You have GOT to be KIDDING me. I noticed on TC that my only credit card with a balance on it finally reported as paid off. For now, I have no balances on any credit cards. I do not have a mortgage. I have one auto loan with a $23781 remaining. The original auto loan was $34000. Here is a quick breakdown of my cards. Once again, none of these cards have a balance.
JCPenneys: CL - $200
Macy's: CL - $1500
Orchard Bank Gold MasterCard: CL - $1800
Discover Card: CL - $4500
Chase Visa Platinum: CL - $5000
Military Star Card: CL - $8250
AMEX Blue Sky: CL - $10000
My scores for the past several months have been the following:
TU - 756, EX - 766, EQ - 760.
I noticed a new thing that on the little scale that shows 'what's helping/hurting' my FICO score' (In the Understanding Your Score tab). There is one on the hurting side that says high installment balance. What's up with this? I have one car loan and I've had it over 2 years now and I've never had that on there before. At first, I thought my score dropped since my utilization is at zero, but now it looks like this installment balance is what caused my score to drop 32 @%#&@* points! 
This is exactly what it says:
The remaining balance on your non-mortgage installment loans is too high.
Check your installment loans to calculate your remaning balances
FICO High Achievers [?] have paid down an average of 35% of the principal on their installment loans.
- Your FICO score weighs the balances of your non-mortgage installment loans (such as auto loan or student loans) against the original loan amounts. In general, when you first obtain an installment loan your balance is high, and as you pay this loan down, the balance decreases.
- Keep this in mind: This factor will have less of a negative impact on your FICO score as you pay down your installment loans and the total balance decreases.
I don't understand why this would just pop up now. I've used MyFico for quite some time and this is something new I have never seen before. I cannot believe this would cause my
To note, my credit history length is 12 years, average age of my accounts is only 3 years. I have one account, (my oldest account, opened in 1996) that has 3 late payments on it. The most recent late payment is over 4 years old and doesn't seem to be affecting my score that much now, if at all. I also don't have any collections, delinquencies, bankruptcies, etc.
My new scores:
TU dropped 5 points to 751
EX went down big time to 734
EQ went up 8 points to 768!!
Anyone else have thoughts/opinions?
Hey Jay, IMO, the reason that your scores dropped was b/c you don't have any CC balances on the handful of cards that you have. You ought to allow at least one to rpt a balance. You can still PIF it at statement time, so as not to pay any finance charges.
I think that the analysis is goofy sometimes. They run out of things to beef at you about, so up pops some random comment that was never there before.
I think that the analysis is goofy sometimes. They run out of things to beef at you about, so up pops some random comment that was never there before.
Starting Score: 469Hiya Byrdman, thanks for the reply! I've heard the same thing about the balance but the thing that concerned me was that whole 'The remaining balance on your non-mortgage installment loans is too high' statement. I've NEVER had that on there and I've had this loan for over 2 YEARS. According to the ole FICO scale, this is what is 'hurting my score'. What a crock! I get knocked down 32 freakin' points for something that's 2 + years open, always on time, and my score goes down??
I'm putting your theory to the test. I just bought a new fancy schmancy digital camera and tickets to Dublin and Prague. 
I charged ALL of it. Luckily, this doesn't even put me close to over the 35% utilization rule. I was only at around 1% with this one balance forever, this will probably put me around 3 or 4%.
I charged ALL of it. Luckily, this doesn't even put me close to over the 35% utilization rule. I was only at around 1% with this one balance forever, this will probably put me around 3 or 4%. I still can't believe I would get knocked down that far for something like that. Granted, the simulator shouldn't be taken as the letter of the law, but I remember checking that before paying off the card and it showed the traditional 'stay the same or 20 point increase' if I paid it off.
I wonder if this could be the beginning of FICO 08?? hmmm.....
Well, I give a +1 to madashell for using the search feature
(Or, carefully sifting through five years of our flotsam and jetsam...)