Score Planning Question

[Anonymous]

Would it be safe to assume that for my efforts of reaching an 800 score. I can take the percentage of say "uti" at 30% of 800, which calculated to 240 points. Then calculate the uti fico percentage of my current score, which is roughly 200 points. That I can estimate an opportunity to pick up 40 points in my uti percentage, by lowering it to garner all the points available to that "area" of my fico score.

Is this method of point estimation viable and safe to use in score planning

If this method is viable, should I use the fico cap of 850 instead, to calculate all the points available in that area. I've calculated 553 points at 850 attributed to payments and utilization. 255 points of utilization and 298 points of payments

I also understand that there are a wide range of other variables to different ficos,  I want to get a better idea of how much something is hurting my score

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, you can't go by the method you're suggesting.  All profiles are different and what is "worth" X points on my profile may be worth X +/- (say) 25% on your profile. 

FICO (8) Scores can range from 300-850, meaning that there's a span of 550 points.  That being the case, a sector like "amounts owed" that's worth 30% could be "worth" 165 points.  All categories though are not based on just 1 factor, in this case aggregate utilization.  In addition to the major factor you have sub factors, such as individual card utilization, installment loan utilization, number of accounts with balances, etc.  Out of 165 points, aggregate utilization may be worth (say) 80-100 points, where the other factors make up the remainder.  Again, with different profiles and scorecard assignments you're looking at different potential point impacts for the same events across different profiles. 

Your best bet honestly is simply starting a thread on this forum and asking the well-versed members their opinions.  All you'd really have to do is list out as much information about your file as possible... clean/dirty, thick/thin, aged/young, list all of your accounts with their balances/limits, etc. and pose whatever question it is that you're wondering... such as "If I took my utilization from X to Y, what sort of score impact could I expect to see based on my above profile information given."  You'd be surprised how many responses you get and that several of them in fact would likely be pretty darn accurate estimates.

[Anonymous]

Sound advice, I have a few things going on with my file and have been racking my brain to understand what may happen in the next 6 months. So I’ll doc up that info and make the thread for seasoned help. Thanks again for the advice, you contribute a lot and I’ve learned something new everytime I’ve read your post, thanks

[jamesdwi]

Don't know about the fancy math, okay I haven't had coffee yet. But know that I have all my 3 FICO's scores over 760, and one, TU tends to stay over 800, currently at 809. 

The 3 most important factors are:

1. Clear report no derogs or lates

2. Keep UTL low, No cards over 30% total overall UTL less than 9% currently  Credit Karma reports my UTL as 3%

3. Time, my AAoA is near or over 5 years depending on the report

I don't track  AZEO, I have 13 cards reporting a balance per  Credit Karma. out of a total of 44 opencards. 4 of these have balance transfer deals happening, Max APR is 5.99%. The rest will be paid off by the time the payment is due. Higest UTL of any card is 21%, the rest are all less than 7% UTL. 

EX:  761  EQ:  780   TU: 809

[Anonymous]

James,

One question and one comment:

What is different between your credit reports, causing somewhat large score variances between the bureaus?  48 points between your top and bottom score suggests that the data used to generate those scores is different, so I'm just curious what that is.  Since you have so many accounts, I'm thinking some may appear on certain reports, but not on others.  This could of course influence your age of accounts factors, number of accounts with balances, utilization, etc.

You said that CK reports your utilization as 3%.  What I imagine you're referring to is their front-end summary software.  It's worth noting that whatever their summary software says may or may not be what the FICO algorithm is actually considering when it comes to score generation.  What I mean is that CK is notorious for rounding in a manner that's not in line with the FICO algorithm.  For example, a small balance reported (say $10) is all that is needed to constitute 1% utilization by the FICO algorithm, but CK would show a balance that small as 0% utilization by their front-end summary software.

[jamesdwi]

Redeemed my latest report to take deeper look into my reports this morning thanks to Myfico's 3 score report it was easy to see a few credit accounts that are only reported on TU, a few others that are only reported on EQ and TU. 

The main reason my TU is so much higher is because my Electric company has done me the favor of reporting my payment of my electric bill on time, and also my oldest tradeline, my DW originally had electricity in her name and later I was added to the account. This account was openned 1998, and only shows up on my TU report. The last update was in 2009, so next year may be interesting. The acount was never reported closed, so will FICO drop the account as closed after 10 years of no reporting or not? We have since moved and I openned electricity in my name, and this account is now 7 years old and doesn't show on EQ. 

The last reason they are different is that my two Marcus loans only report on TU, EQ shows an installment loan not sure which account  is being flagged as installment loan, yes its strange.  

EQ INQ  2, UTL  3%   AAoA  5 yrs  4 months, oldest account 10 years 6 months, 1 open installment loans, total accounts 33

TU INQ  3, UTL  3%   AAoA 5 yrs  6 months, olest account 20 years 5 months,  3 installment  loans,  total accounts 35

EX  INQ  3, UTL 3%   AAoA 5 yrs 3 months, oldest account 10 years 6 months,  no open installment loans, total accounts 30

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys for the continued advice, still putting the doc together but in short

1. Clear report = No, I have 1-30 day late from Oct 2015. (99% pay history showing)

2. Utility = My sig util is what should be reported, but my FICO utility is reporting at 68%, which hasn't updated yet since my pay offs

3. Time = Credit age is reporting at 4.5 years, but I've recently got approved for 3 cards at the end of Oct, 2 which haven't reported yet

I think my score is about to get worse before getting better once the new cards report, which is scary. However the new limits add 8800$ to my CL's, lowering my util. I am also paying down the christmas card (3k). I expect to see the dust settle in about 3-6 months of this activity

[RonM21]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks guys for the continued advice, still putting the doc together but in short

1. Clear report = No, I have 1-30 day late from Oct 2015. (99% pay history showing)

2. Utility = My sig util is what should be reported, but my FICO utility is reporting at 68%, which hasn't updated yet since my pay offs

3. Time = Credit age is reporting at 4.5 years, but I've recently got approved for 3 cards at the end of Oct, 2 which haven't reported yet

I think my score is about to get worse before getting better once the new cards report, which is scary. However the new limits add 8800$ to my CL's, lowering my util. I am also paying down the christmas card (3k). I expect to see the dust settle in about 3-6 months of this activity

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Not including paying down the Christmas card you mentioned, this is what I came up with Utilization wise....I have your total credit at 18.1K based off of your siggy, with the 3.3K utilized.  THat gives the 18% Utilization you mentioned.  With the addition of another 8.8K, your overall total credit would then be 26.9K.  At that point if the same 3.3K utilization reported, your utilization would drop from 18% to 8%.  I believe from that end of it, your score would rise.

Now, we don't know how much it would drop because of the new account reporting.  But that would determine what the difference would be, and if you would ultimately have a jump in your score or drop. 

[Anonymous]

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@RonM21 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks guys for the continued advice, still putting the doc together but in short

1. Clear report = No, I have 1-30 day late from Oct 2015. (99% pay history showing)

2. Utility = My sig util is what should be reported, but my FICO utility is reporting at 68%, which hasn't updated yet since my pay offs

3. Time = Credit age is reporting at 4.5 years, but I've recently got approved for 3 cards at the end of Oct, 2 which haven't reported yet

I think my score is about to get worse before getting better once the new cards report, which is scary. However the new limits add 8800$ to my CL's, lowering my util. I am also paying down the christmas card (3k). I expect to see the dust settle in about 3-6 months of this activity

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Not including paying down the Christmas card you mentioned, this is what I came up with Utilization wise....I have your total credit at 18.1K based off of your siggy, with the 3.3K utilized.  THat gives the 18% Utilization you mentioned.  With the addition of another 8.8K, your overall total credit would then be 26.9K.  At that point if the same 3.3K utilization reported, your utilization would drop from 18% to 8%.  I believe from that end of it, your score would rise.

Now, we don't know how much it would drop because of the new account reporting.  But that would determine what the difference would be, and if you would ultimately have a jump in your score or drop. 

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Well that 18.1k is with the new accounts, those accounts in my sig are all of the CC's i have the new ones not reporting yet are Amex and Amazon Prime. The 18% utilization is my own calculation of where my utilization should be once the new cards report.  Which will hit harder the lower utilization (up) or the two new accounts (down)

[RonM21]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@RonM21 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks guys for the continued advice, still putting the doc together but in short

1. Clear report = No, I have 1-30 day late from Oct 2015. (99% pay history showing)

2. Utility = My sig util is what should be reported, but my FICO utility is reporting at 68%, which hasn't updated yet since my pay offs

3. Time = Credit age is reporting at 4.5 years, but I've recently got approved for 3 cards at the end of Oct, 2 which haven't reported yet

I think my score is about to get worse before getting better once the new cards report, which is scary. However the new limits add 8800$ to my CL's, lowering my util. I am also paying down the christmas card (3k). I expect to see the dust settle in about 3-6 months of this activity

---

Not including paying down the Christmas card you mentioned, this is what I came up with Utilization wise....I have your total credit at 18.1K based off of your siggy, with the 3.3K utilized.  THat gives the 18% Utilization you mentioned.  With the addition of another 8.8K, your overall total credit would then be 26.9K.  At that point if the same 3.3K utilization reported, your utilization would drop from 18% to 8%.  I believe from that end of it, your score would rise.

Now, we don't know how much it would drop because of the new account reporting.  But that would determine what the difference would be, and if you would ultimately have a jump in your score or drop. 

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Well that 18.1k is with the new accounts, those accounts in my sig are all of the CC's i have the new ones not reporting yet are Amex and Amazon Prime. The 18% utilization is my own calculation of where my utilization should be once the new cards report.  Which will hit harder the lower utilization (up) or the two new accounts (down)

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Ohhh, I see.  Well, obviously the same thing will apply here, except "maybe" there could be more points given on the utilization side of it, due to more of a dramatic decrease in utilization than I thought going from 68% to 18% rather than the 18% to 8%, as I incorrectly thought.