Two things that don't make sense on advice page fr... - myFICO® Forums

Anonymous · ‎11-06-2008

First Item: The score you get from FICO (any of the 3 vendors) is NOT THE SAME SCORE that your bank or wherever you have applied for credit sees. This is not a fair practice. For instance, I had a score of 694 on my Equifax report (708,711 on the other two) and the place I was at (a Bank) first of all, doesn't average the three and uses Equfax but showed me a score of 651. Of course I disputed it and had to prove with my paperwork...I am told this is not unusual that they get a different score. This is not fair to consumers, especially since this whole credit game is not even really a government agency so anybody can interepret your life for you.

Second Item: When they tell you how many open accounts with balances and tell you it is better to pay them down and the score will go up...is not really accurate scoring because the advise points to having debt like credit card, revolving, installment debt, but if you look closely, it also includes MORTGAGE balance, NOT a true accurate picture for % scoring and math...I mean mortgages should be totally different than the cards. It really skews the picture.

Just my thoughts.

MidnightVoice · ‎11-06-2008

May I suggest you check out Credir Scoring 101? This might make things clearer.

The slide from grace is really more like gliding
And I've found the trick is not to stop the sliding
But to find a graceful way of staying slid

Anonymous · ‎11-06-2008

I would like to address your second point. FICO formulas do like to see a variety of account types. They like to see you manage that credit well. Often times that means having few revolving accounts with balances. Often times, to the formulas not having a balance at all is the responsible use.

Mortgages are scored different than revolving accounts. Having a high balance on a mortgage will not hurt you like having a high balance on a credit card. I too recommend you check out the Scoring 101 and other stickied threads. Welcome to the boards, I hope you learn a lot, I learn something almost every day on here.

Junejer · ‎11-06-2008

Kmconsulting80, I would echo the recommendations from the other members to read Credit Scoring 101. Also, I would ask what is the time difference between when the 694 happened and when the 651 happened. FICO scores are dynamic and can change WHENEVER new information is reported, that would include day to day or even intraday.