So my FICO8 is capped at 774 not even AZEO helps (was: Effect of one inquiry on FICO8 and FICO2)

[Anonymous]

If I don't app anything by the end of the month I'll update and let you know. (I may do the mortgage app once my current round of statements post, if I convince myself Seattle prices aren't too insane.)

[Revelate]

Contributing a random datapoint too why not.

EX Inquiry: clean file other than a CFA, scores had been flat for a bit with no balance changes so clean datapoint.  Chase business credit card app so absolutely zero grace period or any other shennigans.

3->4 inquiries

FICO 8: 827 -> 824

FICO 3: 777 -> 770

FICO 2: 776 -> 771

Interesting to note that on FICO 2 my "Seeking Credit" (which is Inquiries) went from reason code #3 to reason code #2, without any change in balances (it jumped accounts with balances reason code)

Actually CiS I didn't see it in the thread, but what was the change in your number of scoreable inquiries for your datapoint?

[Anonymous]

From 1 scoreable inquiry and 2 new accounts to 0 inquiries and 0 new accounts.

(New meaning <12m)

[Anonymous]

I have a theory what's going on. I have 10 open accounts and 4 closed accounts. That's 14 in total. But my whole file is only 4y 8m and my AAoA is 3y 5m. My theory: 14 accounts puts me in some thick scorecard that expects me to have a much higher age of oldest account, and this is putting some kind of limit on my score, which I'm close to.

I'm at 774 now with no derogs, 1% overall util, and 2% on highest card, with 3 accounts reporting. In the next couple weeks that will drop to 1 account reporting, so we'll see what effect that has. It looks like at this point anything I do picks up only 1 or 2 points, so I'm probably approaching some limit--and the missing points are for things like an installment loan (which I don't have) and a much older AAoA. 

Anyway, I did not put any application in so we'll see what happens May 1st. Two things could: Maybe 3y6m is a key AAoA date and maybe I'll finally get some points for the inquiry and youngest account both aging to 12m.

If that theory is true then it generates some advice to people starting new, fresh credit histories, like I did: Stay under 6 accounts to stay on a thin-file scorecard until you have sufficient AAoA and age of oldest account to go for more.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have a theory what's going on. I have 10 open accounts and 4 closed accounts. That's 14 in total. But my whole file is only 4y 8m and my AAoA is 3y 5m. My theory: 14 accounts puts me in some thick scorecard that expects me to have a much higher age of oldest account, and this is putting some kind of limit on my score, which I'm close to.

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You file is definitely thick, but that doesn't mean that there's any "expectation" that it should be older.  People can and have opened up 10-15 accounts in thier first (say) 2 years of entering the credit world, resulting in a quite thick file that's still young.

You indirectly identified your constraint here though IMO, which is your AoOA.  It's not that your AoOA is "expected" to be greater, simply that it isn't greater at this stage of the game for you.  There are some scoring models (CGID has referenced them) that look at the variance between AoOA and AAoA that can penalize someone for the variance being too great.  In your case, this variance is very small, which is actually a good thing as your file continues to age.

[Revelate]

Hrm; my file on EX is not appreciably better than yours except I have an oldest account that is just under 11 years.

My AAOA a shade under 5 year vs yours I think is a wash.

Could you post all your reason codes please for EX FICO 8 and EX FICO 2 if you have them?

I have good Experian resolution through EX’s CMS and I am clean there other than CFA, new accounts, inquiries, and of course short credit history and a suboptimal installment utilization. Not in that order admittedly.

I also have plenty of accounts haha.

[Anonymous]

CiS No, you will not get inquiry points back at any other time then 365 days later. You very well may get points for your youngest account aging over a year, tho and who knows, maybe 42 months is an AAOA threshold that will give you another three points or so.

Hopefully those reason codes may offer a clue.

@CassieCard has done some interesting research on AoYA activity with young AooAs and may be can offer some unique insight from research? i’ll ask Cassie to chime in.

[Anonymous]

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@Revelate wrote:
Hrm; my file on EX is not appreciably better than yours except I have an oldest account that is just under 11 years.

My AAOA a shade under 5 year vs yours I think is a wash.

Could you post all your reason codes please for EX FICO 8 and EX FICO 2 if you have them?

I have good Experian resolution through EX’s CMS and I am clean there other than CFA, new accounts, inquiries, and of course short credit history and a suboptimal installment utilization. Not in that order admittedly.

I also have plenty of accounts haha.

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What I'm wondering is whether number of accounts bucketed me into a scorecard that is then penalizing me for my AAoA, in a way that I wouldn't have been penalized if I had fewer accounts and landed in a different score card. 

Here are the reason codes for FICO8 EX from CCT, generated today (774 score):

What's helping your score?

 No Missed Payments

 Low Revolving Credit Usage

 Recent Credit Card Usage

 Not Seeking Credit

What's hurting your score?

 Short Account History

FICO Score 2 is making more sense based on where I am than FICO SCORE 8 (at least to me). It's at 797 and probably DID jump on the inquiry rolling over 12m and last new account aging >1y (I didn't check before that):

What's harming your score?

Short Account History

Many New Accounts

Accounts With Balances

[Anonymous]

And here's my score history for FICO SCORE 8 EX:

March 20 - 771

March 31 - 771 still

April 1 - 771 still (should have changed but didn't - youngest account just went >1yr)

April 4 - 771 still

April 6 to 10 - 771 every day (checked every day)

April 11 - 774 (inquiry aged >12)

Since then it has flipped between 772 and 774 depending on how many accounts reporting a balance (2 vs 3).

It's been 774 since April 19th.

We'll see tomorrow Then later in the month I may actually achieve AZEO and then we'll see how that impacts.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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What I'm wondering is whether number of accounts bucketed me into a scorecard that is then penalizing me for my AAoA, in a way that I wouldn't have been penalized if I had fewer accounts and landed in a different score card. 

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I have not heard of number of accounts influencing AAoA in any way outside of the obvious "average" factor that additional accounts will impact.  How many total accounts do you have?  I think it's been theorized here on MF that the "sweet spot" for number of accounts may be somewhere in the 10-20 range, where having fewer than that range or more than that range could [ever so slightly] adversely impact FICO score.