FICO 10 & 10T: How To Outshine Any Updates?
FICO 10 & 10T: How To Outshine Any Updates?
The latest credit scoring models FICO 10 and FICO 10T, when launched in 2020, brought a huge impact on the credit market. Though two years have passed, the effect of this new launch has continued. If your mind is buzzing with questions about FICO 10 and its effects on credit scores, you should stay tuned to this write-up.
I am Damon DeCrescenzo, Founder of The Credit Pros. With years of experience as a credit advisor, I am here to answer all your questions about FICO 10 and FICO 10T.
What Is FICO 10 and FICO 10T?
FICO 10 and FICO 10T are new credit scoring models that help lenders decide on loan approvals. As these models focus more on trended data, people with low credit scores might face some trouble, while good credit scorers are relatively unaffected.
Fair Isaac Corporation, commonly referred to as FICO, will update its scoring model when needed. This way, it launched a new FICO score 10 suite with two variations, FICO 10 and FICO 10T, to provide accurate ideas to lenders about the users’ creditworthiness. In this FICO 10 version, late payments and debts are considered seriously. In FICO 10T, the lenders will be given a brief analysis of the borrowers’ payment behavior for the last 24 months to reduce their credit risk.
Will FICO 10 and FICO 10T Affect My Credit Score?
FICO estimates that nearly 110 million people will face a change in their credit score due to the new credit scoring models. The board says that if you are already in a bad credit score range, your credit scores might drop by 20 points. On the other hand, if you are in safer credit score ranges, like good or excellent, you might even face a sudden increase in credit score.
As any and everything we see around us is uncertain, how could we expect the credit measuring scale to remain the same? This latest model is a simple puzzle to crack. You can overcome the hurdles and build your credit scores with a proper understanding of its features.
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Basics of Credit Score
Let’s brush up on basic credit concepts for better understanding. Lenders look for reasons to approve your loans. They don’t risk themselves by loaning to users who have never made their previous payments on time. So, to decide on your credit approval and interest fees, lenders get your credit score from credit reporting agencies. These agencies will prepare a credit report that describes your credit activities.
Other FICO Scoring Models and FICO Score 10 Suite
Though there are different credit scoring models in the market, all of them are designed to provide lenders with a unified view of applicants’ credit behaviors in a credit report. The three major credit bureaus consider payment history, credit utilization, credit mix, and a few more factors to estimate credit scores.
Credit providers, like banks, credit card issuers, mortgage lenders, and other personal loans, are free to choose the scoring model. Few might prefer following the older scoring models. At the same time, others can choose to follow the vantage scoring model designed by the major credit bureaus Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
Though FICO 10 and FICO 10T are just the updated versions of the existing FICO scoring models, the impact is higher this time. Yes, these models rightly serve the loan vendors’ needs by reducing their credit risk of approving loans to “less worthy” applicants.
Features of FICO 10
If you are wondering how FICO 10 differs from previous FICO scoring models, here is a brief note. The FICO 10 scoring model has all the characteristics of the previous versions. The only note they vary is the severity of the late payments and debt consolidation. In short, as per Fair Isaac Corp’s new model, if you miss payments, your credit scores drop by more numbers than before.
Features of FICO 10T
With all the primary characteristics of other models, FICO 10T extended a new feature called trended data. FICO 10T will involve the applicants’ credit data for the past 24 months. This feature helps lenders to estimate your recent ability to pay off their loans. In this model, all your credit behavior of the previous year will be analyzed with timeframes.
Who Will Be Affected?
With the discussed data so far, it must be clear that anybody with a low credit score can be affected. To clarify, here are scenarios that might put you at risk due to the new FICO scoring models.
FICO 10 and FICO 10T
Missed Payments
Your credit accounts are marked with a negative item whenever you miss payments. That is, your credit accounts will gain delinquencies as a result of missing a payment. There is no excuse even if you are ready with the amount but missed the payment date. The prior FICO models could withstand 30 days delay in payment history, but this FICO 10 scoring model is much stricter with timely payments.
High Credit Card Debt
Another highly impactful factor is credit card debt. The higher the credit utilization rate, the lower the credit scores. If you own a credit card and the card debt level exceeds the credit balance, it will put you at risk.
Debt Consolidation
Personal loans usually have a slight effect on credit scores. You can repay the slight dip by paying the loans on time. But, when you borrow personal loans for debt consolidation, there are enough chances for you to face a fall. If you fail to pay off the consolidated loan, it might become a new credit in your credit accounts.
Fall in Recent Performance
The recent data on your credit performance highly impact your credit score. For example, You might be managing to pay off all your debts on time for years but fail to meet them one last time. Still, you will get a hit.
How to Stay Safe from Every Model
Instead of constantly fearing the updates that are yet to come, it is best to take precautionary measures. Maintaining a good credit score can back you during any rapid change in scoring models. Even if you failed to build a good credit score in the first place, you could try to make it up after the credit score drops. This might be quite harder, but still possible.
Following the list of steps below may keep you away from the fear of dropping your current credit score.
Align with the Credit Scoring Factors
The credit score evaluation is based on 5 core factors. You can easily improve your credit scores if you pass all these factors.
Payment history – Paying loans on time will improve your credit score.
Credit Utilization Ratio – Make sure your debt does not exceed the credit balances.
New Credit – Go for a new credit only if it is necessary. Opening many credits in a shorter period might drop your score slightly.
Credit Mix – Having credits of different types can help.
Tenure of Credit Mix – Longest credit history will have an advantage.
Check for Credit Errors
Though you are in alignment with all the factors that affect credit scores, your credit scores can drop due to errors. Some common reasons for errors are technical errors, mistaken identity, missed entries, or careless data entry. To overcome these, you should have a keen eye on your data and remove the errors if there are any.
Hire a Credit Repair Agency
If you need help tracking the errors, you can hire a credit repair service to manage your credit reports on your behalf. You can receive notifications on a mobile app regarding the actions taken, making things easier for you.
How Can The Credit Pros Help You?
As credit scores have become the crucial criterion for loan approvals, credit users should monitor their credit reports regularly.
If you are not confident about the credit score concepts, The Credit Pros will support you with credit advice. If you have queries about FICO 10 and FICO 10T scoring models, you can take their help.
Though you have enough knowledge of the credit system, sometimes you might need more time to monitor your reports. In this case, The Credit Pros can work for you by figuring out the errors in credit scores and following the procedural approaches to fixing them. We’ll help you from analysing your reports to removing any errors affecting your scores.
FAQ
- When will FICO 10 and FICO 10T become effective?
The new FICO 10 and FICO 10T models were launched in the credit industry in 2020 and are currently in effect. But, credit reporting agencies and loan providers can follow any FICO scoring version. Some still prefer vantage scoring models.
- What is the newest FICO scoring model?
The latest FICO scoring model is an enhanced version of previous versions. FICO 10 and FICO 10T scoring models are designed more effectively to reduce the lenders’ credit risk. This model evaluates an applicant based on their current performance over a year.
- Will users’ credit scores rise or fall with FICO 10T?
Good credit scorers can score higher, while poor credit scorers with less than 500 will lose their credit scores further.
Final thoughts
This article discussed the impacts of the FICO 10 and FICO 10T on your credit score. Generally, these FICO scoring models are developed to support lenders’ loan approval decisions. These models will properly point out your creditworthiness by evaluating your credit activities.
In the same way, FICO 10 models are developed to add more value to the existing FICO versions. If you are scared of the impact that FICO 10 and FICO 10T could bring on your credit score, do not worry.
The best practice to sustain any updates that come your way is to maintain a good credit score. If possible, you can monitor your credit reports on your own. Or, if you are held up with other work and need more time to manage your credit accounts, you can rely on effective yet cheap credit management services like The Credit Pros.
Would you happen to have other ideas on this topic? If so, drop your thoughts in the comment section.
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