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AU question - Impact on Balance and CL in Fico8 Report

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Anonymous
Not applicable

AU question - Impact on Balance and CL in Fico8 Report

So I've looked through the forums and thought I knew/found my answer, but wanted to hear from others that see this. I heard/read that being added as an AU on a card is treated differently by Fico8 and Vantage 3.0 (just sticking to the 2 I see/use the most - Fico8 being most important). I read that the balance/CL of a card does not hurt/help on the Fico8, it would/could only be recognized as an account on file. Conversely, I read that the balance/CL is considered/calculated in UTIL on the Vantage 3.0 scoring model. Before today, I had never seen an impact to my Fico8 score due to the balance/CL of the Chase Sapphire card I am an AU on - in fact, it does not reflect the 13k in UTIL, however it just decreased my score by 3pts due to increase in balance (by about $2,5k). If my question/confusion is not clear, please let me know - but I appreciate any clarity on this - thanks!
6 REPLIES 6
Revelate
Moderator Emeritus

Re: AU question - Impact on Balance and CL in Fico8 Report

FICO 8 instituted an anti-abuse component of their algorithm when it comes to AU scoring.

 

The AU may be counted or it may not, and there's no way to really tell except testing such as leaving a balance on the AU and $0 everywhere else and see if you drop or not.




        
Message 2 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: AU question - Impact on Balance and CL in Fico8 Report


@Revelate wrote:

FICO 8 instituted an anti-abuse component of their algorithm when it comes to AU scoring.

 

The AU may be counted or it may not, and there's no way to really tell except testing such as leaving a balance on the AU and $0 everywhere else and see if you drop or not.


Ok, I understand. For me, it isn't a big deal as I'm not looking to make a big purchase for at least 2 years, but more about making sure I understand since I hadn't seen the benefit of the increased total credit of 13k and 8k on another card I was added to. Thank you!
Message 3 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: AU question - Impact on Balance and CL in Fico8 Report

Thank you for this.

Message 4 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: AU question - Impact on Balance and CL in Fico8 Report

Nice reply by Revelate.  My personal feeling is that every person who has one or more AU cards should do the legwork to see if FICO 8 is ignoring the card or not.  The test that Revelate mentioned is really simple.

 

Basically you just pay all cards to zero except one card in your name and the AU card.  They have small balances.  Pull your scores.

 

Then you pay the card in your name to zero and wait till it reports.  Then pull your scores.

 

If the score drops by about 15-20 points, FICO 8 is ignoring that card.  The $1 trial at Credit Check Total is a nice tool for pulling the three FICO 8 scores.

Message 5 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: AU question - Impact on Balance and CL in Fico8 Report


@Anonymous wrote:

Nice reply by Revelate.  My personal feeling is that every person who has one or more AU cards should do the legwork to see if FICO 8 is ignoring the card or not.  The test that Revelate mentioned is really simple.

 

Basically you just pay all cards to zero except one card in your name and the AU card.  They have small balances.  Pull your scores.

 

Then you pay the card in your name to zero and wait till it reports.  Then pull your scores.

 

If the score drops by about 15-20 points, FICO 8 is ignoring that card.  The $1 trial at Credit Check Total is a nice tool for pulling the three FICO 8 scores.


Great, thank you for breaking that down, I really appreciate it!
Message 6 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: AU question - Impact on Balance and CL in Fico8 Report

Additional follow-up question to AU user accounts and the affect on the Mortgage scores versus regular Fico 8 scores.  From reading through other posts/forums, it leads me to believe that AU accounts are factored in strongly on the Mortgage scores, is that correct?  Right now my Fico 8 scores are 839/828/835 but my mortgage scores are only 735/758/748 and I believe it's due to an AU card for my wife that is at 86% UTIL but hasn't reported the $0 balance yet.  After reviewing everything, it looks like the Mortgage scores are penalizing me for that 86% UTIL on the AU card in the scoring.  For reference, my 3B Util is only showing 2% UTIL across the 3 bureaus, so Fico 8 is ignoring that AU card/util apparently.

 

Thanks everyone!

Message 7 of 7
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