Interested in credit score improvement

[Anonymous]

Hi. Thanks for that bit of information. I don't know if this is the right part of the forum to go to for this, but I'm wondering does the Auto Fico Scores go up when a Fico Score Increase occurs?

[NRB525]

All variations of FICO score and credit scores in general score payments on time as the primary criteria. So when you continue to pay on time, not missing any payments all types of scores will trend upward.

Each type of score does have specific emphasis that affects it in different ways, such as by how many cards report, utilization, age of credit. In general, yes as FICO 8 scores improve Auto scores should be expected to improve but it may not be 1:1 pacing.

[Medic981]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi. Thanks for that bit of information. I don't know if this is the right part of the forum to go to for this, but I'm wondering does the Auto Fico Scores go up when a Fico Score Increase occurs?

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I am not sure how to answer that question. I can tell you that when I went to purchase and then ultimately lease my Subaru several months ago, I was told that as long as my FICO 8 score was equal to or better than 720 I would receive the lowest financing / money factor available.

Chase Bank ultimately financed my lease, however, I am not sure if they used a FICO Auto score or FICO 8 score to determine if they would finance me. 

[Anonymous]

I'll be glad to answer that, but first a little background.

FICO scores are generated by a "model."  That's something that a bunch of statisticians and credit experts at FICO put together in an effort to assess risk.

Over FICO's history (which goes back decades) it has released models in families.  For example there is the FICO 98 family, which was released in 1998.  There was the FICO 04 family, which was released in 2004.  There was the FICO 08 family which was released in 2008.  (FICO 08 was later renamed simply FICO 8, and family names after that just go up by a single number.  The family after FICO 8 is FICO 9 and the family after that will be FICO 10.)

The first model in a family that gets released is called "Classic."  It can be used for all kind of risk assessment.  In the 1-2 years following the release of Classic there is a flavor designed for Auto loans and another for BankCards.

So now I am going to rephrase your question using the language above:

If my score in the classic flavor goes up, will my score in the Auto flavor go up too?

Answer: most of the time, but it might very well not go up by the same amount.  This assumes you are staying inside the same family (e.g. FICO 8 Classic vs. FICO 8 Auto).  It also assumes the data for each score is drawn on the same credit bureau.

[Anonymous]

PS.  To hit on your very first question, one reason you can know that a person's scores don't go up 3 points every month is that, if they did, time alone would give you a score of (say) 950.  But that's impossible.  Each model has a maximum ceiling that you can't go beyond.

[Medic981]

Not to hijack the thread, but where do the mortgage FICO 2; FICO 4 and FICO 5 get their names?

[Anonymous]

FICO has its name for its models and their families.  E.g...

      FICO 98, FICO 04, FICO 8, FICO 9 are the main families still being used.

Unfortunately, each credit bureau also made up its own (different) names for these families.  So although TU and EQ both use FICO 04 for mortgages, TU calls its score TU Score 4 and EQ calls its score Equifax Score 5 (also Beacon 5).

You can find all the names and the equivalencies here:

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/The-many-flavors-of-FICO-Editions-versio...

[Medic981]

Thanks CGID!

[Anonymous]

NRB525,

Please forgive me, I don't understand what you're saying. Maybe you can explain it in a simple way...

What you said: In general, yes as FICO 8 scores improve Auto scores should be expected to improve but it may not be 1:1 pacing. 

I don't understand. Do you mean the Auto scores do improve but by a little each time FICO scores increase?

And another question, do lenders still use FICO Auto score 8...?

[HeavenOhio]

Using an example, if a FICO 8 Classic score goes up five points, the corresponding FICO 8 Auto score will probably go up too, but it may not be by exactly five points.

For auto loans, I wouldn't be surprised by any score that might be used. It could be one of the classic scores, or it could be one of the auto scores. And it might be from the 98, 04, 8, or 9 family.

The thing about auto loans is that you get to shop for rates. If Bank A doesn't use a score that makes you look good, it's possible that Bank B might.