My wife's score has been all over the place and I can't figure out how to stabilize it. There have been a few massive swings that have happened in the last few months. For example, in February, she lost 31 points, but a few weeks later got them all back, but in two 15 point chunks.
In August, September, and October, she lost 32 points two times only to get them back a few days later.
I am 99.9% certain that it has to do with reported balances, but I can't seem to find the right combo of accounts to report. She has 4 cards in her name and is an authorized user on my AmEx BCE. I have 5 cards and am an authorized user on both of her Capital One cards. I am working off of the following framework:
- You are penalized if all your accounts report zero.
- You are penalized if more than 50% of your personal accounts (not including AU) report a balance.
- You are penalized if all of the accounts you are an AU on report zero .
This morning she dropped 20 points and it happened when I was confident we had the correct reporting combo. I realize it's not AZEO, but I thought we checked the right boxes to avoid penalties. Here are her current reported acount numbers:
The AmEx account with $1,414 is mine, she is an AU on it. We have chosen to let more than one account report a balance each month making sure that each individual account utilization and the overall utilization is low. We are well under 8% utilization for everything, so I think the number of accounts reporting has to be the problem.
I guess my question is, based on the accounts shown above, shouldn't she be avoiding all the reporting penalties? Only 2 of her 4 are reporting a balance, her AU is not zero, and her utilization is low for everything.
I think the next step would be to let her AmEx (The $142 one) report zero and leave my AmEx and her Savor continue to report. It's not a big deal to do that, but I guess I just want to understand the scoring better becasue I thought that what we did would maximize her score. I guess not. Any insight would be appreciated.
If her profile is strictly on the younger/thinner side (no adverse information present), that would likely be the culprit of more sensitive score swings. Maintaining low reported UT and the ongoing practice of AZE1 will help, but more history will help alleviate these things as she moves on to more mature score cards.
Her oldest account is 6+ years and her average is around 3. She also has $70k+ available credit. 100% on time, no loans at all. What metrics would be considered mature and thick?
@Varsity_Lu She should be on a mature score card once the newest account is 3 years old. As far as thick goes, it's supposed to be 4, or more accounts.
@Thomas_Thumb wrote:Her file will certainly fluctuate more than many. It would be considered thin. Why? A card only file lacks sufficient breath. Fico considers files without any installment loan history, even closed, more risky. Having an open loan on file with positive payment history has an additional buffering effect which mutes score swings - especially if the loan is a mortgage.
Does your wife have a CC under 12 months age? If yes, her file will be assigned to a scorecard that is more sensitive to changes in utilization and # of cards reporting balances.
My Fico 8 scores flatlined when I had an open mortgage. Now that it is closed and I have no open loans, my EQ and TU scores move in a 10 point range. I keep reported utilizations low but allow cards reporting to vary between 2 of 5 and 5 of 5. Also, a 6th card which I am AU on always reports a monthly balance.
Given her high average scores, I would not fret about score swings of +/- 15 points. Just keep reported balances under 9%. On a typical month have 2 cards report a balance.
Side notes:
1. If only an AU card reports a balance, the file will be penalized for "no recent revolving activity"
2. Closed loop, store only, cards may be excluded from consideration as revolving activity.
3. There is some evidence that certain credit union cards may not be considered part of revolving activity.
4. AMEX charge cards are not classified as revolving accounts.
Thanks. We had a mortgage, but it was almost 20 years ago. We own our home outright as well as our vehicles. Her score isn't really that important, I am just trying to understand why it is moving so much. It'd be nice for her to be consitently in the 780s, but its not that big of a deal for us. I do know that one month we accidently had all her accounts report zero, and that was on me, but I am really confused by this current 20 point drop. None of our cards are co-branded or charge cards: BCP, BCE, Savor, and Quicksilver. Nothing fancy, nothing odd. I have a Hilton Honors AmEx and Voice, as well, so they should all be reporting as normal revolvers. Well, the Hilton may be considered a co-branded card, but she is not even and AU on that one.
Next month I will let only her Savor report and I will make sure my BCE reports a small amount. That will give her 1 of 4 reporting as well as her AU card reporting. We'll see if that stabilizes things. I suspect that she is getting the over 50% reporting penalty even though one of the cards reporting is an AU account.
@Patient957 wrote:
@JoeRockhead wrote:@Varsity_Lu She should be on a mature score card once the newest account is 3 years old. .
Shouldn't this be Age of Oldest Account = 3 years?
I think this is the scorecard reassignment at AoOA = 3 years where people with clean profiles actually lose points on reassignment.
Also many other threads.
Her oldest account is over 6 years old, so I don't think it's this. Her youngest account is like 9 months. I'm doubtful this oscillation is due to a scorecard change.
