit know better, and tend to pay no mind to some of the mixed messages we get from looking at alerts or scores. I can certainly see how in our view, it is taken with a grain of salt, while possibly in the view of someone unseasoned, they can take it as correct info.

Re: Payment history is EITHER exceptional or poor...

Trudy — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 18:33:52 GMT

MyFico also only states in the summary section the number of accounts with lates not the actual number of lates.

Re: Payment history is EITHER exceptional or poor...

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 18:56:47 GMT

@Trudy wrote:
MyFico also only states in the summary section the number of accounts with lates not the actual number of lates.

Experian's summary page also displays the information in a similar way. The summary shows the number of accounts that have late payments, but not the actual number of late payments. For that detailed information you need to go to the specific account page. So the ratings of Poor, Fair, Good, etc. are based on the percentage of accounts with lates, not on the total number of late payments.

But why let facts interfere with a good rant.

If no late payments is what is always expected, then by definition a record of 100% on-time payments cannot be described as "extraordinary." It is merely meeting normal expectations.

Re: Payment history is EITHER exceptional or poor...

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 18:51:56 GMT

Lol - hilarious Maize!

Re: Payment history is EITHER exceptional or poor...

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 19:06:56 GMT

If no late payments is what is always expected, then by definition a record of 100% on-time payments cannot be described as "extraordinary." It is merely meeting normal expectations.

I'm fine with dropping the lingo from "exceptional" and "poor" to "meets expectations and "does not meet expectations." The point here regardless of the lingo used, there are 2 classifications... not 4-5 different degrees based on a percentage of on-time payments like so many CMS summary pages would suggest.

Re: Payment history is EITHER exceptional or poor...

MakingProgress — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 21:03:12 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Yup interesting it shows 1 "30" and 1 "60"....makes 0 sense

Most likely shows that way because all your lates were on 1 account. So 1 account with late payments 1 account with a 30 day late and 1 account with a 60 day late. If I remember correctly when I still had 30 and 120 day lates on 1 account that is how experian showed mine.

Re: Payment history is EITHER exceptional or poor...

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 21:37:38 GMT

Most likely shows that way because all your lates were on 1 account. So 1 account with late payments 1 account with a 30 day late and 1 account with a 60 day late. If I remember correctly when I still had 30 and 120 day lates on 1 account that is how experian showed mine.

Just another example then of misleading CMS front-end summary software. No one with multiple (or many) negative items on their CR should have a summary page indicate "1" negative. If it's going off of accounts, it should properly state "Accounts ever late: 1" as that would make far more sense.

Re: Payment history is EITHER exceptional or poor...

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 22:29:29 GMT

Good point BBS, I agree with all of the above, I have a 30 day and I find MF membership to be well worth it instead of relying on CK or experian, because MF is the one sending out the most scores

Re: Payment history is EITHER exceptional or poor...

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 22:48:19 GMT

MF actually indicates it's accounts and not total late payments. However, it's still telling me I've done a good job when in fact I've done a terrible job with overall payment history - 67%!?! LOL