HELP! Credit scoring question! Please everyone chime in!

[princechristian]

Experian Credit Score 530

Score Rank	4.14%
Risk Level	Very High
Last Month’s Score	530

Factors Contributing to your Score:

•  1. You have no installment loans.
•  2. You have two or more open credit cards.
•  3. You do not have any Public Records.
•  4. You have one or more missed payments.
•  5. Your average age of accounts is less than 5 years and 11 months.
•  6. You have one or more credit cards maxed out.
•  7. Your credit-to-debt ratio is more than 51%.
•  8. Your average credit card limit is less than $2,000.

Ok, the above snapshot is directly from USAA credit monitoring as you all probably guessed, and is a FAKO obviously. I will be examining very closely these factors above as well as others to get a better understanding of credit scoring. This snapshot was from last month, now this month my FAKO Experian score went up to 587, and currently is actually 606! There have only been 2-3 changes that contributed that I know of, that I will discuss later. But for now, my question is about the negatives 4-8 listed above. I know about #4 and #6 above but have never seen or been advised that your score increases from an average credit limit amount greater than $2k or that apparently 6 years AAoA or more is ideal. Please advise from your experience, has anyone gone from having any of these negatives, to NOT having them and saw increases to their scores? In particular 2, 4, 7, & 8. Thank you for reading and/or responding.  

[webhopper]

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@princechristian wrote:

Experian Credit Score 530

Score Rank	4.14%
Risk Level	Very High
Last Month’s Score	530

Factors Contributing to your Score:

•  1. You have no installment loans.
•  2. You have two or more open credit cards.
•  3. You do not have any Public Records.
•  4. You have one or more missed payments.
•  5. Your average age of accounts is less than 5 years and 11 months.
•  6. You have one or more credit cards maxed out.
•  7. Your credit-to-debt ratio is more than 51%.
•  8. Your average credit card limit is less than $2,000.

Ok, the above snapshot is directly from USAA credit monitoring as you all probably guessed, and is a FAKO obviously. I will be examining very closely these factors above as well as others to get a better understanding of credit scoring. This snapshot was from last month, now this month my FAKO Experian score went up to 587, and currently is actually 606! There have only been 2-3 changes that contributed that I know of, that I will discuss later. But for now, my question is about the negatives 4-8 listed above. I know about #4 and #6 above but have never seen or been advised that your score increases from an average credit limit amount greater than $2k or that apparently 6 years AAoA or more is ideal. Please advise from your experience, has anyone gone from having any of these negatives, to NOT having them and saw increases to their scores? In particular 2, 4, 7, & 8. Thank you for reading and/or responding.  

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Hi!  Welcome to the Forum!

I will probably go ahead and tell you that the FAKO scoring system is different than the FICO Scoring System.     I've asked the moderators of the forum to forward your topic to the appropriate part of the forum to get the best responses.

I will not pretend to know everything, but here are some educational resources that may help you understand:

Credit Scoring 101:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=ficoscoring&thread.id=29793

The Son Of Credit Scoring 101

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/The-Son-Of-Credit-Scoring-101/m-p/718550#U718...

Can I See My Credit Report Free Of Charge?
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=generalcredit&thread.id=12881

The History of Credit:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=ficoscoring&thread.id=5048

Also, I suggest that you check out the rebuilding forum to get an idea on how to address negative information on your report!

Best of Luck in your rebuilding journey!

 

[princechristian]

Thanks!!

And I understand the basics of credit scoring as mentioned in all of the helpful links you provided. I was more asking if anyone could note their personal experiences in relation to the following question:

Please advise from your experience, has anyone gone from having any of these negatives, to NOT having them and saw increases to their scores?

[llecs]

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@princechristian wrote:

Please advise from your experience, has anyone gone from having any of these negatives, to NOT having them and saw increases to their scores?

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I think what webhopper was driving at is that even though some of those are negatives as listed in the PLUS FAKO score (available through USAA), it doesn't mean your FICO would do the same. It is quite possible your EX FICO is in the 700s. It's also possible it could be in the 500s. There is zero correlation to FICO scoring. Moreover, there are more than one FAKO out there. You can pull your EX score from CreditSesame, PrivacyGuard, Experian.com, and Equifax.com and get 4 different FAKOs aside from the PLUS you referenced above, and the score ranges could easily be 100 points off from what USAA provided. In other words, if another poster came along and answered your question, it wouldn't mean that it would happen to you because there would be several scoring model comparisons.

Specifically to PLUS scoring, I have zero clue how it works. It obviously has a different score range than FICO and it factors in stuff that FICO does not, and vice-versa. For example, take #8 (CLs under $2k mention). Per FICO scoring it doesn't matter what your CLs are. But for PLUS scoring, it's obviously a ding. So, if you added new $2k+ CL CCs, your PLUS might go up because the negative is removed, but FICO would drop because it wouldn't help (mix and util aside).

Or take #7 concerning util. Per FICO scoring util is a big deal, but IME, it isn't as much for PLUS scores. I don't know what there threshold is at in terms of util, but anything over 10% for FICO can ding your score. PLUS might have that at 30% or 40%. So even if the negative goes away on USAA, FICO could still be dinging you. I have a thread in here where I paid of util from 89% down to 1% and have some FAKO comparisons in there. I can't remember if PLUS was included, but my EQ FICO increased 125 pts. My FAKOs not even half that, IIRC.

Missed payments can ding any score for the most part. Therefore removing late payments can improve the score. With regards to 2 or more CCs, that's normal for FICO too. Ideally it is 3 or more, though you can hit in the upper 700s with only one. I don't know if you can do that with a PLUS.

Hope it makes sense. I know you aren't asking about FICO scoring or whether or not your FICO score can improve with the removal of the negatives listed above. We were just pointing out that if your PLUS increases, your FICO can decrease, and vice-versa. Removing those negatives won't necessarily increase your FICO; it can decrease your FICO in some instances. And because so many EX FAKOs are out there, it'll be a challenge (but not impossible) to find others who tracked their USAA FAKO over time because lenders ignore them anyway.

[crunching_numbers]

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@llecs wrote:

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@princechristian wrote:

Please advise from your experience, has anyone gone from having any of these negatives, to NOT having them and saw increases to their scores?

---

I think what webhopper was driving at is that even though some of those are negatives as listed in the PLUS FAKO score (available through USAA), it doesn't mean your FICO would do the same. It is quite possible your EX FICO is in the 700s. It's also possible it could be in the 500s. There is zero correlation to FICO scoring. Moreover, there are more than one FAKO out there. You can pull your EX score from CreditSesame, PrivacyGuard, Experian.com, and Equifax.com and get 4 different FAKOs aside from the PLUS you referenced above, and the score ranges could easily be 100 points off from what USAA provided. In other words, if another poster came along and answered your question, it wouldn't mean that it would happen to you because there would be several scoring model comparisons.

Specifically to PLUS scoring, I have zero clue how it works. It obviously has a different score range than FICO and it factors in stuff that FICO does not, and vice-versa. For example, take #8 (CLs under $2k mention). Per FICO scoring it doesn't matter what your CLs are. But for PLUS scoring, it's obviously a ding. So, if you added new $2k+ CL CCs, your PLUS might go up because the negative is removed, but FICO would drop because it wouldn't help (mix and util aside).

Or take #7 concerning util. Per FICO scoring util is a big deal, but IME, it isn't as much for PLUS scores. I don't know what there threshold is at in terms of util, but anything over 10% for FICO can ding your score. PLUS might have that at 30% or 40%. So even if the negative goes away on USAA, FICO could still be dinging you. I have a thread in here where I paid of util from 89% down to 1% and have some FAKO comparisons in there. I can't remember if PLUS was included, but my EQ FICO increased 125 pts. My FAKOs not even half that, IIRC.

Missed payments can ding any score for the most part. Therefore removing late payments can improve the score. With regards to 2 or more CCs, that's normal for FICO too. Ideally it is 3 or more, though you can hit in the upper 700s with only one. I don't know if you can do that with a PLUS.

Hope it makes sense. I know you aren't asking about FICO scoring or whether or not your FICO score can improve with the removal of the negatives listed above. We were just pointing out that if your PLUS increases, your FICO can decrease, and vice-versa. Removing those negatives won't necessarily increase your FICO; it can decrease your FICO in some instances. And because so many EX FAKOs are out there, it'll be a challenge (but not impossible) to find others who tracked their USAA FAKO over time because lenders ignore them anyway.

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+1

Well said Ilecs. 

If your goal is to make your FAKO score go up, then  getting higher limit cards will do that.  There is nothing wrong with that. (Just remember no lenders or credit cards will ever look at or care about that score.)

If your goal is to make your FICO score go up, you will need to use a FICO report and see what factors are affecting your FICO score.  Lenders will use your FICO score, so you should try and improve things that affect that score. 

What helps the FAKO may or may not help the FICO, and there is no correlation at all between the two scoring systems. 

From what you have stated, the best thing you can do is focus on repairing the baddies.

[crunching_numbers]

Also, I can say with confidence, that maxed out cards will hurt your scores, all of the FAKO's and FICO's.  

[princechristian]

Very well stated everyone! Thanks for the clarification! I knew they were not scored as FICOs are, but thought that they were somewhat similiar being that over a six month span, my FICOs and FAKO scores increased and decreased almost identically. Within 3-5 pts apart with about 10 score change/updates. Lol. I know this is likely just very rare, and not necessarily indicative of the same scoring models.

But oddly enough, seeing this and me posting this has directed me to this section of the forum, that for some strange reason I never knew existed! Lol. And I now have an even better understanding of credit scoring, so thanks again!!!