A few months ago I began to suspect that 40% of accounts with balances is a breakpoint in EX FICO 2.
Today I confirmed it to my satisfaction. A mere $31 balance was added, which took accounts with balances from 12/33 to 13/33. The result ... EX FICO 2 dropped 11 points.
Now to get my utilization down and find out where the next breakpoint is.
But see update post 7/13/19.
@Anonymous wrote:Hi SouthJ! Would you mind testing the difference between exactly one card reporting and 12 cards reporting a balance?
If there is no difference at all for EX FICO 2, it would strongly suggest that the integer number of accounts has no bearing on the factor "number of accounts reporting a balance" (for that model). Instead, all that would matter is the ratio (percentage).
One of the reasons I have assumed that the integer number also matters is that I get the negative reason statement (number of accounts reporting a balance) even when my ratio is extremely low. Last year I had 12 cards and 2 open loans, and I would see that statement even when I had exactly two cards reporting (2/12 ratio for revolving and 4/14 for open accounts).
If you do see a score drop between exactly 1 and 12, it would be interesting to hear where the score drop first appears (and what the negative reason statements say). E.g. testing going from 1 card to 5 cards (say). A score drop there would imply the importance of integer number, since your ratio would be incredibly low regardless.
I would love to do that, but unfortunately at the moment I have too much revolving debt to pull that off in the near future.
@Anonymous wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
Today I confirmed it to my satisfaction. A mere $31 balance was added, which took accounts with balances from 12/33 to 13/33. The result ... EX FICO 2 dropped 11 points.
Now to get my utilization down and find out where the next breakpoint is.
What was the dollar balance and aggregate utilization before and after?
I ask that because my EX FICO 2 dropped 6 pts from 727 to 721 when the only data that changed was aging by 1 month, 1% to 7% aggregate utilization change ($40 to $588) , 1 to 2 cards carrying a balance (already a negative at 727).
Negative reason statements were exactly the same on both reports:
- You have a short credit history
- You have not established a long revolving and/or openended account credit history.
- You have too many credit accounts with balances. (1 of 2 with a balance was already too many with EX FICO 2 at 727 before the drop.)
- You've recently opened too many new credit accounts.
$57,360 10.07%
$57,391 10.07%
@Anonymous wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
Today I confirmed it to my satisfaction. A mere $31 balance was added, which took accounts with balances from 12/33 to 13/33. The result ... EX FICO 2 dropped 11 points.
Now to get my utilization down and find out where the next breakpoint is.
What was the dollar balance and aggregate utilization before and after?
$57,360 10.07%
$57,391 10.07%
Wow, that's some pretty good evidence then!
FICO 2 seems really sensitive to some things related to debt. On December 23rd, with my SSL at 8.47%, my FICO 2 was 691.
1 new EX inquiry caused that to drop 16 points to 675 on a report 8 days later (Dec 31).
The next report on January 18th, with my SSL closed and 2 new revolving accounts reporting showed FICO 2 up 52 points to 727! It was the only mortgage score to react so strongly to the loan closing.
I don't know what you're talking about with respect to a loan closing. Are you saying that you had an SSL at 8.47% and paid it off? If so why on earth did you do that?
Before and after reason codes please.
