topic Re: Myfico Simulator in General Credit Topics

Myfico Simulator

Amiashu12 — Mon, 15 May 2017 18:32:28 GMT

Does anyone know how accurate is myfico Simulator?

Re: Myfico Simulator

MrsCHX — Mon, 15 May 2017 19:24:16 GMT

Unfortunately, none of the simulators are accurate, including MyFico.

Re: Myfico Simulator

Anonymous — Tue, 16 May 2017 00:48:12 GMT

Simulators are garbage and a reasonable guess at best. They can be relatively close or off by 100 points. You never know.

Re: Myfico Simulator

SouthJamaica — Tue, 16 May 2017 01:31:54 GMT

@Amiashu12 wrote:
Does anyone know how accurate is myfico Simulator?

it's like a clock that's stopped running. it's accurate twice a day.

Re: Myfico Simulator

Thomas_Thumb — Tue, 16 May 2017 02:45:39 GMT

I love score estimators and simulators - I search for them and give them all a test drive.

Most I have tested provide helpful results comparing condition A1/B1 to condition A2/B1, A2/B2 and A1/B2 with other attributes (C and D) factored in - or not - as the calculator allows. These tools can be rather insightful in how they treat various scenarios.

Never use a simulator or score estimator for absolute score predictions. They are a compass that can point you in the right direction when at a crossroads - if you know how to use it. Good estimators and simulators should be "accurate" from an order of magnitude perspective when comparing alternatives. Use the tools accordingly.

Side note:

1) Simulators by definition should be incorporating CRA profile data as a basis when evaluating impact of changes.

2) Estimators/calculators provide results based on user input data only - CRA profiles not considered. These are less rigorous but actually may offer better "what if" comparisons.

Re: Myfico Simulator

Anonymous — Tue, 16 May 2017 23:39:02 GMT

Mine keeps showing me getting around a 10 point bump in the next few months if I get a second credit card. My average account age is 1 year, 3 months & my % of available credit in use is very low.

From what I think I know, I'd take a hit from the HI & lowering my average account age without much, if any improvement in my % of available credit being used.

Re: Myfico Simulator

Anonymous — Tue, 16 May 2017 23:59:16 GMT

Adding 1 more card may not help much, as you'll still need to report 50% of your cards with balances (1 of 2) which won't help your scores really. Adding 2 cards, though, would allow you to report 33% of your cards (1 of 3) with balances which would result in a scoring increase. If I were you I'd either stick with just the 1 card, or if you are going to app go ahead and get 2 that you think would be worthwhile in your wallet so that you can maximize FICO scoring with respect to utilization.

Re: Myfico Simulator

Anonymous — Wed, 17 May 2017 02:29:06 GMT

Thanks for the advice. I had the idea to show a $2-$5 balance on one to show use & keep the other paid off in full each month. My only card is an 8 month old $1000 secured card from my credit union.

I was gunning for a decent rewards card for my second & final one. I planned to apply for a new one at the same time I ask to have my secured card go unsecured to minimize the HP hit. I guess I'll scoop up a 3rd while I'm getting that HP out of the way. It's gonna be cool to have all that plastic gleaming back at me from my wallet less than a year out from the start of my credit mission.

Re: Myfico Simulator

Anonymous — Wed, 17 May 2017 02:51:32 GMT

A couple of things. Adding 1 more as I said earlier may not help you much scoring wise. You will be able to allow 50% of your cards to report a balance as opposed to 100% now, but that improvement likely wouldn't be significant. Maybe 5 points, just throwing a number out there. The real scoring benefit is introduced when less than 50% of your cards are reporting balances. That number, of course, can only be achieved with 3 or more cards, which is why it is often recommended that those starting out shoot for 3 cards relatively early on.

Next, be careful with $2 balances. $5 is more that sufficient for all creditors, but $2 is often not enough. There are some creditors such as Discover, Amex, etc. that have been known to report < $3 balances as $0. While this doesn't seem to be consistent, it has happened, so if you want to ensure that a balance does get reported if that's your goal I would suggest a value in the $5-$10 range just to be sure.

What do your credit scores look like currently? What benefits rewards wise interest you the most with respect to credit cards?

Re: Myfico Simulator

Anonymous — Wed, 17 May 2017 04:02:13 GMT

My Eq. FICO is at 723 (via myFICO). It was at 736 last month but I had $280 on that $1000 card last month when it reported, My TU Vantage (via CK) also dropped 14 points to 743 this month for the same reason. My Exp. FICO is still at 738 (via Discover's free FICO deal) despite showing that same 27% jump in revolving utilization from last month.

I took out a secured credit card 2 1/2 years ago but accidentaly killed it before I ever used it by moving the secured money out of my savings (new to online banking & didn't understand what I was looking at). The account is closed, but in good standing, giving me an artificially inflated 2.5 years of credit history. I did nothing with my credit for a while after that.

The only real credit history I have is a $2000 secured credit builder loan I took out 10 months ago (on autodraft & paid down around 50%) & my 8 month old secured credit card. When I went to get that credit builder loan the officer told me I already had a 699 score somehow, so I had a good start.

My primary rewards interest with credit cards is the basic cash back that I can put toward the payments. I use my card for a bit of everything & don't want to keep up with revolving categories. I only need one of those, so I imagine a good gas rewards card would make for a handy 3rd card.

Re: Myfico Simulator

Anonymous — Wed, 17 May 2017 11:39:27 GMT

Do you have an open installment loan currently reporting? If not, you could grab about 30 FICO points across the board within 1 month by employing the SSL technique.

Re: Myfico Simulator

Amiashu12 — Wed, 17 May 2017 11:43:50 GMT

Sorry i somewhat new to this. Could you tell me what is SSL technique?

Re: Myfico Simulator

Anonymous — Wed, 17 May 2017 14:05:14 GMT

My apologies. Absolutely, click the link below to the SSL thread. It's a monster thread, but don't be intimidated as you only need to read the first couple of posts!

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Adding-an-installment-loan-the-Share-Secure-technique/td-p/4506756

Re: Myfico Simulator

Anonymous — Wed, 17 May 2017 20:43:44 GMT

I think so. It's a $2000 secured loan I took out & put on autodraft for credit building purposes. I've paid half of it down in $112 installments. I think they set it up to be paid off in 18 months, which gives me less power to play with it.

TU only reported the first 3 months of it so I eventually disputed them via CK because the remaining balance on it was listed as higher than it was. Now they don't show it at all, which sucks, but my score doesn't seem affected. Exp. lists it as an "installment loan" on Discover's service. Equifax lists it as an auto loan.

Re: Myfico Simulator

Anonymous — Thu, 18 May 2017 02:06:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I think so. It's a $2000 secured loan I took out & put on autodraft for credit building purposes. I've paid half of it down in $112 installments. I think they set it up to be paid off in 18 months, which gives me less power to play with it.

TU only reported the first 3 months of it so I eventually disputed them via CK because the remaining balance on it was listed as higher than it was. Now they don't show it at all, which sucks, but my score doesn't seem affected. Exp. lists it as an "installment loan" on Discover's service. Equifax lists it as an auto loan.

When you say your score wasn't impacted by the removal of your loan, where are you getting your score from? If it's CK, that's because it's the VantageScore 3.0 model, not FICO. I can assure you that under FICO scoring models the removal of your only installment loan will result in roughly a 30 point drop if the installment loan was mostly paid down.

Re: Myfico Simulator

Anonymous — Thu, 18 May 2017 20:01:52 GMT

Yes, the only TU score I have is my Vantage. I disputed them because they hadn't reported several months of payments on that account & thus showing too high a balance on the account, holding me back a bit.

Now they only show the credit card & the old closed card account. That'll teach me to be disputing over frivolities, huh? If this doesn't change by next month I'll dispute them again.

Re: Myfico Simulator

Anonymous — Sat, 20 May 2017 23:50:11 GMT

I wouldn't dispute them if I were you. I'd suggest simply calling the creditor and asking them to re-report your new, lower balance. Disputes come off as confrontational and aren't a good look. They can add dispute comments to the account which could raise more questions for future creditors of yours or lenders that you apply with. Not really worth it, IMO. Just call them up and tell them you'd appreciate it if they could re-report your current account information and you'll likely see things revised quite promptly.

Re: Myfico Simulator

Anonymous — Mon, 22 May 2017 06:14:34 GMT

Will do later today. I had planned to call TU & ask what the deal was but my credit union is easier to deal with anyhow & having them report the existence of the account again should fix it. Ideally, they'll report it this week along with my credit card & I'll get to see the bump in my score in maybe 2 weeks & be ready to move on the new cards. I'm holding off on them a bit until my score bounces back after the next reporting.

Re: Myfico Simulator

taekwon — Tue, 23 May 2017 17:26:35 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I wouldn't dispute them if I were you. I'd suggest simply calling the creditor and asking them to re-report your new, lower balance. Disputes come off as confrontational and aren't a good look. They can add dispute comments to the account which could raise more questions for future creditors of yours or lenders that you apply with. Not really worth it, IMO. Just call them up and tell them you'd appreciate it if they could re-report your current account information and you'll likely see things revised quite promptly.

Re: Myfico Simulator

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 16:30:08 GMT

Now the simulator predicts a 15 point loss if I get a credit card (I just got approved for 2). We'll see how that works out this month.