topic Re: Is Walmart fico 8 accurate? in Rebuilding Your Credit

Is Walmart fico 8 accurate?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 04:01:54 GMT

Hello everyone. I'm sure this is probably a dumb question but I'd like to hear anyways. Is the Walmart Fico 8 score accurate?? I ask this because, I've been in rebuilding mode for like three months now. Starting with mid 500 fico 8 scores across the board. After the first month and a half I broke past 600. Which I was super pumped about. And then less than two weeks ago I purchased the 3B report from Experian and noticed my TU was 645, so, almost a 100 point swing in a couple months. I know those scores were legit. So brings me to now. I registered my Walmart store card and when I checked the free score, IT had me at 717. That's a lot of points in a matter of days. So as excited as I was I thought I'd apply to Barclays knowing they favor TU, annnd instant denial!!! Which makes me think my Walmart fico was wrong!!

Re: Is Walmart fico 8 accurate?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 08:52:05 GMT

Denials can be based on lots of things. It might not be your score that got you denied, but something else such as number of inquiries, number of new accounts, etc. Have you tried calling their recon line? You can ask them to reconsider. I know that some people on this forum have had success with that. If nothing else, they may be able to tell you why you were denied before the letter comes in the mail.

Re: Is Walmart fico 8 accurate?

rmduhon — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 14:58:39 GMT

Wal-Mart score is legit. But it only updates once a month so

Re: Is Walmart fico 8 accurate?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 15:22:12 GMT

@Anonymous.

Walmart's TU Fico score is accurate for the moment in time that the score is taken. I get free TU Fico scores from Barclays and BoA and the scores are usually within a few points of each other as the scores are taken at different times through out the month. Barclays likes to see at least a year of payment history before considering one for their cards. Also, they are INQ sensitive and looks at the number of recent new accounts. If you call in to recon the denial, report back to us what they said as it will be good data points for others considering Barclays.

Re: Is Walmart fico 8 accurate?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 15:41:50 GMT

Ok, so I called to recon. You were 100% right. Denied due to my 10 accounts recently opened in the past couple months and all the inquires as well.

For informational purposes: I was told to let the new accounts age for 6-12 months, make on time payments and don't add more inquires and next time should be instant approval.

But, back to my original question. The walmart fico score has one of my key factors as being the portion of debt to revolving national/bank accounts is high!!!My util is around 25% and is normally my only positive contribution in my fico score. Why would it say that?

Re: Is Walmart fico 8 accurate?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 15:49:34 GMT

Well on a side note..... IM IN THE 700 club 🤘

Re: Is Walmart fico 8 accurate?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 16:39:17 GMT

@Anonymous.

Although your UTI is under 30%, FICO really prefers your UTI to be under 10%. Also, FICO looks at the number of accounts that carry a balance. If a lot of accounts carry balances, even if they are small, FICO penalizes your score for that.

Re: Is Walmart fico 8 accurate?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 19:10:44 GMT

Oh, ok. But I only have balances on less than half of the accounts. Does FICO not really consider accounts that have not yet been used? If that is the case I will spend a 100 or so on all the accounts and then PIF all the accounts.

Re: Is Walmart fico 8 accurate?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 19:49:31 GMT

1) Ideally for the RISK model the least risky scenario has all accounts at 0% with only ONE TL @ sub 10% utilization ( I know)
So when you say you 'only' have balances on HALF of your available TLs the model will always read it as a higher 'risk' thus ding you a bit.
If you're using your cards, you can't over obsess on the fine print of why the score is what it is or it'll drive you crazy...
Remember it's a RISK evaluation of the moment and it's programmed to be very sensitive, period.

2) As you've now learned the numbers of the score are ONE thing but age and thickness of the profile mean a lot as well

Meaning just because you see such n such score doesn't mean all 715 scores are equal and can handle yet another TL
Younger, thinner profiles are still young and thin no matter what the score, so don't be fooled into applying because you 'think' the number is high

3) As soon as I read I've been working ALL of 3 WHOLE months on my rebuild I knew where this was going 😀
Calm down grasshopper 3 months is barely enough time for 2 billing cycles to report, you gotta give the grass time to grow
I like to say 8-10 months to make sure at least more than 6 cycles have reported and accounts are nearing a year old, as are the HPs aging out of negative value.

The scores may be legit but if the profile is otherwise 'weak' in some way the score won't over come it

Re: Is Walmart fico 8 accurate?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 20:26:07 GMT

@Gemini101

Thank you! That defiantly puts it into a perspective I wasn't considering. Well I guess somehow I'm going to have to learn this "patience" thing 🤔

Re: Is Walmart fico 8 accurate?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 20:45:59 GMT

Think about your profile like a new born baby
7, 14 even 21 months in it's still a 'baby' and everything the baby does is evaluated and looked at with a closer eye than what happens over a 7 month period of an experienced 'growed-up' profile

A 5 y.o. might catch a spanking for doing 'that' but who's gonna 'spank' the 5 month old?

Re: Is Walmart fico 8 accurate?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 22:01:11 GMT

That's a great analogy!

Re: Is Walmart fico 8 accurate?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 22:07:08 GMT

I just thought when I broke 700 I'd be in good shape. Seriously though, I've been obsessed with raising my point total,and I was overlooking the bigger picture.

I have another question also. I had a collection removed from TU, do I have to dispute each CRA or will EX and EQ somehow get the related info???

Re: Is Walmart fico 8 accurate?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 22:33:05 GMT

1) Don't fret because our 'programming' teaches us something different than how the RISK model acts

We are programmed that getting x,y,z on the S.A.T. is THE goal...get the # win the prize, period
Not your fault...this one isn't so simple, doesn't fit the mold

I say all the time, they give you checkers when the game being played is chess

Once one takes a deep breath and 'gets' it's a different game it clears everything up like a good QB figuring out the NFL some get it thrive, others just survive, others go game ( even great college QBs)

Same thing in the credit game, a lot maybe most never fully adjust and thrive ,most survive a best and a lot just don't

2) There are times when you dispute all 3 and they don't agree I wouldn't assume a TU action is gonna auto populate a deletion elsewhere.

They seem to share perhaps 'some' info but not others..there are plenty of times 2 CRAs will delete a bad address whereas the 3rd wants an act of Congress so I'd dispute all 3, cause who knows

Re: Is Walmart fico 8 accurate?

BeautifulBlueBoy — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 23:57:40 GMT

Had you asked for advice, you would have saved an inquiry and a phone call. Barclay's doesn't like a lot of new accounts.

There are other cards better than Barclay's.