Fico vs Vantage

[Anonymous]

Hello, I am a little confused.
Been working my tail off to fix the mess I was in.
My credit score was at 630 in March of 2018. Fico has me at 712. Vantage had me all along around 670.
I kept moving up with fico, but vantage wouldn't budge. Big difference in numbers but only because I am trying to buy a house.
Yesterday I got am email that vantage bumped me up 35 points. It said I paid off a balance. The balance on my discover was only 75 dollars and I only have two credit credit cards. I started over last years and ripped em all up. I pay the balance every month. Very strange, but they did 35 points.
Now will my fico score increase as well?
It's been really hard doing this. I care way more about FICO 8 than vantage. It could seriously help if it jumps up even ten points.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you

[Floyduda]

In my experience, when all of my accounts report $0, my Vantage will go up 30pts. and my Fico will decrease 15pts. There are many variables that are considered in all scoring models, but generally Fico reacts better to a small balance while Vantage appears to favor a $0 balance. 

[rbentley]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Hello, I am a little confused.
Been working my tail off to fix the mess I was in.
My credit score was at 630 in March of 2018. Fico has me at 712. Vantage had me all along around 670.
I kept moving up with fico, but vantage wouldn't budge. Big difference in numbers but only because I am trying to buy a house.
Yesterday I got am email that vantage bumped me up 35 points. It said I paid off a balance. The balance on my discover was only 75 dollars and I only have two credit credit cards. I started over last years and ripped em all up. I pay the balance every month. Very strange, but they did 35 points.
Now will my fico score increase as well?
It's been really hard doing this. I care way more about FICO 8 than vantage. It could seriously help if it jumps up even ten points.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you

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Ignore your VantageScores.  They are meaningless.  Only your FICO scores count for credit decisions.  To get the best scoring you need three credit cards (only one of them reporting a small balance) and an installment loan.

[Anonymous]

Only concern yourself with FICO scores.  You mentioned FICO 8 (which is of course more important than VS 3.0) but made no mention of your mortgage scores, which are the ones that matter since you're considering a home purchase.  If you don't know what they are, I suggest looking at those first.  You also should not app for anything in the 12 months leading up to a mortgage, so definitely keep that in mind.

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@Floyduda wrote:

In my experience, when all of my accounts report $0, my Vantage will go up 30pts. and my Fico will decrease 15pts. There are many variables that are considered in all scoring models, but generally Fico reacts better to a small balance while Vantage appears to favor a $0 balance. 

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VantageScore has no penalty for: "No recent revolving account activity". So going to zero balance on all cards is not an issue with VS3. The penality on Fico 8 is typically 15 to 20 points. The older Fico models used for mortgages also penalize for no revolving activity.

VantageScore has a significantly higher threshold for # of accounts (prefers atleast 11 accounts). Fico is satisfied with a file that has 4 accounts. I went from 11 accounts on file to 7 accounts (4 aged off my CRA reports). Fico 8 scores have held up but, VantageScores have dropped 8 points on average.

Fico mortgage scores: EQ Fico 04, TU FIco 04 and EX Fico 98 don't really penalize for no open installment loan on file. Fico 8 and Fico 9 both like to see an open loan at a small B/L ratio. Not having a loan could be leaving up to 30 Fico 8 points on the table but, 0 points to 10 points max for the older "mortgage" model Ficos depending on CRA.

Side note: The older Fico models were also ok with installment loan only profiles. However, with Fico 8 a no revolving account profile reportedly experiences a 50 to 70 point penalty - significantly worse than a no installment account profile.

[Anonymous]

Oh my God! Now I am a little sick.
So because I paid off all my credit cards my fico will drop?
Sweet Jesus almighty!
I thought I was doing right.
I have a car loan and student loan (I'll die with the student loan )and I am current with no missed or late payments. I pulled this score up pretty fast. My mortgage credit scores totally match up with all three credit bureaus numbers.
I just hope this jump some how helps me. I am thinking of shooting for another pre approval. I got pre approved for 4.35 which I heard is amazing for first mortgage however its close to expiring and I ain't paying to lock it in. I was told by my broker because those two numbers jumped at this time, I may drop down an entire point which is HUGE.
So.. I hope my fico doesnt drop. It's like ya can't win. You try to do the right thing and your penalized from someone! It's really infuriating! They all need to use the same darn platform and be done with it!
You guys are great for responding. 💜

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So because I paid off all my credit cards my fico will drop?

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If all of your revolvers have $0 reported balances, yes, you'll experience a 15-20 point drop or so.  This is quickly overcome, though, by allowing a small (say) $5-$10 balance report on one of your cards.  One way to accomplish this quicker many times if you have time constrants and cannot wait several weeks or a month for your account(s) to report on their "normal" date is to make that $5-$10 purchase, let it post to your account and then contact your creditor and ask for an immediate "off-cycle reporting" due to time constraints with your mortgage.  Lenders are 50-50 on whether or not they'll do this, but it doesn't hurt to ask.  Once a small balance reports on one of your revolvers, you'll gain back exactly the number of points originally lost from "no revolving credit use."

[Anonymous]

WOW that's insane. Due to logic I do get it. However, this entire "you did this right over here ,we'll love you here ,but they'll penalize you over there "
It's ridiculous, and keeps many serious consumers in the dark if they don't understand the hidden meanings. I can speak for myself because years ago, I said forget it. I am out! What will occur will occur. And I allowed it to hurt me by not caring.
It's like they want ya to be confused. Just carry one platform for each group.
The ones starting
The ones who are average
And
The ones who excell.
All capitalism is proven to work quite well in this context.
Ridiculous
Thank you honey.

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@Anonymous wrote:
WOW that's insane. Due to logic I do get it. However, this entire "you did this right over here ,we'll love you here ,but they'll penalize you over there "

It's like they want ya to be confused. Just carry one platform for each group.
All capitalism is proven to work quite well in this context.

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Just to clarify paying off all card balances, PIF, is not a negative in Fico scoring. All that you need to do is let a non zero balance report on a revolving credit card - not an AMEX charge card - and then pay it off before the due date. The statement balance is what reports to the CRAs. The penalty only comes in play if all accounts are paid to zero prior to statements being cut which then results in all accounts reporting zero.

All models like seeing a low aggregate utilization (below 9%). Some models penalize for too many accounts with balances while others do not. I have 6 cards and 1 to 3 cards reporting a balance seems to satisfy all the various credit scoring models.

[NRB525]

Good luck with your mortgage app. Let us know how any steps you take work out. More data points help understanding.