FICO Score Simulator

[Anonymous]

Okay...I'm carrying a bit of a balance on three cards (below 60% Util - but still, an all-time high for me) and I noticed that my projected FICO score will be LOWER in two years than in previous simulations of "Pay Off Balance in 24 Months". So, this beckons the question...

"Does FICO really forget past utilization when determining a score?"

[Anonymous]

Utilization only matters at the exact point in time that your report is pulled and a score generated.

Past utilization is not factored into your FICO score at all.

[sjt]

+1 to BBS comments.

Keep in mind that 24 months of aging also has an impact on your score. 

[Anonymous]

I also should have mentioned with my first reply to this thread that simulators are junk and should be ignored.  Better late than never!

[sarge12]

The problem with simulators is they do not account for how much a score will change based on that actual persons file. I mean, we all know that utilization is known to affect scores at the time of the pull. How much, depends on the thickness of the users credit file however. My sister is an AU on one card I have from a credit union we are both members of. All the charges on that card are hers and she pays the payments and interest on that card. On my last pull the balance on that card was over 50%, but since my fico8 scores ranged from 821-831 on that pull, how many points did that fairly high utilization on one card actually cost me? If it was one of only 3 cards I had, I think it's affect on score would be huge. Since it is 1 of roughly 20 cards, I think it's affect is fairly minimal.

[Anonymous]

Simulators also don't take into consideration nearly enough data points.  Often they ask around 10 questions and base their responses off of just those 10 pieces of information.  When you come to a site like this, people can easily provide twice that information in a thread where they're looking for score-related advice if they do X or Y.  Simulators simply don't have enough to go off of to be at all accurate, IMO.