@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:I'm hoping one of you gurus can explain to my simple brain what it really means when you have a score version range that goes up to say 900, instead of 850. Does an 850 still have the near perfect status on a 900 score category? What I'm asking is if scores greater than 850 up to and including 900, where those scores exist, does that 851 to 900 mean you are just "super perfect"? Or do you have to "discount" an 850 score you have reached on a 900 scale to reach an equivalent level of creditworthiness? Thisis just for curiosity's sake.
I didn't explain this very well.
I'm not a guru, but no, while 850 is a perfect score in a scoring model that goes up to 850, it takes 900 to have a perfect score in a scoring model that goes up to 900.
@SouthJamaica's answer was correct, @CH-7-Mission-Accomplished. In a model that goes to 900, 850 is no longer a "perfect" score.
I have fairly high FICO scores and I'll share my own experiences with some of these. I haven't updated my siggy scores lately since I took some temporary large dings around Dec/Jan for high utilization that I paid back off and my scores have been unstable. However, they've almost recovered to my pre-high utilization ranges. Letting some very high utilization post to two accounts as I ran up a balance, transferred it, and then paid it off over a couple of months led to a mid-two-figure score drop on most of my scoring models.
*I also don't pay for a myFICO membership with access to scores so all scores I will provide are via my lender's.
FICO 08 (EX) per Experian App and AMEX as of 04/17/22 was 830.
(*This is likely to increase soon when EX does their next monthly update.)
FICO 08 (TU) per Bank of America and Discover as of 04/19/22 was 847.
FICO 09 (EQ) per NFCU and PenFed as of 05/05/22 was 850.
FICO 09 (EX) per Wells Fargo as of 04/07/22 was 850.
Now, compare these four FICO 08/09 scores on the typical 850-point scale to my CITI Bank FICO *BANKCARD* Score 08.
As of 04/26/22, CITI reported that score to be 876 (on a 250 to 900-point scale.)
My research on the Bankcard scores is that they weight credit card activity more heavily and penalize more for high utilization (since I posted some higher balance recently). I also added a new credit card six months ago and that may still be a minor impact on this score. At it's height when I was gardening, it was into the 880's, I believe 884? Supposedly, there are other differences between these scores including how late payments are factored. Since these scores with the 900-top figure are calculated a little differently from the 850-top figure models, it's not really relevant to relate one to the other, similar to how the older FICO Scores 02/03/05 that are now used more for mortgage lending may differ from the popular FICO 08/09 scores we often see now for credit cards.
Speaking of the older scores, my FICO 03 (EX) reported by USAA on 03/31/22 was 815. For some reason, that score has always lagged my models 08/09 and it's likely also been affected by that temporary higher utilization. I believe it may also be more weighted down by a fairly large debt on my current mortgage loan. I have no current auto loan debt but I owe more than 50% of my original mortgage balance.
Notice that even though I have a perfect 850 on some models, I'm not at 900 on the other. And on some of the 850-point models, I'm well below that 850. YMMV.
@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:
@Aim_High wrote:@SouthJamaica's answer was correct, @CH-7-Mission-Accomplished. In a model that goes to 900, 850 is no longer a "perfect" score ... Notice that even though I have a perfect 850 on some models, I'm not at 900 on the other. And on some of the 850-point models, I'm well below that 850. YMMV.
Thanks for the lengthy post and detail. I've Become a FICO score geek!
You're welcome! I thought the "case study" aspect comparing my various "perfect" and "less-than-perfect" scores with the different scoring models would be interesting to you or others following the post. There's definitely a lot more to FICO scoring than most of us will probably ever understand! 
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:I'm hoping one of you gurus can explain to my simple brain what it really means when you have a score version range that goes up to say 900, instead of 850. Does an 850 still have the near perfect status on a 900 score category? What I'm asking is if scores greater than 850 up to and including 900, where those scores exist, does that 851 to 900 mean you are just "super perfect"? Or do you have to "discount" an 850 score you have reached on a 900 scale to reach an equivalent level of creditworthiness? Thisis just for curiosity's sake.
I didn't explain this very well.
I'm not a guru, but no, while 850 is a perfect score in a scoring model that goes up to 850, it takes 900 to have a perfect score in a scoring model that goes up to 900.
Wait wut? You didnt become a Mega Contributor with 15626 posts from posting congrats every day. 
J/K. We all try to figure out the gurus at FICO @CH-7-Mission-Accomplished. Were just the minions. Once you pass 760. Its basically the same status.
@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:I'm hoping one of you gurus can explain to my simple brain what it really means when you have a score version range that goes up to say 900, instead of 850. Does an 850 still have the near perfect status on a 900 score category? What I'm asking is if scores greater than 850 up to and including 900, where those scores exist, does that 851 to 900 mean you are just "super perfect"? Or do you have to "discount" an 850 score you have reached on a 900 scale to reach an equivalent level of creditworthiness? Thisis just for curiosity's sake.
I didn't explain this very well.
Each scoring model, whether capped at 850, or 900, or some other min-max range is sold to lenders by the company providing the calculation algorithm, with the intent of showing how individual consumers fit in a risk model. These are generally trying to find a bell curve of risk. Whether it is an actual bell curve or not, the higher the score, the lower the measured risk to the lender of default if the lender makes new credit available to this applicant. The result is that through consistent application of the scoring model by the lender to all applicants in that pool, the lender should have a good start on measuring default risk. Other data can be used by the lender for the actual loan approval / denial decision.
So an 850 on a 900 scale is not perfect on that scale. It's a really good score, better than a 740 on an 850 scale, but still more optimization to be done if one wants to get to the perfect 900 on that 900-max scale.
@FireMedic1 wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:I'm hoping one of you gurus can explain to my simple brain what it really means when you have a score version range that goes up to say 900, instead of 850. Does an 850 still have the near perfect status on a 900 score category? What I'm asking is if scores greater than 850 up to and including 900, where those scores exist, does that 851 to 900 mean you are just "super perfect"? Or do you have to "discount" an 850 score you have reached on a 900 scale to reach an equivalent level of creditworthiness? Thisis just for curiosity's sake.
I didn't explain this very well.
I'm not a guru, but no, while 850 is a perfect score in a scoring model that goes up to 850, it takes 900 to have a perfect score in a scoring model that goes up to 900.
Wait wut? You didnt become a Mega Contributor with 15626 posts from posting congrats every day.
I am always humbled by the prodigious knowledge some folks here have on certain subjects. E.g. Thomas_Thumb on scoring models and scorecards, Revelate on installment loans, and Aim_High and K-in-Boston on travel rewards maximization. To my mind they are gurus and I an eager student.