The 'All at less than 9% Utilization' experiment

[Anonymous]

24 out of 28 FICO scores up anywhere from +8 to +25 points, and it sure didn't come from changing aggregate utilization from 7% to 6%.

Middle mortgage score is up +17 to 708 with no change in EX FICO 2 of 721.

This had to be from changing scorecards [Ok, maybe not. lol]. There are several posts from people on these forums that reported decent point gains at the AoYA 3 month mark, which is where I am with this report. I crossed into it with low utilization and I am sure that's why I got more than the +10 points I have read about.

CassTrack-32 v1.3 "Lucky Three"	Common data No derogatories No delinquencies 1 closed loan 2 open revolving 1 inquiry EQ: Dec 2018 1 inquiry EX: Dec 2018 1 inquiry TU: Dec 2018 ( Plus 2 over 1yr: Dec 2017, Jan 2018 ) Accounts with balances: 2	03/08/19
Previous Report 02/08/2019	AoOA: 1 yr 2 mo AAoA: 6 mo AoYA: 2 mo Card 1 Utilization: 6.75% (7%) Card 2 Utilization: 6.98% (7%) Aggregate Utilization: 6.92% (7%)
Current Report 03/08/19 What changed?	AoOA: 1 yr 3 mo AAoA: 7 mo AoYA: 3 mo Card 1 Utilization: 5.89% (6%) Card 2 Utilization: 5.97% (6%) Aggregate Utilization: 5.95% (6%)
	PAYMENT HISTORY changed from 'Very Good' to 'EXCEPTIONAL' AMOUNT OF NEW CREDIT changed from 'Fair' to 'GOOD'
	New statement balances recorded at all 3 CRA's between 3/1 and 3/8. Score reports from myFICO 3B+, Credit Karma (TU/EQ VS3), and Credit.com (EX VS3, ENES)	02/08	Δ	03/08
FICO 8	EQ	681	+14	695
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history
FICO 8	TU	695	+10	705
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history
FICO 8	EX	696	+23	719
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity
FICO 9	EQ	706	+8	714
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances
FICO 9	TU	698	+9	707
	Short credit history, Too many accounts with balances, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity
FICO 9	EX	702	+15	717
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity
Vantage Score 3.0	EQ	685	+5	690
Vantage Score 3.0	TU	680	+6	686
Vantage Score 3.0	EX	685	+5	690
Experian National Equivalency Score	EX	731	+2	733
FICO Auto 8	EQ	652	+17	669
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Auto 8	TU	682	+11	693
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Auto 8	EX	680	+25	705
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Few accounts in good standing
FICO Auto 9	EQ	712	+8	720
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Auto 9	TU	700	+9	709
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Auto 9	EX	709	+16	725
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Bankcard 8	EQ	673	+14	687
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Bankcard 8	TU	694	+11	705
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Bankcard 8	EX	698	+25	723
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Few accounts in good standing
FICO Bankcard 9	EQ	715	+8	723
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Bankcard 9	TU	710	+9	719
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Bankcard 9	EX	712	+15	727
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances
FICO 2	EX	721		721
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Too many accounts with balances, Recently opened too many new credit accounts
FICO 3	EX	713		713
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Too many accounts with balances, Seeking credit
FICO 4	TU	682	+9	691
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Seeking credit, Recently opened new credit account
FICO 5	EQ	691	+17	708
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Too many accounts with balances, Seeking credit
FICO Auto 2	EX	698		698
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances, No recent loan activity
FICO Auto 4	TU	675	+8	683
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Seeking credit
FICO Auto 5	EQ	701	+15	716
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Recently opened new credit account, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Bankcard 2	EX	726		726
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Too many accounts with balances, Recently opened too many new credit accounts
FICO Bankcard 4	TU	681	+21	702
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, Seeking credit, Recently opened too many new credit accounts
FICO Bankcard 5	EQ	698	+15	713
	Short credit history, Short installment credit history, Short revolving history, Too many accounts with balances

[Anonymous]

@CassieCard: Despite any prior comments, I do not believe these changes resulted from a scorecard change. Rather I think you’ve identified a threshold on your existing score card. Consequently you had multiple score changes as a result of crossing the threshold. Just my humble opinion 😉

[SouthJamaica]

I agree with @Anonymous  that it was not due to a scorecard change.

I believe 6% is a breakpoint in revolving utilization.

And I believe that the aging of the profile contributed as much or more.

[Thomas_Thumb]

^  Most aging thresholds don't equate to scorecard changes. A shift in score often happens when thresholds are crossed while remaining on the same scorecard.

There are only 8 clean scorcards, four being segmented by age factors. 

[Anonymous]

You definitely passed aging thresholds/breakpoints.

[Anonymous]

---

@SouthJamaica wrote:

I agree with @Anonymous  that it was not due to a scorecard change.

I believe 6% is a breakpoint in revolving utilization.

And I believe that the aging of the profile contributed as much or more.

---

The score changes on EQ/TU/EX FICO 8 all happened before the second statement reported on the 5th.

I had an Experian CreditWorks monthly 3B report to use, so that's how I got the updated scores for EX and TU/EQ before the 5th.

At that point, aggregate was still at 7%, since only my first card had reported a change from 7% to 6% individual utilization. The second still showed 7% as expected.

When the second statement reported and aggregate changed to 6%, I pulled the monthly myFICO 3B report and there was no change in the F8 scores or the Experian auto/mortgage/bankcard scores.

[Anonymous]

@CassieCard: that’s exactly what we would expect from aging changes. And, with much respect to SJ, your data seems to indicate there is no breakpoint at 6%-7%.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know how they grade 'Payment History'?

I know it's only front-end software, but they obviously use something to come up with 'Good', 'Very Good', 'Exceptional'.

I just found it interesting that it suddenly changed this month from 'Very Good' to 'Exceptional', when in reality only 1 single additional payment had been reported at the time it changed - the payment made in February on my first card which closed on the 1st.

I thought that maybe I was being compared to a new group of people (scorecard change) and that's why it changed.

(Side note: There's a topic on this forum asking how soon someone can get to 'Exceptional' for 'Payment History' starting from clean credit history, but it's locked now. I can answer that question: 15 months. My profile has only been scoreable since June 2018, or 9 months ago.)

[Anonymous]

I think I can answer that CassieCard. I’m sure some more experienced members can be more detailed. But payment history is the number of payments on time you have made, maybe even percentage after a certain scoreable number exists. Or maybe the obverse, the number of delinquencies takes away from possible points, but you have to reach a certain number before you are awarded certain points and that is a reason for some of the points you’ve been awarded IMHO.

[Anonymous]

April 10, 2019 report. 6% to 5% aggregate utilization change and 1 month of aging.

• EQ is up +8 on the three FICO 8 models: classic, auto, and bankcard.
• TU is up +3 on the three FICO 9 models: classic, auto, and bankcard.
• Those changes happened before aggregate utilization changed from 6 to 5%.
• No change in scores once aggregate utilization changed from 6% to 5%.
• The EQ and TU score changes are either from aging of 1 month and/or individual utilization changing from 6% to 5%. (I pick aging alone.)
• All VS3 scores up over 40 points due to AoYA 3mos on both of my revolving accounts. VS3 obviously calculates aging differently from FICO - FICO sees AoYA at 4mos now.
• EQ/TU/EX FICO 8's are all above 700 now.

I now have 6 scores below 700, with the lowest score being EQ Auto 8 at 677. That score was at 706 4 months ago with no revolving accounts and an SSL open at 8.47% utilization. It dropped 51 points to 655 on 1/18 when the SSL reported closed and 2 new revolving accounts showed up.

CassTrack v1.4 "Five Percent"	Common data No derogatories No delinquencies 1 closed loan 2 open revolving 1 inquiry EQ: Dec 2018 1 inquiry EX: Dec 2018 1 inquiry TU: Dec 2018 ( Plus 2 over 1yr: Dec 2017, Jan 2018 ) Accounts with balances: 2	04/10/19
Previous Report 03/08/2019	AoOA: 1 yr 3 mo AAoA: 7 mo AoYA: 3 mo Card 1 Utilization: 5.89% (6%) Card 2 Utilization: 5.97% (6%) Aggregate Utilization: 5.95% (6%)
Current Report 04/10/19 What changed?	AoOA: 1 yr 4 mo AAoA: 8 mo AoYA: 4 mo Card 1 Utilization: 4.81% (5%) Card 2 Utilization: 4.77% (5%) Aggregate Utilization: 4.78% (5%)
	PAYMENT HISTORY: EXCEPTIONAL AMOUNT OF DEBT: VERY GOOD CREDIT HISTORY LENGTH: POOR AMOUNT OF NEW CREDIT: GOOD CREDIT MIX: VERY GOOD
	New statement balances recorded at all 3 CRA's between 4/3 and 4/10. Score reports from myFICO 3B+, Credit Karma (TU/EQ VS3), and Credit.com (EX VS3, ENES)	03/08	Δ	04/10
FICO 8	EQ	695	+8	703
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO 8	TU	705		705
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history
FICO 8	EX	719		719
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history
FICO 9	EQ	714		714
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances
FICO 9	TU	707	+3	710
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances
FICO 9	EX	717		717
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances
Vantage Score 3.0	EQ	690	+44	734
Vantage Score 3.0	TU	686	+44	730
Vantage Score 3.0	EX	690	+44	734
TU AUTO CBIS	TU	820		820
Experian National Equivalency Score	EX	733	+1	734
FICO Auto 8	EQ	669	+8	677
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances, Short revolving credit history
FICO Auto 8	TU	693		693
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances, Short revolving credit history
FICO Auto 8	EX	705		705
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Few accounts in good standing
FICO Auto 9	EQ	720		720
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Auto 9	TU	709	+3	712
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Auto 9	EX	725		725
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Bankcard 8	EQ	687	+8	695
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances, Short revolving credit history
FICO Bankcard 8	TU	705		705
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances, Short revolving credit history
FICO Bankcard 8	EX	723		723
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Few accounts in good standing
FICO Bankcard 9	EQ	723		723
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Bankcard 9	TU	719	+3	722
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Bankcard 9	EX	727		727
	Short credit history, No recent loan activity, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances
FICO 2	EX	721		721
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Too many accounts with balances, Recently opened too many new credit accounts
FICO 3	EX	713		713
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Too many accounts with balances, Seeking credit
FICO 4	TU	691		691
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Seeking credit, Recently opened new credit account
FICO 5	EQ	708		708
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Too many accounts with balances, Seeking credit
FICO Auto 2	EX	698		698
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, Too many accounts with balances, No recent loan activity
FICO Auto 4	TU	683		683
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Seeking credit
FICO Auto 5	EQ	716		716
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Recently opened new credit account, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Bankcard 2	EX	726		726
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Too many accounts with balances, Recently opened too many new credit accounts
FICO Bankcard 4	TU	702		702
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, Seeking credit, Recently opened too many new credit accounts
FICO Bankcard 5	EQ	713		713
	Short credit history, Short installment credit history, Short revolving history, Too many accounts with balances