Relationship between 8, 5, 4 and 2

Jenja · ‎03-09-2021

In the simulator, I can see how my FICO 8 will improve by paying down debt, but how do I understand how that impacts 5,4 and 2? My 8 is always higher than those but if say my 8 improves by 50 points, what improvement should I expect in the others? Is there a correlation? I found I can get my Experian (I think that's 2) updated any time for $5 via Experian but the others I seem to have to wait a month and it's killing me! As you can tell I want to get a mortgage soon and trying to reach 680 mid score in those models. Thanks

dragontears · ‎03-09-2021

@Jenja wrote:
In the simulator, I can see how my FICO 8 will improve by paying down debt, but how do I understand how that impacts 5,4 and 2? My 8 is always higher than those but if say my 8 improves by 50 points, what improvement should I expect in the others? Is there a correlation? I found I can get my Experian (I think that's 2) updated any time for $5 via Experian but the others I seem to have to wait a month and it's killing me! As you can tell I want to get a mortgage soon and trying to reach 680 mid score in those models. Thanks

No there is not a direct correlation between FICO8 and mortgage scores where Y points on 8 equals X points on 2/4/5.

They are different models and weigh information differently.

General rule of thumb though is that revolving utilization is a big factor for all models.

Anonymous · ‎03-09-2021

There's no way to really quantify a projected score increase on one model (mortgage score) when looking at an increase on another model like F8.

Simulators are notoriously inaccurate, so please do not trust what they're saying. While paying down debt is a great thing and in most cases will result in score gains, any score gains are going to be extremely profile-dependent. A $10k revolving debt paydown on one profile could be worth 75 Fico points, where that same paydown on another profile could be worth 5 points.

If the action though of paying down debt did in fact raise your F8 scores 50 points, chances are it would also improve your mortgage scores. How much would be a wild guess, but if you look around for other forum members that have been in the same situation you may be able to come up with a stronger educated guess. Try to find some others that have been in a similar situation / profile leading up to a mortgage that paid down X% of debt similar to what you're planning and see what score increases they saw on F8 vs 2/4/5.

tooleman694 · ‎03-09-2021

Couple things I have noticed on the mortgage scores vs the 8. I am getting ready for a mortgage as well.

Mortgage score does not like new accounts and INQs at all, and will punish you with high util. My Fico 8s were sitting good in the upper 600s. While my mortgage scores in the low 600s. I got my util down and my mortgage scores went screaming up, while Fico 8 I got a point here and there.

I had an INQ become unscorable, Fico 8 was meh. Mortgage score was like here is a bunch of points. New account 3 months old, Fico 8 meh, mortgage score was like here are 20 points.

Anonymous · ‎03-09-2021

Also number of accounts with a balance is a significant scoring factor when it comes to mortgage scores, where it doesn't impact F8s nearly as much.

Jenja · ‎03-09-2021

Thanks, this helps a lot. My main focus is reducing utilization so seems I'm on the right track. I sadly did open 2 new accounts in Oct last year before I got educated on all this.

SouthJamaica · ‎03-09-2021

@Jenja wrote:
In the simulator, I can see how my FICO 8 will improve by paying down debt, but how do I understand how that impacts 5,4 and 2? My 8 is always higher than those but if say my 8 improves by 50 points, what improvement should I expect in the others? Is there a correlation? I found I can get my Experian (I think that's 2) updated any time for $5 via Experian but the others I seem to have to wait a month and it's killing me! As you can tell I want to get a mortgage soon and trying to reach 680 mid score in those models. Thanks

1. The simulators are really unreliable. To me they're just for fun, and usually they are way off base.

2. There really is no correlation between the FICO 8's and the mortgage scores. I have had times when my FICO 8's were 80 points or so higher than my mortgage scores. Presently my mortgage scores are significantly higher than my FICO 8's.

3. IMHO the big differences between the 2 sets of scores: the 8's place greater reliance on percentage dollar utilization numbers; the mortgage scores place greater reliance on the aging factors and on the number of accounts with balances.