Utilization History?

[Anonymous]

I believe the conventional wisdom (validated by some knowledgeable people and insiders as well) that FICO scoring is a snapshot and does not include all histories.

Histories that are obviously included are Age of credit, AAoA, late payment history, etc.  It is believed that utilization history is NOT part of FICO scoring equation.

HOWEVER, that does not mean that your creditors, whether CCCs, mortagage lenders, banks, CU's are not looking beyond just he score.  They can choose or not choose to examine other details in your CRs.  A mortgage lender that is doing a manual review of your Credit Report may notice..... 'hmm, this person always had high util, but something happened 2 months ago and he paid everything off.  He may/may not ask you what happened.

[BlueNightStar]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I believe the conventional wisdom (validated by some knowledgeable people and insiders as well) that FICO scoring is a snapshot and does not include all histories.

Histories that are obviously included are Age of credit, AAoA, late payment history, etc.  It is believed that utilization history is NOT part of FICO scoring equation.

HOWEVER, that does not mean that your creditors, whether CCCs, mortagage lenders, banks, CU's are not looking beyond just he score.  They can choose or not choose to examine other details in your CRs.  A mortgage lender that is doing a manual review of your Credit Report may notice..... 'hmm, this person always had high util, but something happened 2 months ago and he paid everything off.  He may/may not ask you what happened.

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Yes, thank you for stating that much more clearly than I was. Based on some things I've been reading about rejections for CCs, CLIs and such, it seems as though more lenders are reviewing your entire report and noticing things like how large your payments were and what your utilization has been in the past with various other creditors.

[marty56]

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@Anonymous wrote:

A mortgage lender that is doing a manual review of your Credit Report may notice..... 'hmm, this person always had high util, but something happened 2 months ago and he paid everything off.  He may/may not ask you what happened.

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Not possible with a credit report since util history is not tracked and the high balance may or may not be correct.  Also a lender cannot tell how fast the account was payed down for the same reason. 

[BlueNightStar]

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@marty56 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

A mortgage lender that is doing a manual review of your Credit Report may notice..... 'hmm, this person always had high util, but something happened 2 months ago and he paid everything off.  He may/may not ask you what happened.

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Not possible with a credit report since util history is not tracked and the high balance may or may not be correct.  Also a lender cannot tell how fast the account was payed down for the same reason. 

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I'm looking at my EX report now. It has 2 years worth of monthly payment history for each account. It shows total balance/scheduled payment/payment amount. Do lenders looking at my report not have access to that data?

[haulingthescoreup]

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@BlueNightStar wrote:

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@marty56 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

A mortgage lender that is doing a manual review of your Credit Report may notice..... 'hmm, this person always had high util, but something happened 2 months ago and he paid everything off.  He may/may not ask you what happened.

---

Not possible with a credit report since util history is not tracked and the high balance may or may not be correct.  Also a lender cannot tell how fast the account was payed down for the same reason. 

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I'm looking at my EX report now. It has 2 years worth of monthly payment history for each account. It shows total balance/scheduled payment/payment amount. Do lenders looking at my report not have access to that data?

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Yes, they do.

It's not used in creating your FICO scores (unless there's a late in there, of course), but the info is available to lenders when you app.

Lenders look at scores AND reports. They're obviously related, but they're not the same thing.

[BlueNightStar]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

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@BlueNightStar wrote:

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@marty56 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

A mortgage lender that is doing a manual review of your Credit Report may notice..... 'hmm, this person always had high util, but something happened 2 months ago and he paid everything off.  He may/may not ask you what happened.

---

Not possible with a credit report since util history is not tracked and the high balance may or may not be correct.  Also a lender cannot tell how fast the account was payed down for the same reason. 

---

I'm looking at my EX report now. It has 2 years worth of monthly payment history for each account. It shows total balance/scheduled payment/payment amount. Do lenders looking at my report not have access to that data?

---

Yes, they do.

It's not used in creating your FICO scores (unless there's a late in there, of course), but the info is available to lenders when you app.

Lenders look at scores AND reports. They're obviously related, but they're not the same thing.

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Thank you. I was just noticing how obvious it would be to anyone who pulled my report that 2 years ago I was in major debt and unable to make more than minimum payments. It's very clear that in 2011 something changed because my payments jump and balances begin to decrease. It also shows how much I now spend per month on the cards I PIF.  Interesting stuff that gives lenders a lot of detailed information. The score doesn't tell the whole story but the report pretty much does.

[RobertEG]

I dont believe there is much question that in using % util in scoring, only the current % util counts.

But the category under which it is a part is utilization of credit, not % utilization.

It remains kinda a mystery to me if, and to what extent, actual balances, or even historical balances, are scored.

There is no question that prior balance profile is stored in your credit file, and available both to creditors and to the FICO algorithm, if it so chooses.

I have never seen an explanation of how FICO treats debt balances.  Since income is not tracked, then balances owed compared with capacity to pay cannot be evaluated, making my mind spin has to how current debt balance can be equated to a risk factor.

In my mind, at least, it remains a mystery.  But I dont accept a bald conclusion that amount of debt is not a scoring factor.

[marty56]

Anyone ever been deined credit beacuse that had too much available credit?  I would argue that if they are interested in past util, then available credit would also be an issue.  If past debt is really an issue, wouldn;t the FCRA mention it.  At a mnimum they could only keep it so long since even major derogs fall off after time.

Perhaps there may be a lender that might dig through my CR looking for a reason to deny me but I bet that I can always find many more that won't.

[Anonymous]

Anyone ever been deined credit beacuse that had too much available credit?

Yes I was.

Trying to open a Capital One credit card, to capitalize on the no-international-transaction-fees benefit to their cards to use when traveling.  I have one credit card with a $40k limit, and several other cards with $10-$15k limit, I don't carry a month-to-month balance on any of these cards, so my utilization is quite low, just whatever I charge in any given month.

Of course I continue to get Capital One invitation/applications constantly....