The rise to (and fall from) 850 - weird FICO data points for your perusal

[Anonymous]

After tanking his score a few years ago, my husband finally reached 850 in August! Clean, thick file with 2 inq. in the last two years and 2/8 cards reporting. What's interesting is that he got there with his one year old Lending Club loan still showing just over 50% utilization, which seems to somewhat belie the notion about CFAs harming a score. Our mortgage was paid off in 2013 and he has no other installment loans. Thoughts on that?

He stayed at 850 as the LC loan util. dropped. At one point, he had 4/8 cards reporting small balances and it stayed at 850, which makes me wonder if his score was actually a bit higher than 850.

Yesterday, the LC loan showed as paid and yup...the score drops 19 points. Ironically, Experian described the alert as "Positive Activity." LOL. At that time, he had just 1/8 reporting a balance of $13/$10,000. 

Then today, the score bounced back 8 points because an AU card reported a balance of $200/$24,000. Surprised me that an AU would have that much of an impact. 

My own score is currently at 815 and rising as I pay down our last personal loan and leave a small balance to pay monthly until I get to 850. It probably sounds silly, but I just want to see that 850 for me too. We'll probably never have another installment loan, so this is our last shot. 

[Anonymous]

On files such as his, number of accounts with a balance often has no impact on EX8.  Whether he was at 2/8 or 8/8 accounts with a balance likely wouldn't impact score.

How do you know that the lending club loan is coded as a CFA?  Has he seen CFA under his negative reason statements?

Classic 8 has plenty of buffer built into it, so one can achieve an 850 score even without maxing out all scoring ingredients. 

[Girlzilla88]

@Anonymous     I currently have a Lending Club small loan and it is reporting as a 'CFA' since it notes I have 3 (One is World Finance-Don't recommend) One is for a Vacuum we bought ((Had no idea those finance through us type of things could be a CFA)) so the last one left would be my Lending Club to make it 3 total.           It could be that that was his only installment type loan and that's why losing that took away from his score?!?!     

[Girlzilla88]

@Anonymous    Does he have a Mortgage or Auto loan?!

[Anonymous]

The only real way to tell if one has a CFA that's being viewed by the Fico algorithm as being a CFA that I know if is looking at your negative reason statements provided when you get your Fico score.  The negative reason statement would say something to the tune of "Presence of a consumer finance account."

I have an account through Wells Fargo from when I did in-store financing for furniture back in 2013 that on my credit report says "Consumer Finance Account" but I know for certain that the Fico algorithm doesn't see it that way and isn't dinging me points.  Way back when I had a ton of negative reason statements I thought perhaps that statement was too far down the list to be viewed, but as my profile improved and my negative statements went away the presence of a CFA was never there... even when I hit 850s so I know for certain that it isn't a legit CFA in the eyes of Fico.

[Anonymous]

Yes, CFA was listed as a negative code for a year and then when he hit 850 it disappeared.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Yes, CFA was listed as a negative code for a year and then when he hit 850 it disappeared.

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Gotcha.  I think what you mean thought is that it disappeared and he hit 850.  Generally speaking, all reason codes disappear at 850; there are very few sources that still provide them once a "perfect" score is obtained, even though there are still negative factors holding that score back even if not visible.

[Anonymous]

To be clear, the CFA negative reason showed up as soon as the Lending Club loan hit. The same for me when I got one. Although I paid off the LC loan awhile ago, I have one remaining LIghtstream loan and still have the CFA reason.

I realize that his score dropped because his only installment loan dropped off, although it honestly didn't drop as far as I expected. 

And this is only Fico 8. Both our auto scores have always been lower because we haven't had car loans in 25 years. Our mortgage scores remain excellent because our old mortgage loan is still showing up. 

[Anonymous]

You are probably right. I didn't see the specific cause & effect there.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The only real way to tell if one has a CFA that's being viewed by the Fico algorithm as being a CFA that I know if is looking at your negative reason statements provided when you get your Fico score.  The negative reason statement would say something to the tune of "Presence of a consumer finance account."

I have an account through Wells Fargo from when I did in-store financing for furniture back in 2013 that on my credit report says "Consumer Finance Account" but I know for certain that the Fico algorithm doesn't see it that way and isn't dinging me points.  Way back when I had a ton of negative reason statements I thought perhaps that statement was too far down the list to be viewed, but as my profile improved and my negative statements went away the presence of a CFA was never there... even when I hit 850s so I know for certain that it isn't a legit CFA in the eyes of Fico.

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@Anonymous The CFA list is believed to be bureau specific, so while it may be viewed as a CFA at one bureau it may not be at the others.