Score Increased When #Accounts Reporting Bal Dropped

[Iusedtolurk]

I always look at all the data points when anything happens so I can look for those changes in future similar circumstances.

Today I was checking my EX and noticed my score had went up +9 points. (always a good feeling to see a score increase)

The only differences between yesterday and today:

Today             aggregate 20.0%/dollars owed 4472

Yesterday      aggregate 20.6%/dollars owed 4590

Difference     -118

Today            # of accounts with Balances 11/12

Yesterday     # of accounts with Balances 12/12

As the amount of dollars owed and aggregate utilization is practically the same I can come to the conclusion that going from 12/12 100% Accounts reporting with a balance to 11/12 91% was cause for the +9 point increase.

[dragontears]

Just to be clear, when you say "accounts with balances" is that just revolving accounts or does it include installment accounts? 

[Iusedtolurk]

---

@dragontears wrote:

Just to be clear, when you say "accounts with balances" is that just revolving accounts or does it include installment accounts? 

---

@dragontearsAll revolvers (12) no current open installments.

[Curious_George2]

Thanks for the DP and congrats on the 9 pt gain! I have a few questions. 

Is this EX8?

We have some indications FICO uses open and closed accounts as the denominator for calculating the percent of accounts with a balance. You said you have no open loans, but how many accounts are on your report, including open and closed loans and cards?

Even though your total dollars owed on cards didn't change by a lot, there's actually a chance it crossed a threshold. @Anonymous has been hunting for a threshold in that vicinity. I think his current theory is that for TU8 it's between $4385 and $4684. Maybe you just found approximately where it is on EX8 (I don't know if it's necessarily the same across bureaus).

[Iusedtolurk]

---

@Curious_George2 wrote:

Thanks for the DP and congrats on the 9 pt gain! I have a few questions. 

Is this EX8?

We have some indications FICO uses open and closed accounts as the denominator for calculating the percent of accounts with a balance. You said you have no open loans, but how many accounts are on your report, including open and closed loans and cards?

Even though your total dollars owed on cards didn't change by a lot, there's actually a chance it crossed a threshold. @Anonymous has been hunting for a threshold in that vicinity. I think his current theory is that for TU8 it's between $4385 and $4684. Maybe you just found approximately where it is on EX8 (I don't know if it's necessarily the same across bureaus).

---

@Curious_George2  I have a total of 12 open revolvers and 3 closed installments (unfortunately all CFA).

Being as how @Anonymous was trying to nail down a possible dollar amount between perhaps $4385 and $4684 my change from $4590 to $4472 would still fall inbetween those dollar amounts.4385<4472<4590<4684.

I believe tomorrow 2 other accounts should report reducing the 4472 to 4419 still inbetween Birdmans dollar amounts but also I should be showing 9/12 accounts with balances. Curious to see if any affects will be seen.

I've read about thresholds of 1/3 or less than 1/2 of accounts reporting balances having a point effect but I just have a feeling that a person may get penalized pointwise having all accounts reporting a balance. I really don't expect a point change tomorrow once I show 9/12 but it will be interesting to look forward to.

Edit: Forgot to include...Yes this is EX8

[Anonymous]

---

@Iusedtolurk wrote:

I always look at all the data points when anything happens so I can look for those changes in future similar circumstances.

Today I was checking my EX and noticed my score had went up +9 points. (always a good feeling to see a score increase)

The only differences between yesterday and today:

Today             aggregate 20.0%/dollars owed 4472

Yesterday      aggregate 20.6%/dollars owed 4590

Difference     -118

Today            # of accounts with Balances 11/12

Yesterday     # of accounts with Balances 12/12

I have always found 100% of accounts reporting a balance to cause quite wild swings across most FICO score models.

I just switched from 4-of-4 to 3-of-4 this month and saw EX8 +6pts. +2 from aging to AAoA 2yr0mo on the 1st, followed by +6 with the balance change for a total of +8pts on EX8 this month.

Even with only 2 cards on my file, I could cause a large drop on several scores just by having them both report a balance, always under 9% on everything. Early on in my first year of revolving history, the difference was as much as EQ8 19pts/TU8 14pts.

[Anonymous]

OP, do you know what scorecard you're on?

On some scorecards such as clean/thick/aged some have reported no score changes at all on EX8 related to number of accounts with a balance.  I'm one of those people.  Whether I'm at AZEO, all accounts with a balance or anywhere in between my EX8 score doesn't budge, where my TU8 and EQ8 do fluctuate.

[Iusedtolurk]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

OP, do you know what scorecard you're on?

On some scorecards such as clean/thick/aged some have reported no score changes at all on EX8 related to number of accounts with a balance.  I'm one of those people.  Whether I'm at AZEO, all accounts with a balance or anywhere in between my EX8 score doesn't budge, where my TU8 and EQ8 do fluctuate.

---

@Anonymous  clean/thick/(young) mature/no new accounts

[Anonymous]

Gotcha.  The young mature seems to be the cause of strange/uncharacteristic things lately in some circumstances.

[Anonymous]

@Iusedtolurk You know that is a good thing you did by putting the qualifier young mature in there because it apparently does make quite a difference. Even though you're on a mature card, there's a big difference in whether or not your credit history is say under 10 years or beyond 10 years.

And I'm just throwing that number out there I don't know what the real number is that makes a big difference, but we do see quite a lot of gains I believe from age of oldest Revolver as it makes its way towards 10 years.

I would suggest for future reference when we ask for scorecard we also ask for age of oldest account so we can determine how mature their profile is.  

and yes, there does seem to be a score change at 100% of accounts open with a balance, however we have found for EX2 it includes closed accounts. And I have found Thresholds There and I'm in the middle of a test and I will post my results when I get done. 

Who knows if that applies to the other versions. And who knows if that was conflated and possibly included a balance Threshold?