topic Re: I'm in the bucket in Understanding FICO® Scoring

I'm in the bucket

Anonymous — Tue, 26 May 2015 14:05:26 GMT

As of last month my scores were 647 648 635, paid off most of my debt. I have about 500 left. Scores are now 670 672 and 663. I have a 120 late from 2011 and a 6 year old judgement on my report. So my question is, once I pay that off and get my last debt reducing bump, is my credit score going to sit? Or do you get points every month making timely payments? I know with cli I will get a bump. Just trying to figure out how this all works. Thanks

Re: I'm in the bucket

Revelate — Tue, 26 May 2015 16:08:34 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
As of last month my scores were 647 648 635, paid off most of my debt. I have about 500 left. Scores are now 670 672 and 663. I have a 120 late from 2011 and a 6 year old judgement on my report. So my question is, once I pay that off and get my last debt reducing bump, is my credit score going to sit? Or do you get points every month making timely payments? I know with cli I will get a bump. Just trying to figure out how this all works. Thanks

I have a dirty file and after I got past my first year or so of positive history I flatlined a lot and it was difficult to make my scores move in any direction (except downward from utilization testing). Even a brand spanking new tax lien only dropped me 5 points at least on Beacon 5.0, did drop a bunch more than that on FICO 8 but now I'm pretty flat on FICO 8 for a while if I discount the drops I took around installment loan closure.

This is Beacon 5.0 so it doesn't necessarily track with the more modern FICO 8 models but it's what I have. Effective date within 1-2 days but describing on year boundaries for clarity:

1/1/2012: 561

1/1/2013: 652

1/1/2014: 670

1/1/2015: 683

5/24/2015: 700

By the data once I'd established sufficient positive history, my scores were upward bounded by my derogatories. I start having my own derogs falling off in 2016 with the last tax lien off in late 2017. I'm expecting a serious jump on all my scores after that point assuming I don't do something stupid between now and then.

FICO 8 was more forgiving for me for a while, but somewhere I crossed a boundary and now my FICO 8 scores are across the board worse than my FICO 04/98 mortgage trifecta. I think it's as a result of how FICO 8 may handle installment loans for scoring purposes but I don't have enough data yet to really pinpoint it. I did see that when I got a new tax lien on FICO 8, my scores between EQ Beacon 9 and Beacon 5 matched exactly; however, after six months I had substantial upward movement on FICO 8 and yet my EQ FICO 04 (Beacon 5.0) hadn't budged.

Re: I'm in the bucket

Anonymous — Tue, 26 May 2015 16:18:42 GMT

Thanks. 10 months and counting until this nasty judgement falls off. I guess I'm in the garden for 10 months. Will the 120 lates from 2011 keep my scores down after 1 year. Apparently it says late 10 months ago from this. It will be 12 months in July. I wonder how many points I will get when that judgement falls off.

What really annoys me is I was late. I started paying the full monthly payments on time every time since 2011, yet because of past due it kept me late the whole time. Annoying that for 4 years it was on time yet late as of July last year. Ugh

Re: I'm in the bucket

Revelate — Tue, 26 May 2015 16:23:22 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks. 10 months and counting until this nasty judgement falls off. I guess I'm in the garden for 10 months. Will the 120 lates from 2011 keep my scores down after 1 year. Apparently it says late 10 months ago from this. It will be 12 months in July. I wonder how many points I will get when that judgement falls off.

What really annoys me is I was late. I started paying the full monthly payments on time every time since 2011, yet because of past due it kept me late the whole time. Annoying that for 4 years it was on time yet late as of July last year. Ugh

Not sure, I'm actually really interested to know how major lates (a 120 day late is a serious derogatory and will count the full 7 years AFAIK) vs. a judgement impact scores when someone has a mix of different derogatories especially when we're talking bucketing which is a tricky beast to be sure. Would definitely be interested in your datapoints when it happens!

Re: I'm in the bucket

Anonymous — Tue, 26 May 2015 17:02:36 GMT

Well we will see in August. My husbands judgement is fAlling off and he was a au on an account that was 120 late. Unfortunately he doesn't have a my fico, just credit karma, but we will see how many points.

Re: I'm in the bucket

EW800 — Tue, 26 May 2015 17:50:50 GMT

It will be interesting to see how your scores are impacted in the coming months. Please do keep us updated.

> ...and after I got past my first year or so of positive history I flatlined a lot and it was difficult to make my scores move in any direction (except downward from utilization testing).

I am right there with you, Revelate. My scores have improved by a couple of hundred points since my wife and I went through some very difficult times, however now at about 2-1/2 to 3 years after the fact, I am finding myself very flatlined in the 720-730 range on the FICO 8 model. It seems that no matter what I do, there just aren't any additional points to be found.

Re: I'm in the bucket

Shann0n_marie — Tue, 26 May 2015 18:27:54 GMT

Revelate wrote:

Kaylava wrote:
As of last month my scores were 647 648 635, paid off most of my debt. I have about 500 left. Scores are now 670 672 and 663. I have a 120 late from 2011 and a 6 year old judgement on my report. So my question is, once I pay that off and get my last debt reducing bump, is my credit score going to sit? Or do you get points every month making timely payments? I know with cli I will get a bump. Just trying to figure out how this all works. Thanks

This is Beacon 5.0 so it doesn't necessarily track with the more modern FICO 8 models but it's what I have. Effective date within 1-2 days but describing on year boundaries for clarity:

1/1/2012: 561

1/1/2013: 652

1/1/2014: 670

1/1/2015: 683

5/24/2015: 700

Relevate, I've read quite a few different posts of yours and can relate. As your scores started rebounding (highlighted in red) at what point would you say all of your baddies were resolved? We're you able to PFD a good portion? what do you have left on your profile? I just started fixing my credit about a month and a half ago after defaulting on everything early 2011. I opened 3 credit cards about 14 mos ago and have a car loan reporting for the last 30 mos with perfect pmts. I should be finished paying off my last CC charge offs in the next 2 mos. I've gotten a few collections PFD, one credit card PFD, erroneous lates on my old auto loan corrected, but nothing really has updated on my CR yet. I'm wondering how high my shoe will get one I've done all I can do. A civil judgement is paid, state tax lien paid and I have an open IRS lien for a huge chunk of change I've been working on which is open. Everything else that I can't remove is set to fall off end of 2017 or by March 2018.

Re: I'm in the bucket

Anonymous — Tue, 26 May 2015 18:50:05 GMT

The only thing that has helped my score is a few cli and bringing my util down to 16%. Thank god for that. My util is going down drastically every month. Up until a few weeks ago I would only pay minimum on my cards. Scores were at a standstill. Can't believe how fast my scores are climbing just by lowering util. I was also able to get a discover it and Barclays cards last month when I had a 647 score, with 120 latex and unpaid judgement. I'm not sure exactly how much the judgement is impacting the score anymore due to it being 6+ years old. What are your scores?

Re: I'm in the bucket

jamie123 — Tue, 26 May 2015 22:34:14 GMT

From being on these boards for a few years and personal experience...

The last MAJOR baddie on your reports is worth the most points. The only thing that I can think of that would be considered a MINOR baddie is a 30 day late and you better not have more than one or two 30 day lates.

If you have 1 major baddie on your reports and have been rebuilding with good credit behavior for a couple of years your scores will top out somewhere around 700 to 730. For every major baddie more than 1 you can subtract 5 to 10 points from the the 700 to 730 top cap.

Many people are shocked and surprised when a major baddie falls off and either their score doesn't change or climbs just a few points. They fail to take into consideration that they still have 1 or 2 baddies left on their reports. The very last baddie to fall off leaving you with clean reports will get the 50 to 80 point gain seen by some people here.

Don't worry though, as long as tax liens and judgements are paid or are very old you can get credit almost anywhere at decent rates. Well...At least the rates that your scores justify.

It is very important that you continue using and building your credit profile so that when that last baddie does fall off your scores skyrocket!

Re: I'm in the bucket

Anonymous — Tue, 26 May 2015 23:16:56 GMT

Thanks for that insight. I'm new at all this. When I was declined for an Amex last month, the first reason cited was judgement then util too high (35%) now 16, amount of personal loan to high, I just got it in nov, and short aaoa 3 years. What do you think the main reason was? Eta 647 cs.

Re: I'm in the bucket

Anonymous — Tue, 26 May 2015 23:17:53 GMT

I also apped for the blue card, which was dumb. Should have gone with the ED card. Ugh

Re: I'm in the bucket

jamie123 — Wed, 27 May 2015 00:16:25 GMT

When lenders or FICO give reasons for why your app was declined or what is keeping your score down in FICO's case, they are listed in order of importance. Some lenders hate bankruptcies and judgments and will automatically decline you if you have them. AMEX is one of those lenders.

You need to post in the "Credit Card" forum and ask them which lenders are judgment friendly. Don't app unless you have at least a 50/50 chance of approval.

You won't get an AMEX with a judgment but you can get perhaps a BoA Rewards or Discover.

What are your scores?

What other cards do you have?

What are their ages and credit lines?

Re: I'm in the bucket

Anonymous — Wed, 27 May 2015 00:38:55 GMT

670 673 664, I have 2 cap 1 cards 2500,2000 May 2014 nov 2014
Merrick bank 550 next month cli 1100 nob 2014
Credit one 750 sept 2013
Verve 500 nob 2014
Milestone 250 lol sept 2013
Barclays rewards 1300 May 2015
Discover it 1600 May 2015

Re: I'm in the bucket

Anonymous — Wed, 27 May 2015 00:40:05 GMT

I really want chase citi Amex, but won't bother until April when the judgement will be vacated.

Re: I'm in the bucket

jamie123 — Wed, 27 May 2015 02:02:09 GMT

Yeah, you have plenty of cards now. Now you want quality cards.

I would suggest waiting until next May before apping for anything. You will have 1 year of clean file without inquiries to pull your score down. You will be a shoe in for that AMEX card.

Re: I'm in the bucket

Anonymous — Wed, 27 May 2015 02:04:51 GMT

Next year should be a good year. Nov 2016 I will also have about 5 inq gone as well. I do have 120 late from 2011. Hopefully that won't hurt my chances too much.

Re: I'm in the bucket

cem13 — Wed, 27 May 2015 02:20:57 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for that insight. I'm new at all this. When I was declined for an Amex last month, the first reason cited was judgement then util too high (35%) now 16, amount of personal loan to high, I just got it in nov, and short aaoa 3 years. What do you think the main reason was? Eta 647 cs.

Keep in mind that FICO score is only 1 aspect of an U/W decision. The details of the file is CRITICAL.

I had a BK7 discharged in JUN2011. I was in the garden for 2 years while I prepared for a mortgage, which closed on 31MAR2015 (yay for me). So then I went all ape-$h!t on the mother-of-all-app-sprees. I was approved for about $60k in unsecured debt. So I decided to app for Discover IT which I burned IIB. They denied. I recon'd and asked for a $500 limit just to get back in. They still denied.

So I had Banks & Credit Unions give me CC for $20K Visa, $13K AMEX, $10K Visa and $10K Visa and yet Discover denied a $500 SL? All my scores were slighly above 700. I also apped for Delta AMEX and the only reason for denial, BK7 showing. I recon'd and they told me to app when I hit the 5 year post BK7. So a score by itself is not the only factor in credit granting.

I app'd to NASA for the Space Shuttle Card on a SP. Instand denial. I recon'd and wrote there were 3 different circumstances why I was force to file BK7: job loss, divorce and medical bills. They approved me for $5K within 1 hour. Of course I would have accepted a $500 SL for the coolest of cards (IMHO).

Re: I'm in the bucket

Anonymous — Wed, 27 May 2015 02:35:23 GMT

Wow you got some awesome cards and cl!! Congrats on your house!!! In my Amex denial the lates weren't listed as a reason for denial, so that's a good thing. I think gardening for 10 months is my best bet for now. Don't want to hurt my score anymore than it is. 😁

Re: I'm in the bucket

cem13 — Wed, 27 May 2015 03:02:57 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Wow you got some awesome cards and cl!! Congrats on your house!!! In my Amex denial the lates weren't listed as a reason for denial, so that's a good thing. I think gardening for 10 months is my best bet for now. Don't want to hurt my score anymore than it is. 😁

Thanks. My re-build has been a roller coaster for sure. I was forced to file BK7 in 2011. Then I found this wonderful forum and I learned so much from many people. Of course everyone has a different and unique story with their life. I did not know how to spell F-I-C-O until I found this board.

I went into the garden for 2 years and it seemed like forever. I did some inner reflection and actually became a changed man; so much that my wonderful wife (err ex-wife) came back home. We were high school sweethearts and was married for 25 years with 2 great daughters before Armageddon hit.

We fought about money all the time. Now we still fight about money but it is centered on "where do you want to go for vacation" and "what color carpet, furniture, drapes should be buy?" Now I like to think that our relationship is 50/50. So I learned that we do have a 50/50 relationship, she picks out the color and I pay for it. Sounds fair to me.

Here is a quote from Confucius that I like. It related to the Credit Garden so much, among other things.

"There are three methods to gaining wisdom. The first is reflection, which is the highest. The second is limitation, which is the easiest. The third is experience, which is the bitterest."

Sound familiar?????

Re: I'm in the bucket

Anonymous — Wed, 27 May 2015 03:07:05 GMT

Haha too funny! Women rule the roost! 😉

Idk how much more my score can possibly go up, but I will take what I can get!!😜