@mster wrote:When you say "there are no known break points" do you mean that you think score improvements from paying down installment loans will be relatively linear as those installment loans are paid down and that the FICO simulator is just providing the illusion that there are in fact break points other than <8.9%?
In a nutshell, yes. Like I said before, simulators are pretty much useless. Whatever score boosts it's showing may be solely due to aging of credit file and not due to balances going down.
Installment loans are different than revolving accounts, and you really only see a score boost when aggregate utilization on those (possibly individual as well, not sure) is <8.9%. There aren't any milestones along the way though, neither individual nor aggregate.
@mster wrote:When you say "there are no known break points" do you mean that you think score improvements from paying down installment loans will be relatively linear as those installment loans are paid down and that the FICO simulator is just providing the illusion that there are in fact break points other than <8.9%?
No. From my experience they're not "linear", they're nonexistent. So I would advise you to get that thought out of your mind. It may not be logical or fair, but it is what it is.
@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:
@OmarGB9 wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@mster wrote:
@OmarGB9 wrote:Based on numerous DPs on here, the breakpoints are 88.9%, 68.9%, 48.9%, 28.9%, and 8.9%, but those only apply to revolving accounts, not installment loans.
FICO simulators are not accurate, I wouldn't listen to them at all.
Definitely not treating the FICO calculator results as reliable. Just wanted to roughly ballpark things like max score boost (+70 points split between 3x bureaus at <10% aggregate util), most efficient score boost to net payment ratio (2/3 of the max boost kicks in for paying aggregate utilization down to ~63%) and min until drop for any kind of boost (92% to 87%). Again, I understand the calculator isn't reliable but it does seem to be accurate enough to give a very rough idea of how score boost will scale with payments / drops in aggregate util.
Two of the four loans are smaller and higher interest - would I be likely to get a bigger boost from paying them off completely or just dropping them to < 10% (or < 8.9%) util and letting them age?
There are no known break points in installment utilization percentage other than 9%. And that breakpoint is for aggregate utilization, not individual account utilization. So the answer is no.
That's the point I've been trying to make @mster.
Mortgages must not be factored into this calculation. My SO has a mortgage balance of $450K from a $500K loan (three years old) and has been pulling perfect 850s for the past two years on FICO 8 and FICO 9 on all three bureaus (since a very old 30 day late fell off). Obviously 450/500 is not under 9%.
Good point. Mortgages seem to have their own special anointed place in the FICO world.