AZEO IS $1 Enough

[Anonymous]

@Yeliaba1 There is no guarantee that a credit union credit card will count for AZEO on the EX2 algorithm. Recent thread’s have addressed this.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/EX-FICO-2-Not-Using-Revolving-Credit/m-p...

Consequently if that’s the only card you have with the balance and it’s not recognized by EX2, you’re going to suffer a no revolving balance penalty that’s decent on EX2.

Like SJ said, add a balance on Discover. If you add a balance on Discover and your AZE2, you’re only gonna lose a couple points. It would be a safer bet. Or pay off that PenFed card and carry a balance on discover or any major card and be AZEO.

And to address a point someone else questioned. We don’t know for sure whether dollar amount has any effect some fico white papers indicate that it does. @Tom_Thumb might chime in on that.

[Yeliaba1]

Thanks for your response.  The statement cut with $1 reporting. I’ll have to leave 2 cards reporting. As suggested by S Jamaica.  Had no idea the algorithm sees a credit union somewhat different but it’s nice to know.

[Anonymous]

We don’t know that it will 100%, but some credit union cards are discounted. Do you wanna take that chance? I know revolving balance penalty is way higher than a couple points by being AZE2. And you may not even lose the couple points for being AZE2. There’s some people that can have two or three cards reporting without losing a point depending on bureau

[Yeliaba1]

@Birdman thanks again.  I’ll take the advice and let Discover report $10.  It looks like the safer bet to me.  

[Anonymous]

No problem, great general advice on which card to use is in the following thread, read and enjoy:

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/AZEO-Question/td-p/5546749

[Anonymous]

My thoughts/advice:

Contact your lender with which you have the $1 balance and ask if they're willing to do an "off cycle reporting" to the bureaus.  If the answer is yes, pay the balance to $0 immediately and request that off cycle reporting to get that new $0 balance reported.  Then, do the same thing with Discover; Make sure you have a small (say) $10 balance or so on that card and call them and ask for an off cycle reporting.  Discover will do an off cycle reporting and it only takes 30 seconds on the phone with them to get it done.

What are your credit scores currently, specifically your mortgage scores?  Do you know if those scores being 10-20 points higher or lower would have any impact on your potential mortgage in terms of the rate you'd acquire?  Have you been pulling your own scores?  If so, if you pulled them before/after your recent $1 balance reported you should be able to see what happened to your scores.  If they didn't drop, you aren't being hit with a "no revolving credit use" penalty and are fine with where you're at now, as your scores are maximized.  If your FICO score source also provides you with negative reason statements, simply read the statements and ensure with your $1 reported balance present that you don't see anything to the tune of "no recent revolving credit use." 

[Yeliaba1]

@ Brutal. Thanks for the advice.  Penfed has the $1 balance and will not off cycle report.  This month I’ll let Discover report $ 10 as well.  My PenFed statement has already cut , while Discover cuts later in the month and scores update on the 27th.  Current mortgage scores are EQ 706, TU 722, and EX 710.  In hindsight, it shouldn’t impact the type of mortgage I’ll need.  I prequalified with NFCU and VACU and both say I’m fine.  (Currently rebuilding so this is a lot about see my best scores ever). I’ ll have to be at AZEO next month.

Sidenote:  EX CreditWorks updated this morning reporting a $1 balance from PenFed.  No changes to Fico 8 or any of the ancillary scores.  Went from 8% to 6%.

[jamie123]

I tested my AZEO vs all at $0 many times by using just a $3 balance on one major CC and it always reported just fine.

And yes, the difference for my AZEO vs all at $0 was pretty consistent at 18 points. I gained 18 points by letting $3 report!

[Yeliaba1]

@Jamie Has that $3 balance been on a CU credit card?  It sounds like I would have been fine if my $1 balance was on a major bank CC.

[HeavenOhio]

I would think the effect of the credit union card would be easy to test. The problem is that mortgage time isn't the time to do that.

I'm betting that the PenFed card is going to be fine. If it wasn't, you can bet we would have heard about it. Still, it's mortgage time, so why take chances?