FICO Changes Could Lower Your Credit Score. Credit-scoring company Fair Isaac is making changes that will create a bigger gap between consumers deemed to be good and bad credit risks.

Wall Street Journal ^ | January 23, 2020 | AnnaMaria Andriotis

[karpov]

Changes in how the most widely used credit score in the U.S. is calculated will likely make it harder for many Americans to get loans.

Fair Isaac Corp., creator of FICO scores, will soon start scoring consumers with rising debt levels and those who fall behind on loan payments more harshly. It will also flag certain consumers who sign up for personal loans, a category of unsecured debt that has surged in recent years.

The changes will create a bigger gap between consumers deemed to be good and bad credit risks, the company says. Consumers with already-high FICO scores of about 680 or higher who continue to manage loans well will likely get a higher score than under previous FICO versions. Those with already-low scores below 600 who continue to miss payments or accumulate other black marks will experience bigger score declines than under previous models.

The changes are an about-face from recent years, when FICO and credit-reporting companies made changes that helped increase scores for some consumers, such as removing some negative information, including civil judgments, from credit reports.

Credit scoring and reporting companies also recently started factoring in such information as bank account balances and utilities payments to help give consumers with limited credit histories a better shot at getting loans.

Those recent moves can help revenue-hungry lenders identify more creditworthy consumers and make it easier for them to be approved for loans. Average FICO scores have been rising steadily following some of these changes and an improving economy.

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One of the new versions, called FICO 10 T, will place greater weight on recently missed payments. Consumers who fall behind or stop paying their debts are likely to see their credit scores fall more with this model.

[Malsua]

Also, your second home isn’t covered by homestead exemptions, so your threat of losing it through sickness, loss of job, etc.. is higher than on your first house.

First home is in NJ. There is no homestead exemption, so if you can't pay your taxes, eventually they will sell it and kick you out. There is a homestead benefit but we haven't gotten that in over 20 years because I make too much money.

I understand that my debt ratio is worse than it was. That said I owe less on two houses than most people owe on one. We put a significant chunk of money down (around 30%) on the FL house to avoid PMI and keep the payment low.

[minnesota_bound]

I have credit card debt but I am not worried about as I have stock (AMD) and when it goes up a few dollars, my bills are paid off. May do so when AMD reports their results next Tuesday. It should be another good quarter. Another reason to buy stock!

Credit
http://www.credit.com to get your free score.

FICO is a scam for the most part. They also rate how long you keep a credit card. I guess they think it is a smart move to have a high interest card vs 0% !
Credit Inquiries lower your score because you are looking to borrow money.... I guess merely asking and the credit agency will impeach you : )