Did I just get put in new bucket?

[AZHeather]

I received a SW alert that my EQ score went down 10 pts.  I pulled my report and the only difference was one new thing (in green) saying that my last late payment was 2.5 years ago.  I have heard that if you get put in a new bucket that you may initially lose a few points, but that you are put in a position to actually gain more points.  Am I correct in that and the fact that I was likely put in a new bucket?  

Odd thing is that my TU score actually went up 8 pts, but the only difference between new and old report is that it showed that I had "activity" on one of my cc's (first time ever using that one), even though it was paid back to zero again.  I didn't think you got pts given or taken for usage if the balance was ultimately the same.

[RobertEG]

If the most recent prior delinquency was 2.5 yrs ago and you have no other major derogs, you could very well have moved into a "clean file" categorization.

You can have a clean file with only a minor derog and no recent derogs. 

Rebucketing means you are now being scored under a new set of algorithm conditions.  Since the scoring algoirthms used by each CRA are not the same, it also ver well be that the trigger did not occur on both scores at the same time.

[llecs]

OP...it depends...

How severe is that late? 30? 60? 90+?

Do you have any COs or CAs reporting?

Do you have any judgments, liens, BKs reporting?

For the inactive CC, how long had it not reported?

[AZHeather]

No CA or CO.  No liens or judgments.  No BK's.  I had 2 (in a row) 30 days late on my auto loan 2.5 years ago.  Those were the last ones.  I have student loan derogs, but they are older (suppose to be removed any day now! ). 

The cc is one that I got in February.  It had been reporting, just as zero balance and zero activity.  I just had not used it until last month.  $400 cl, I made a charge of $106, and paid it before statement cut.  It showed a zero balance again, but the activity showed as well.

[llecs]

If you are 100% baddie-free outside of these 30s, then there's a chance. Most are quick to point the finger at rebucketing though. My vote would be the inactive account. FICO will ignore a CC balance and CL if the TL had not updated in a long time. Vague I know, but it seemed like Barry hinted it was beyond 6 months. To see if the CC was inactive, you'd look at the updated or reported date, including the reporting of the history. If it had zero updates in months between reports, then it may be worth doing some util calcs with and without the card to see if your util increased after it updated.