Standard vs. enhanced FICO ranges

[Anonymous]

As many of us here know, the score range can depend a lot of the particular FICO model used.  For example:

   *  Equifax FICO Score 5 (used for mortgages) has a maximum ceiling of 818.

   *  FICO 8 has a maximum of 850

   *  FICO 8 Bankcard Enhanced and FICO 8 Auto Enhanced have a maximum of 900

Do the differences in upper bound have any practical effect on the "best rate" cutoffs used by a typical lender for his product?  For example, suppose you chose 20 lenders at random who used FICO 8 Auto and 20 auto lenders who used FICO 8 Standard.  Will the group who use the "enhanced" fico score tend to have a slightly higher average best-rate cutoff (since the score range goes all the way to 900) than the lenders who use Standard?

[Thomas_Thumb]

I suspect best rate cutoffs are based on risk which is determined from historical data. Cutoffs are likely based on default rates & late payment statistics relative to model score results.

The enhanced scores also have a lower bound score of 250 and appear to actually score some profiles near the lower end.

Cutoffs may be higher - but they could potentially be the same or lower. Here is an excerpt of some data from Experian:

Score percentile	70%	80%	90%
Fico 8 Standard score	771	794	815
Fico 8 Auto enhanced score	772	801	831

Using EX Fico 98 mortgage score of 760 as a percentage benchmark, here are the other EX Fico scores at the same percentile:

FICO SCORE MODEL	Score @ 61%
EX Fico 08 standard	748
EX Fico 04 standard	757
EX Fico 98 standard	760
EX Fico 08 Auto	745
EX Fico 04 Auto	764
EX Fico 98 Auto	751
EX Fico 08 Bankcard	751
EX Fico 04 Bankcard	765
EX Fico 98 Bankcard	764

P.S. Some enhanced Fico scores, as with standard Fico, have real world cutoffs below their stated max for the model. See below link for details.

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

[Anonymous]

Yup.  The earlier models (predating FICO 8) often have maximums that were less than what FICO stated they were.  (Nice chart btw!)

But in the case of FICO 8 Auto you can really score up to 900 and with FICO 8 Standard you can really score up to 850.  (No weird CRA specific lower bar.)

So I was just curious whether the fact that the scale goes higher for Auto and Bankcard leads lenders in practice to use cutoffs that are a few points higher than the lenders who use Standard 8.  I know that my FICO 8 Auto is substantially higher than my FICO 8 Standard (same for my bankcard enhanced score).

[Thomas_Thumb]

Looking at the Experian data Fico 8 enhanced scores and standard scores closely match each other in the 500 to 770 range (5th percentile thru 70th percentile).

Given that, cutoffs could very well be the same value for standard and enhanced if based on score distribution.

[Anonymous]

Great to hear.  If the BC 8 and Auto 8 and Standard 8 all track to very similar percentiles for scores in the 700-770 range, then the cutoffs for best rates are likely going to be the same regardless of whether a standard or enhanced model is used.  Thanks.