FICO 5

[Anonymous]

What types of activities effect the Equifax FICO 5 mortgage score the most? Utilization, inquiries?

I have clean files. My score is 698. 8's are so much higher.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:
What types of activities effect the Equifax FICO 5 mortgage score the most? Utilization, inquiries?

I have clean files. My score is 698. 8's are so much higher.

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My gut feeling about FICO 5 is that it rewards

1. having a mortgage in your file

2. having a low percentage of credit cards reporting a balance

3. not having new inquiries and accounts

[Anonymous]

SouthJ may well be right about all three of those.  I know that contributor Thomas Thumb feels that the mortgage models are very sensitive abouut #2.  And this particular issue (#2) is very actionable -- i.e. very much under your control and can be executed fast and cheaply.  (Just pay all cards to zero except one, with the remaining card reporting a small balance.)

That's the first thing I'd try if you have far higher FICO 8 scores with no derogs.