cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Upgraded FICO score for no reason?

tag
Revelate
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Upgraded FICO score for no reason?


@bdhu2001 wrote:

@doggiepants wrote:

Revelate- thank you so much for the information in your reply. That really helps a lot.

 

I think I'll app for a couple of cards and see where that gets me, then wait another 6-8 months for the inquiries to be less 'hard' and then app for another card or another installment loan (or both). My biggest problem is remembering to actually use credit cards, as I pay cash for everything and have had multiple cards closed for inactivity in the past. Maybe I just need to plan to get all of my gas with one card, and all of my drugstore needs with another. That way the utilization would be low, and the monthly payments would be very similar each month. It's hard for someone like me who is used to having zero debt to remember to accrue debt to play the credit score game! Thanks again for your reply. :-)


There has to be something in your life that you pay for on a regular basis.  Now days, even grocery stores take credit. If you plan on paying for gas with a card, then get a gas card.  Otherwise, gas stations charge an extra fee for credit.  Costco allows you to use AmEX..  

 

Other than that, do you have newspaper or gym subscription? You mentioned drugstore.  If you have a prescription of some sort, that has to be filled on a regular basis, some drug stores will allow you auto charge your card for prescriptions so that you can have others pick up for you and you don't have to carry it around. Walgreens allows it.  Anyway, find a bill that's regular and then set up the bill for auto-pay from your bank account.


+1 to this.

 

While I'd encourage everyone to run their financial lives through their credit cards (it's not debt if you pay it all off month to month and there are other benefits) I struggle with keeping my tradelines active as I have 3ish main use cards and the rest are sort of whatever... until I found recurring purchases.  As an example had an EMT at one of the soccer tournaments I was at recently toss me a sample of some electrolyte powder when I wasn't doing so well in the heat, and it pretty much rocked as near as I could tell based on my mental acquity the next game.  So looked around as figured I'd try it more, $6 and change from Amazon for a 30-pack, and oh hey, I can set it up to ship it to me on a recurring basis... and thereby putting recurring use on my last unused credit card.

 

It's not hard if there's something you purchase on a regular basis to get a recurring delivery setup now, especially if you use Amazon prime or if the shipping charges are incidental to you.  Or make a recurring $1 or $10 or whatever monthly donation to your favorite charity or non-profit... lots of ways to skin this particular cat.




        
Message 51 of 76
ac921ol
Frequent Contributor

Re: Upgraded FICO score for no reason?

so SW has upgraded to Fico 08, Barclays offers TU 08

 

well not many cards look at Fico 08 from what I understand, Amex and barclays with maybe a couple more, and more importantly people looking for a mortgage are now being bamboozled by these SW and Barclays scores since they could have dropped or risen but that doesnt matter cause lenders pull the 04 model of scores.

 

so is there anywhere to pull my 04 model score? Im looking for a loan and dont want to apply cause of these bogus scores ive got

SW 753 (updated 5.26)

Barclays 791 (updated 5.19)

 

when I see my 04 model scores were pulled from a lender on April 22

Beacon 712

Fico 04 733

Fico II 703

 

and those would put me in the top tier for interest rate if lenders pulled the 08 scoring model, but they dont in 5 years they havent swapped over they are taking scores from a 8-9 year old scoring model.



12/28/13 (Garden Start Date)



Message 52 of 76
mongstradamus
Super Contributor

Re: Upgraded FICO score for no reason?


@ac921ol wrote:

so SW has upgraded to Fico 08, Barclays offers TU 08

 

well not many cards look at Fico 08 from what I understand, Amex and barclays with maybe a couple more, and more importantly people looking for a mortgage are now being bamboozled by these SW and Barclays scores since they could have dropped or risen but that doesnt matter cause lenders pull the 04 model of scores.

 

so is there anywhere to pull my 04 model score? Im looking for a loan and dont want to apply cause of these bogus scores ive got

SW 753 (updated 5.26)

Barclays 791 (updated 5.19)

 

when I see my 04 model scores were pulled from a lender on April 22

Beacon 712

Fico 04 733

Fico II 703

 

and those would put me in the top tier for interest rate if lenders pulled the 08 scoring model, but they dont in 5 years they havent swapped over they are taking scores from a 8-9 year old scoring model.


Either if you are memeber of dcu or if you want to buy score directly from eq.they both offer eq04 scores 



EX Fico 804 11/16/16 Fako 800 Credit.com 11/16/16
EQ SW bank enhanced 11/16/16 839 CK fako 822 11/16/16
TU Fico discover 10/19/16 814 Fako 819 Creditkarma 11/16/16
Message 53 of 76
redshoes
Established Member

Re: Upgraded FICO score for no reason?

My score had stalled out at 681 for the past five months. Adding a new Amex CC in Feb had no effect on it. Hadn't seen a score alert yet this month — I usually get one around the 21st when two of my cards report; the Amex usually reports around the 26th. Got my alert today and saw it had dropped to 665. I'm in a rebuilding phase; just started in earnest back in August after waiting for some baddies to fall off. I know it's only a number and I've got good habits; I'm not worried about slipping back into the old ways — feels like another life now — but it's still a little upsetting. I was expecting a nice move when my score finally did change. Instead I got a drop. C'est la vie. Nothing I can do other than what I've been doing, but it's still a bummer.

Message 54 of 76
jello77
Contributor

Re: Upgraded FICO score for no reason?

 

doggiepants wrote: 

My biggest problem is remembering to actually use credit cards, as I pay cash for everything and have had multiple cards closed for inactivity in the past. 

 

Here is a simple and convenient plan I use to keep credit cards from being closed for inactivity.

 

I have 5 cards. One card gives a rebate on all purchases, so I use it for buying most things.

 

Another card does not have a foreign transaction fee, so I use it when traveling to other countries.

 

My other 3 cards are "legacy" cards I've had for 14 to 36 years. They help with the  "Length of Credit History" part of my credit score. And each has a large credit limit, which improves the "credit utilization rate" part of my score. 

 

So keeping these accounts active is important even though I don't really need them. 

 

For each legacy card, I have a recurring monthly bill charged to it. And the full balance of each card is paid automatically from my checking account. 

 

It's important to know that for each additional card showing a balance on your credit report, the lower your score will be.  This issue is discussed in this recent thread:

 

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Number-of-revolving-tradelines-reporting-...

 

To avoid having 4 or 5 cards showing a balance on my credit report, I use this method:

 

The bills I've chosen to pay with my legacy cards are for the SAME amount each month.  And I pay the cards each month BEFORE the amount posts on my credit card bill.

 

For example, one bill is for an online music service that cost 9.95 per month.  The bill posts to my credit card on the 10th of each month.  I have my bank automatically pay 9.95 to the card on the 5th of each month, so the amount reported to the credit bureau each month is 0.

 

This plan has 3 benefits:

 

1) It keeps my legacy cards active without needing to keep track of whether I've used them recently.

 

2) My credit report never shows more than two cards reporting a balance.

 

3) It allows me to keep my legacy cards in a locked drawer at home, eliminating the risk of them being lost if I carry them around. When you use a card to make automatic payments to a vendor and that card is lost, it gets messy because you have to immediately notify both the card issuer and the vendor, then wait to get your new card and account number, then contact the vendor again to inform them of your new account number.  If this happens when you are traveling, it can be a real headache.

EQ-04 FICO__804__(from DCU)__inquiries = 0
EQ-08 FICO__826__(from MyFICO)__inquiries = 0
EX-98 FICO__837__(from PSECU)__inquiries = 0
EX-08 FICO__813__(from MyFICO)__inquiries = 0
TU-08 FICO__820__(from MyFICO)__inquiries = 0
Oldest account 36 yrs / Newest account 2 years / Average age 12 yrs / Total accounts 10 / Accounts reporting balance = 2 / Util = 3%
Message 55 of 76
vanillabean
Valued Contributor

Re: Upgraded FICO score for no reason?


@jello77 wrote:

 

It's important to know that for each additional card showing a balance on your credit report, the lower your score will be.


 

That it isn't always so may well be an example of the cushion that FICO 08 provides at the top. DW's EX 08 some months ago was 850 with four balances reporting!

 

Message 56 of 76
jello77
Contributor

Re: Upgraded FICO score for no reason?

 

my-own-fico wrote:

DW's EX 08 some months ago was 850 with four balances reporting

 

Congratulations on DW achieving that perfect, mythical score of 850.

  

It would be very interesting to see what it takes to achieve a score of 850.

 

Would you mind sharing some key stats from DW's credit profile?   Such as:

 

Length of credit history (age of oldest account):

 

Number of accounts:

 

Average age of accounts:

 

Number of inquiries:

 

Utilization percent:

 

Type of accounts (credit cards, mortgage, auto, etc): 

 

You can see my own stats at bottom of this message.

EQ-04 FICO__804__(from DCU)__inquiries = 0
EQ-08 FICO__826__(from MyFICO)__inquiries = 0
EX-98 FICO__837__(from PSECU)__inquiries = 0
EX-08 FICO__813__(from MyFICO)__inquiries = 0
TU-08 FICO__820__(from MyFICO)__inquiries = 0
Oldest account 36 yrs / Newest account 2 years / Average age 12 yrs / Total accounts 10 / Accounts reporting balance = 2 / Util = 3%
Message 57 of 76
Revelate
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Upgraded FICO score for no reason?


@jello77 wrote:

 

my-own-fico wrote:

DW's EX 08 some months ago was 850 with four balances reporting

 

Congratulations on DW achieving that perfect, mythical score of 850.

  

It would be very interesting to see what it takes to achieve a score of 850.

 

Would you mind sharing some key stats from DW's credit profile?   Such as:

 

Length of credit history (age of oldest account):

 

Number of accounts:

 

Average age of accounts:

 

Number of inquiries:

 

Utilization percent:

 

Type of accounts (credit cards, mortgage, auto, etc): 

 

You can see my own stats at bottom of this message.


850 isn't the place on the map listed "Here be Dragons" anymore.  We've a few users on this forum even with 850's on '08 scores: it simply wasn't achievable on the older ones, mutually exclusive buckets as I understood it from someone who should know from many years ago.

 

Think android01 posted his stats a bit ago as well.

 




        
Message 58 of 76
vanillabean
Valued Contributor

Re: Upgraded FICO score for no reason?


@Revelate wrote:

Think android01 posted his stats a bit ago as well.

 

The FICO 08 triple 850 in his signature? His 04 average is 811 (814 811 808). While 850 isn't possible in 04, higher than 814 is. 850 is possible in 08, but you can't go higher; all you can do is make your credit better. So no longer does it make much sense to simply state your 850, it's more impressive listing your handicap along with it such as two balances or this many thousands of dollars reporting!

 

Message 59 of 76
Jazzzy
Valued Contributor

Re: Upgraded FICO score for no reason?


@doggiepants wrote:

Through a Google search I just found an additional piece of information that may apply to my situation. It says, in relation to Fico 08:

 

"FICO 08 will take a closer look at certain groups of borrowers who lenders need more help with risk prediction. This includes subprime borrowers, new borrowers and those with few open accounts," with my situation being the latter. I'm guessing I'm getting dinged big time because I don't have a bunch of open accounts, and in fact, currently have zero revolving accounts since my Chase credit card was closed for inactivity. Once again I'm a BAD consumer for not having any credit card debt. Sigh.....

 

My wild guess is that Fico 08 greatly rewards those with lots of CLs, more so than the old scoring model did. In other words, it encourages consumers to have lots of (properly-managed) debt.

 

Again now I'm wondering, how do I get a credit card now that I suddenly went from having a very good Fico score to one that Fico considers 'not good'.? Am I really going to be stuck now with a secured CC??

 

It would have been SO nice to know ahead of time that they were making this change. Where's the fairness to your customers Fico? Just beyond frustrated right now...


Just wanted to make sure everyone understands that you don't have to have "credit card debt" if you use credit cards. We have several credit cards that have been beneficial when we need to dispute a charge...or for a couple of free flights each year....cash back...etc. We derive great financial benefits from our card usage, and we have NO "credit card debt."

 

All you have to do is pay them off each month.

 

BTW, my updated score went from 788 to 816...and I have no "credit card debt."

 

Just use the cards for the financial rewards and the protection and pay them off.

Message 60 of 76
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.