The path from 800+ to 850?

[vanillabean]

The highest myFICO EQ I have ever noticed in these forums is 817. The highest myFICO TU I know of, 818, isn't even from the forums, but my wife's.

There appears to be the consensus among a few here that it simply isn't possible for a myFICO EQ to go beyond 818 (more on design and actual ranges). There's no actual evidence, but there is some credence to the notion.

Recently her EQ was at ~814; some changes happened that would ordinarily increase her score by ~10 points, but the result was 817. I have the opportunity to conduct the same experiment with my own EQ in a few days. (Same for me, it turned out.)

I don't necessarily think having an 800+ is an indication of being a high achiever or needing to get out more. A high score reflects the good health of one's underlying financial responsibility. There's plenty to be said for having some cushion.

[GregB]

Anything over 810 for EQ Beacon v5.0, and over 820-830 for TU Classic 04 and EX FICO II should probably be considered "too good to care". I resist using the word "perfect" because the system is completely different from a 0-100% test.

[mnwarren]

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@GregB wrote:

Anything over 810 for EQ Beacon v5.0, and over 820-830 for TU Classic 04 and EX FICO II should probably be considered "too good to care". I resist using the word "perfect" because the system is completely different from a 0-100% test.

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Since you mentioned the "EQ Beacon v5.0" has a max of 818 in a previous post, are you also saying that this is what MyFico uses for its EQ FICO score?  So I should never expect to see higher than an 818 EQ score on MyFico?  Trying to clarify since there seems to be a lot of different scoring methodologies and ranges to go with them.

Also, since you mentioned TU as well, what is the maximum score that MyFico will return for TU?

[MarineVietVet]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Maybe because you have 3 accounts with balances instead of just 1?

I thought anything AAOA of 6 years or over was a "high achiever's" AAOA?

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The average AAoA for high achievers is 6-12 years.

[GregB]

The TU Classic 98 as sold here has an actual range of 336-843. The TU Classic 04 as used for a mortgage is 309-839. The new TU FICO 8, which is designed to replace that is 341-850. There is a new Mortgage Industry Option for that which is the only FICO score that has an actual range that matches the design range of 300-850. It seems to be not used at all but I assume we will get "there" eventually.

Thinking of a change that should increase a score by X points is also trying to look at the system the wrong way. Any change likely results in a different path through the algorithm. 

[marty56]

Could score buckets salt your result to limit the highest FICO score you can get?  Same questions for the lowest score that can be calculated.

[Goal810]

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@mnwarren wrote:

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Thanks for the info on 850... I wasn't aware that it wasn't technically possible to reach that number.  I'll have to do some research and figure out what the deal is there.  For now, though, I'd be happy if my score at least moved from 814, hopefully in an upward direction.

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This is why I made my post on means and standard deviations. Without knowing which score a person is aiming for and what the range is, comparison of scores to each other and to arbitrary high numbers makes no sense.

[jello77]

my-own-fico said:

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There appears to be the consensus among a few here that it simply isn't possible for a myFICO EQ to go beyond 818. There's no actual evidence, but there is some credence to the notion.

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Until recently, it may have been true there was no "actual evidence" that the maximum score for myFICO EQ is 818. But this is no longer true.

FICO and the credit agencies have always stated publicly that the classic FICO score range is 300 to 850. However, the actual, "real world" score ranges are different and vary with each credit agency. But neither FICO nor the credit agencies disclose this to the public.

An important change recently occured. A new credit law went into effect that requires lenders to disclose to borrowers two key facts:  (1) their credit score, and (2) the score range.

It appears that many lenders have interpreted the new law to require them to disclose the actual, accurate, real world score range rather than FICO's official but fake score range of 300 to 850. As a result, the real world score ranges have begun to appear on documents borrowers receive from lenders.

Linked below is an example of the kind of document that borrowers are now receiving from lenders. It includes the actual, real world score ranges for each credit agency.

http://www.krollfactualdata.com/kroll-factual-data/media/assets/PDFs/RBP%20Letters/H-3.PDF

So we now have the "actual evidence" regarding score ranges that was previously lacking.

The new credit law only requires LENDERS to disclose the accurate score range to the public. The law does not apply to FICO and the credit agencies. FICO continues to state only the fake range of 300 to 850. 

For more information about the various FICO versions and the "real world" score ranges, see this previous post:

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

[mnwarren]

jello, your post was super helpful.  Thanks!