topic 2nd mortgage seen as open credit on Fico score in Mortgage Loans

2nd mortgage seen as open credit on Fico score

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 03:38:02 GMT

I have had a 2nd mortgage for 8 years for $123,000. The lender convinced me to get a revolving credit. As a result of the economy the lender reduced the line of credit to the amount of the home equity needed, which is the $123,000.

Looking at my Fico score I am being severely penalized for having that much debt on a revolving credit. I owe $510,000 on my first mortgage, $90,000 total in parent plus loan and approximately $500 on one line of credit (total line of $1,500) and $700 on another line of credit (total line of $2,000). My credit score for both is 668.

Should I refinance the 2nd mortgage for a loan installment product?

D-07

Re: 2nd mortgage seen as open credit on Fico score

Lel — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 03:51:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I have had a 2nd mortgage for 8 years for $123,000. The lender convinced me to get a revolving credit. As a result of the economy the lender reduced the line of credit to the amount of the home equity needed, which is the $123,000.

Looking at my Fico score I am being severely penalized for having that much debt on a revolving credit. I owe $510,000 on my first mortgage, $90,000 total in parent plus loan and approximately $500 on one line of credit (total line of $1,500) and $700 on another line of credit (total line of $2,000). My credit score for both is 668.

Should I refinance the 2nd mortgage for a loan installment product?

D-07

Hello, and welcome to the FICO Forums.

One question: which FICO score are you looking at, and what is the source of your score?

You have a high-limit HELOC on your home, which by definition is a revolving line of credit. Many people worry that this will be scored as a humongous credit card that has been maxed out. However, the FICO scoring model takes into account the fact that HELOCs are often used as second mortgages. As such, HELOCs with high CLs are excluded from the calculation of utilization.

For older models of FICO - e.g. the TU98 score and the most widely used Experian score - HELOCs with CLs above a certain threshold are scored as installment debt. The exact threshold is not known, but it's believed to be somewhere around $50,000.

For newer versions of FICO - TU04 and EQ's Beacon 5.0 - if the account is described as a mortgage or real estate loan, then it is scored as installment debt as well.

So, this HELOC of yours should not be scored as revolving credit and your calculated utilization should not be close to 100%. This has been the case for me - I've had a $98,000 HELOC for the last 4 years, and the remaining balance is still relatively high. However, the FICO score formula still only calculates a utilization of 1-3%, which reflects only my credit card debt. This is the case for both my TU98 and EQ scores.

Some non-FICO credit scores do not make the distinction between HELOCs used as mortgages and other revolving debt. As a result, these non-FICO scores can be much lower than one's actual FICO scores.

Re: 2nd mortgage seen as open credit on Fico score

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 03:55:33 GMT

Thank you for the welcome and response. My transunion score is 668 and Equifax is 667. Could the high debt be the result of the $90,000 in parent plus loan?

D-07

Re: 2nd mortgage seen as open credit on Fico score

Lel — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 04:07:38 GMT

Can you post the exact reasons given for your score when you pulled your reports? And just to be certain, those scores were pulled from this site, correct?

Are there any negative notations on your credit report?

Student loan debt is also installment debt, and would not be used to calculate utilization. Like other installment debt, the balance on these loans do not have as much of an impact as the balance on credit card debt.

Re: 2nd mortgage seen as open credit on Fico score

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 14:44:21 GMT

Hi,

My credit score recently dropped because I used a credit card to the maximum ($1,500) for my daughter's college expenses. I paid it down, as of today there is $400 on the balance. It must have missed the reporting date. Unfortunately, witth her new rent I accessed my overdraft line of credit last month ($2,000). I paid $300 toward this and will pay $150-200 month over the payment of $50. I re-adjusted my budget to accommodate these changes so there will not be an issue going forward. Is there anything else you suggest to help me regain a higher credit score?

I have a score of 719 now and I have a interest only first mortgage ($650,000) and a 2nd mortgage ($123,300) that continues to show up on this report /Fico score as an open credit. I'd like to get a 15 year or 30 year fixed including both balances. On this amount of a loan a score like this will cost a thousand extra.

Thanks for your help!

Re: 2nd mortgage seen as open credit on Fico score

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 14:49:58 GMT

Hello,

This is the score that is reported in the FICO score report I receive here.