topic Re: NFCU SSL Reporting..first ever 0 point gain? in General Credit Topics

NFCU SSL Reporting..next steps?

lowspender — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 03:47:21 GMT

Not a post I thought I'd be making! Wanted to ask if I should apply for a CLI on my chase freedom, or apply for an Amex first. Since Chase cited "no installment loan history" in giving me such a low limit, thought my bright and shiny new SSL boost would help. Anyways..

Forum reading shortly after joining a month ago led me to realize I was a perfect candidate for an SSL. None closed, no history, etc. Thanks to those who posted data points over the years and CreditGuyinDixie for the detailed "why" and Alliant alternatives.

Events timeline:
-Joined Navy 12/9.

-12/14- Applied/Approved for $3,050 SSL (received email approval before I got off the 10 min application call. Impressively quick, imo
-12/15- Already had bank transfers to Navy in process, made payment for $2781.78 (a hair under the 8.9%).
-Clears a day or so later. I left the funds in my Share Savings, for what that's worth.

Been waiting for this to report, thought it would hit on the 1st of '21..
-1/6, got the email I expected from Ckarma (who I have been using for my TU/Exp this whole time).
"You've hit a personal loan milestone"- inside- you paid off 90% or more of your personal loan.

Immediate thought was..no, it was 91.21%! If that got reported as 90%.. haha

-Email later on 1/6 asking if this "new account" was mine.
"It looks like a new account was added to your Equifax credit report.*
This could impact your credit score by lowering your average age of open accounts or increasing your total number of accounts."
Fine, happened with my last cc. A little strange the first email was a milestone and this one seemed negative, as far as aaoa...

What I *didn't* get as I expected was the "New Score Alert."

Logged in that night and the next day, same. On the site it lists me as having paid off 92% of the loan. The delay between application and reporting seems to be a few weeks. I haven't seen where there's a time between it being reported and it affecting your score..

Also paid off a few more purchases with the cc's even more than normal, to drop my u.r from 16% to 3%. Was at 8% the month before, had a single purchase report before I paid it off a few days later. Figured the drop plus the ssl would maximize things for me.

Still down from 770 a few months ago, maybe due to azeo I was unintentionally practicing, I'm usually at 5% though so that doesn't quite explain it either.
TU at 762, Exp at 755, up 2 and 3 points respectively, with my decreased balances.

Oldest account is 5yr 8 month, AAOA now about 2 yr 3 months with recent SSL and 4 month old CC.
100% on time payment history, 0 missed payments.
Can get a screen grab from the account with some info blurred if that helps.
What did I do wrong to get such a special result, or what am I waiting on...

Re: NFCU SSL Reporting..first ever 0 point gain?

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 10:51:33 GMT

You mention Credit Karma. Is that where you are getting your scores? FICO scores should have moved but Vantage does what it wants to do which is why creditors don't usually use it. You can sign up at Experian.com for Credit Works and pull your FICO scores for all three bureaus for either free or $1 depending on what they offer you.

Re: NFCU SSL Reporting..first ever 0 point gain?

lowspender — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 17:39:45 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
You mention Credit Karma. Is that where you are getting your scores? FICO scores should have moved but Vantage does what it wants to do which is why creditors don't usually use it.

Always used Karma, yeah.. changes to score are often monthly for me. So it won't ever show up through vantage or it won't be timely?

Sounds like I need to check fico. Will that also graph out or list change over time? Otherwise how would I know the impact of the tool? Don't have a prior history to note any current differences against..

Re: NFCU SSL Reporting..first ever 0 point gain?

M_Smart007 — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 18:17:44 GMT

Seriously, I would be checking real FICO8 scores. As Saeren mentioned upthread.

Re: NFCU SSL Reporting..first ever 0 point gain?

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 21:27:29 GMT

If you don’t know your previous score than there’s no way to gauge the difference. The only issue I see is that you paid it down a day later before it initially reported.

We had one report of someone doing that and the proper amount of the original loan was not reported and they didn’t get the benefit, if I recall correctly. someone correct me if I’m wrong. I don’t know if they got it resolved or not.

Re: NFCU SSL Reporting..first ever 0 point gain?

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 22:14:34 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
If you don’t know your previous score than there’s no way to gauge the difference. The only issue I see is that you paid it down a day later before it initially reported.

We had one report of someone doing that and the proper amount of the original loan was not reported and they didn’t get the benefit, if I recall correctly. someone correct me if I’m wrong. I don’t know if they got it resolved or not.

It was me. I had to wait a month for it to clear up. I did end up getting the full benefit but I had one month with it maxed out. OP has already said they got an alert that they paid off 90% so that's not the case here.

Re: NFCU SSL Reporting..first ever 0 point gain?

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 00:01:03 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
If you don’t know your previous score than there’s no way to gauge the difference. The only issue I see is that you paid it down a day later before it initially reported.

We had one report of someone doing that and the proper amount of the original loan was not reported and they didn’t get the benefit, if I recall correctly. someone correct me if I’m wrong. I don’t know if they got it resolved or not.
It was me. I had to wait a month for it to clear up. I did end up getting the full benefit but I had one month with it maxed out. OP has already said they got an alert that they paid off 90% so that's not the case here.

@Anonymous that's right, that was you, I forgot. Well that's just one bureau so we don't know what happened at the other ones, so that's why I thought it was worth mentioning.

i'm glad you got it straightened out, at least that way you were able to separate the aging points from the utilization points. Been a while so my memory was foggy.

Re: NFCU SSL Reporting..first ever 0 point gain?

lowspender — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 02:26:11 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
If you don’t know your previous score than there’s no way to gauge the difference.

That's disappointing. Fico factors into TU and Exp too though, doesn't it.. seems like it would have to make a difference that I could track..
Paying it down a day later- meaning I should have waited longer? It didn't report for a few weeks after, it seemed paying it down right away was acceptable..

Re: NFCU SSL Reporting..first ever 0 point gain?

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 01:41:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
If you don’t know your previous score than there’s no way to gauge the difference. The only issue I see is that you paid it down a day later before it initially reported.

We had one report of someone doing that and the proper amount of the original loan was not reported and they didn’t get the benefit, if I recall correctly. someone correct me if I’m wrong. I don’t know if they got it resolved or not.
It was me. I had to wait a month for it to clear up. I did end up getting the full benefit but I had one month with it maxed out. OP has already said they got an alert that they paid off 90% so that's not the case here.
@Anonymous that's right, that was you, I forgot. Well that's just one bureau so we don't know what happened at the other ones, so that's why I thought it was worth mentioning.

i'm glad you got it straightened out, at least that way you were able to separate the aging points from the utilization points. Been a while so my memory was foggy.

That's one of the benefits I got from my app sprees... my credit is so thick now that a new account drops my age by a single month. Very easy to isolate single changes.

Re: NFCU SSL Reporting..first ever 0 point gain?

lowspender — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 02:26:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
You mention Credit Karma. Is that where you are getting your scores? FICO scores should have moved but Vantage does what it wants to do which is why creditors don't usually use it. You can sign up at Experian.com for Credit Works and pull your FICO scores for all three bureaus for either free or $1 depending on what they offer you.

After paying for a trial at Experian, I am not sure what scores Ck is reporting to me. While I'm sure they're far from a gold standard around here, I've appreciated the TU and Equ updates they've given me. I am offsetting my disappointment in not knowing the actual number jump with results I wasn't expecting..
There's a significant gap between what Ck says are the TU and Equ results compared to what Exp says how those same bureaus score me.

Biggest factor is Exp sees my length of credit history as "good" but dings me for it in "what's hurting your score," where Equ and TU see it as "fair" but list it in the "what's helping your score section. not confusing..

I can put actual numbers in, wondering about the order of a few more steps, if that's ok in this subthread. I would alter the title. If not I can put it elsewhere..

@Anonymous wrote:
That's one of the benefits I got from my app sprees... my credit is so thick now that a new account drops my age by a single month. Very easy to isolate single changes.

A thin file and fixing that with another card is something I want to figure out next steps for, wherever the place for that is..

Re: NFCU SSL Reporting..first ever 0 point gain?

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 02:27:34 GMT

@lowspender wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
If you don’t know your previous score than there’s no way to gauge the difference.
That's disappointing. Fico factors into TU and Exp too though, doesn't it.. seems like it would have to make a difference that I could track..
Paying it down a day later- meaning I should have waited longer? It didn't report for a few weeks after, it seemed paying it down right away was acceptable..

Nah you did it right.

Re: NFCU SSL Reporting..first ever 0 point gain?

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 02:31:16 GMT

@lowspender wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
You mention Credit Karma. Is that where you are getting your scores? FICO scores should have moved but Vantage does what it wants to do which is why creditors don't usually use it. You can sign up at Experian.com for Credit Works and pull your FICO scores for all three bureaus for either free or $1 depending on what they offer you.
After paying for a trial at Experian, I am not sure what scores Ck is reporting to me. While I'm sure they're far from a gold standard around here, I've appreciated the TU and Equ updates they've given me. I am offsetting my disappointment in not knowing the actual number jump with results I wasn't expecting..
There's a significant gap between what Ck says are the TU and Equ results compared to what Exp says how those same bureaus score me.

Biggest factor is Exp sees my length of credit history as "good" but dings me for it in "what's hurting your score," where Equ and TU see it as "fair" but list it in the "what's helping your score section. not confusing..

I can put actual numbers in, wondering about the order of a few more steps, if that's ok in this subthread. I would alter the title. If not I can put it elsewhere..

@Anonymous wrote:
That's one of the benefits I got from my app sprees... my credit is so thick now that a new account drops my age by a single month. Very easy to isolate single changes.
A thin file and fixing that with another card is something I want to figure out next steps for, wherever the place for that is..

Only the negative reason codes are relevant. The positive ones are generated by the CMS front end and are actually meaningless in scoring.

FICO is the gold standard for lending so it's good that you are now aware of what your real scores are, not that you go to apply for something and are shocked by the score (although this can still happen because there are many different FICO scores, the most commonly used scores for credit cards are the FICO 8s you just got).

Re: NFCU SSL Reporting..first ever 0 point gain?

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 02:47:41 GMT

@lowspender Believe me you got the gains if that's your only loan, even though you may not be able to quantify them.

so what are your scores now that you checked them? And yes your negative Reason codes? And how many accounts and cards do you have now? You said you're trying to get to a thick profile? Sure we can help you in this thread.

Re: NFCU SSL Reporting..first ever 0 point gain?

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 02:48:26 GMT

Yeah CK is great to monitor changes in your file but the scores are pretty much meaningless.

Re: NFCU SSL Reporting..first ever 0 point gain?

lowspender — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 03:30:19 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Only the negative reason codes are relevant. The positive ones are generated by the CMS front end and are actually meaningless in scoring.

Ha..that's funny. Ok, I expect some differences between the bureaus or they'd be saying the same thing. Knowing that, does it make sense for the same variable to be the positive and negative, depending on the bureau, and for them to respond oppositely of each other?
Length of credit is what Experian dings me points for, while rating that variable as good.. the other 2 give me more points, partly for that same component, yet rate my credit length worse, at "fair."
That's separate from the "positive" I think you're referring to, on the overview- I'm looking at the components in the breakdown..

@Anonymous wrote:

FICO is the gold standard for lending so it's good that you are now aware of what your real scores are, not that you go to apply for something and are shocked by the score (although this can still happen because there are many different FICO scores, the most commonly used scores for credit cards are the FICO 8s you just got).

Yeah, looking at the mortage and auto fico etc. I definitely have room to improve and will try to find a breakdown to learn/build the other ficos on the forum here.. I am definitely a bit shocked, in a positive direction though...

Re: NFCU SSL Reporting..first ever 0 point gain?

lowspender — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 03:35:19 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
so what are your scores now that you checked them? And yes your negative Reason codes? And how many accounts and cards do you have now? You said you're trying to get to a thick profile? Sure we can help you in this thread.

The negative is all based around credit length, which may not have made sense in my explanation to Saeren. It's reversed in rating and outcome between the bureaus, I don't get it.

2 cards, this SSL, Experian suggests 5 accounts.
I want a cli for my tiny newer chase card (hp).. and I wanted to apply for an amex blue cash or whatever ends up being a good fit. Amex for the 90 3x cli and Chase b/c now I've solved the reason that they gave me such a low limit to begin with. Then again, I don't know what bureau the Card Aquisition Risk Score V2 pulls from (on my chase acceptance letter) & how internal that is.. also, if the significant jump in 4.5 months would cause them to reevaluate or punt based on time.

@Anonymous wrote:
Yeah CK is great to monitor changes in your file but the scores are pretty much meaningless.

So what CK says my TU score is..isn't what it was at all, just an estimate? Or that anything outside of getting a number directly from fico is meaningless?
CK put me at TU 762, Exp 755, again down about 10 points from a few months ago, can't tell why.

My subscription puts my Experian score at 773 (was the 755 accurate and this is an 18 point jump, or 755 was.. randomly generated? lol).

Killing it though is Equ at 828 and TU at 835 (whoo! I hoped for 800!). Same question with TU, did I jump that much or was CK rando..?

Re: NFCU SSL Reporting..first ever 0 point gain?

M_Smart007 — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 03:48:15 GMT

@lowspender, Your jump on Experian is probably 100% correct (just a hunch)

You cannot go by Credit Karma scores/ They are Vantage 3.0.

You need to do a (3) credit bureau pull from Experian or myFICO to check your EQ and TU scores.

BoA, Discover and a few others... offer free TU FICO8 scores but it is updated when they do SP's on your credit.

Maybe @AllZero can add credit check trial macro?

@Anonymous, Might also explain some other things, in much better detail than I can.

The scoring primer has tons of info in it.

Our Community’s updated scoring wisdom: Link to Scoring Primer.

(Thank you Birdman7 for all your hard work)

Different profiles react differently to having an SSL .. on average I seen roughly about a 35 point gain across all 3 bureas.

give or take a few points.

Wishing you the best, Good Luck!

Re: NFCU SSL Reporting..first ever 0 point gain?

AllZero — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 03:57:56 GMT

@M_Smart007 looks like message 16 shows FICO scores?

Great job on the scores @lowspender !

Re: NFCU SSL Reporting..first ever 0 point gain?

M_Smart007 — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 04:00:54 GMT

@AllZero wrote:
@M_Smart007 looks like message 16 shows FICO scores?

Great job on the scores @lowspender !

@AllZero, Sorry .. very tired and must have miss interpreted the post.

Re: NFCU SSL Reporting..first ever 0 point gain?

AllZero — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 04:02:29 GMT

No worries 😊