Hoping I made right move?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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Is it possible the Equifax 3-in-1 report is not completely accurate, Fico score wise, as CreditGuy suggested?

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The following language is on the Equifax PRODUCTS page:

Equifax® 3-Bureau credit scores are each based on the Equifax Credit Score model, but calculated using the information in your Equifax, Experian® and TransUnion® credit files. Third parties use many different types of credit scores and will not use the Equifax 3-Bureau credit scores to assess your creditworthiness.

I.e. you got three BS scores that no lender or CC issuer uses.

[Anonymous]

While you are rebuilding, you might want use a combination of free tools for reports, and the $1 trial offer at Credit Check Total (which can be repeated as often as once a month, though you will need to be sure to cancel it each time).  Spending a lot of money on credit monitoring tools given your situation seems pointless.

PS.  Any particular reason you are going through the pre-qualification process for a home you won't actually buy until at least 12 months later?

PPS.  If there is any chance that you can get these serious derogs removed altogether from your reports, you should jump at it, even if the removal results in the deletion of more than one very old accounts.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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I.e. you got three BS scores that no lender or CC issuer uses.

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Truer words...  Just received an update from Experian.

Not sure how EQ gets away with this!? Will be cancelling my sub!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

While you are rebuilding, you might want use a combination of free tools for reports, and the $1 trial offer at Credit Check Total (which can be repeated as often as once a month, though you will need to be sure to cancel it each time).  Spending a lot of money on credit monitoring tools given your situation seems pointless.

PS.  Any particular reason you are going through the pre-qualification process for a home you won't actually buy until at least 12 months later?

PPS.  If there is any chance that you can get these serious derogs removed altogether from your reports, you should jump at it, even if the removal results in the deletion of more than one very old accounts.

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I'm so very sorry for the apparent false alarm. WTH, I never imagined Equifax would convey inaccurate information.

CreditGuy, re: the pre-qual -- its new home construction and builder won't go forward with us unless we pre-qual. We're putting 45% down on the place.  Working on the derogs -- received two calls from Chase EO yesterday -- crossing fingers.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

If you really want an answer to the question I need to know:

1. All your revolving limits and balances before and after.

2. On the AU card I need to know limits and balances plus age of account and whether there are any negatives.

3. FICO 8 scores before and after.

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Is it possible the Equifax 3-in-1 report is not completely accurate, Fico score wise, as CreditGuy suggested?

Here is the before and after picture...

Prior to ordering the 3-in-1 report, I was monitoring Fico scores by:

• Equifax - a MyFico report orderd on Feb 1, score was 693
• Experian - via Experian free service / updates, Feb score was 691
• TransUnion - via Discover and / or Chase websites, Feb score was 698

Limits and balances were:

• Disco Chrome secured $800 / balance $0
• Cap1 QS $3,801 /  balance $800
• Cap1 M/C secured $551 / balance $0

The report shows:

• Disco Chrome secured $800 / balance $0
• Cap1 QS $3,801 /  balance $0
• Cap1 M/C secured $551 / balance $0
• Discover (account opened Feb 1st) $7,000 / balance $35

and:

• EQ 682
• EX 665
• TU 670

Apparently Amex hasn't yet reported the new (opened Jan 30th) Delta account, CL $10k. 

Yesterday I closed the secured Discover ($800 CL) account. Today I removed myself from DW QS1.

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1. Yes as @Anonymous pointed out, the score references on EQ are meaningless.

2. I'm glad you're off the young AU card; that wasn't doing you any good.

3. It doesn't matter what the reality of your balances was; in figuring out scoring changes, the only thing that matters is what the report says, because it's that data that is being used to calculate the score.

4. Reducing the utilization and adding a couple of cards probably had a slightly positive effect on your FICO 8 scores.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The only consideration I had when adding myself as AU to DW's accounts was to increase my utilization ratio. I didn't even think, or know about, the adverse consequences of another new account. Another mistake.  Appreciate the criteria you laid out -- very straight forward.

Eventually the QS1 will be SD'd or merged into a superior Cap1 product, if they allow it, down the road.

That oldest account, an Amex card, was charged off, then settled in 2017.  My TU CR indicates it will be removed May 2020. Does the negative of the charge off outweigh the benefit of the account age?

The next two oldest accounts are Chase home loan and equity line of credit, both opened September 2005. Both loans fell on hard times. When I brought the former steady in 2016, Chase sold it to another loan management company. Both companies now report that loan, which seems odd? The latter account was charged off, and then settled in 2017. TU reports that will be removed in October 2020.

We are aiming to get pre-qualified this Spring for a new home purchase in 2020. Hoping I didn't ruin our chances.

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I wish you had told us about this at the top of the thread. Also I wish you had checked with us before going ahead and adding new accounts.

1. You need to use the expensive MyFICO monitoring service so you can get a real handle on your MORTGAGE scores, which are the only ones that matter now.

2. One of the most important things you can do to improve your mortgage scores is to NOT apply for any new credit.

The other thing is to maintain your revolving accounts at AZEO; but this you have taken care of, so there you're good.

[Anonymous]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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1. You need to use the expensive MyFICO monitoring service so you can get a real handle on your MORTGAGE scores, which are the only ones that matter now.

2. One of the most important things you can do to improve your mortgage scores is to NOT apply for any new credit.

The other thing is to maintain your revolving accounts at AZEO; but this you have taken care of, so there you're good.

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Very much appreciate the time you take to provide these details -- feel like I learn something new every day. Thanks again.

Aside from the touchiness around new credit accounts, does the mortgage fico generally track Fico 8?  Though there may be fluctuations in one model vs the other, "good," consumer behavior (pay on time, minimize utilization, maintain good debt to income ratio, etc.) should push both models upward, though perhaps at different rates?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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1. You need to use the expensive MyFICO monitoring service so you can get a real handle on your MORTGAGE scores, which are the only ones that matter now.

2. One of the most important things you can do to improve your mortgage scores is to NOT apply for any new credit.

The other thing is to maintain your revolving accounts at AZEO; but this you have taken care of, so there you're good.

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Very much appreciate the time you take to provide these details -- feel like I learn something new every day. Thanks again.

Aside from the touchiness around new credit accounts, does the mortgage fico generally track Fico 8?  Though there may be fluctuations in one model vs the other, "good," consumer behavior (pay on time, minimize utilization, maintain good debt to income ratio, etc.) should push both models upward, though perhaps at different rates?

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Credit scores, whether FICO scores, Vantage scores, the Lexis Nexis CBIS score used by the insurance industry, or anything else, are generated by a computer program that takes all the complex information on your report and turns it into a single number.

That concept is incredibly important.  One of its corrolaries, for example, is that if certain data are never on anyone's reports then they cannot have any effect on scores.

Income is not on your report.  Therefore DTI cannot be a scoring factor on any FICO scoring model (as indeed it is likewise not a scoring factor for VantageScore and many other non-FICO models).

[Anonymous]

Aside from that caveat about DTI, your general question (as I understand it) is whether the mortgage models and FICO 8 have the same scoring factors, but perhaps with some of them weighted differently.  If that were true, then if my credit report changes in a certain way and that produces a gain (or loss) of 30 points for FICO 8, then I will experience a corresponding gain/loss in any of the mortgage models -- but perhaps with 22 or 39 points (say).

That turns out not to be true.  For example, suppose you have exactly one loan on your reports and that loan is  mostly but not entirely paid off.   If you then pay it off, your FICO 8 will drop by about 30 points but two of the three mortgage scores won't lose a single point. 

Another example: suppose you have a completely clean report (no lates or any other derogs).  Then a collection appears on your report for $80.  All three mortgage scores will dive by a huge amount: maybe 100 points or so.  But FICO 8 will be completely unaffected.

So the general behavior of the models is not always in the same direction.  Sometimes a huge gain or loss can occur in FICO 8 with no gain/loss in a mortgage model, and vice versa.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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1. You need to use the expensive MyFICO monitoring service so you can get a real handle on your MORTGAGE scores, which are the only ones that matter now.

2. One of the most important things you can do to improve your mortgage scores is to NOT apply for any new credit.

The other thing is to maintain your revolving accounts at AZEO; but this you have taken care of, so there you're good.

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Very much appreciate the time you take to provide these details -- feel like I learn something new every day. Thanks again.

Aside from the touchiness around new credit accounts, does the mortgage fico generally track Fico 8?  Though there may be fluctuations in one model vs the other, "good," consumer behavior (pay on time, minimize utilization, maintain good debt to income ratio, etc.) should push both models upward, though perhaps at different rates?

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No it doesn't generally track FICO 8. It behaves very differently.

Just the other day my EX FICO 8 dropped 7 points while my EX FICO 2 added 4 points.