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Fickle FICO

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DD60
Valued Member

Fickle FICO

I signed up for Score Watch because I wanted to see just how my FICO score was being managed.  So far, I do not have much confidence in the system or the results generated.  My latest reason for concern is a Seven Point Drop in my FICO score on 18 August.  The reason cited was my having used a credit account that had been dormant for more than three months.  That is right.  I have several accounts that I seldom use.  However, they all have zero balances!  The only reason I keep them is because they report a total of $20,000 in credit limit to the CBs.  The cards I actually use, CitiBank AAdvantage cards, have a $30,000 limit that FICO counts as ZERO.  Now, I could cancel those other cards, but then FICO would consider me to have NO credit.  I can only guess how far my score would fall if I were to do that.  As for the charge, it was $20, posted on 12 August and paid on 14 August.  Nevertheless, that $20 charge to an account that on 18 August had a zero balance and a $6,000 LOC, caused my score to drop by seven points on 18 August.  I have always thought that one should use a card every six months or so just to let the bank know you were still kicking, but apparently FICO wants to see usage more often.  I would like to know just how often I have to dust off and use these cards.  Every month? Every week?  Daily?  Perhaps someone could get FICO to post guidelines.  I sure can't figure them out.


Starting Score: 777
Current Score: 854
Goal Score: 900


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Message 1 of 4
3 REPLIES 3
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Fickle FICO

Hi, welcome to the forums!

 

Info about these matters is all over the forums. I've asked that your post be moved to Understanding FICO Scoring, or the moderators might decide there's a better place for it.

 

Many of us have gotten a ding for using a card just once in >6 months. It's annoying, but it's a one-time deal.

* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 2 of 4
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Fickle FICO

 


@haulingthescoreup wrote:

Hi, welcome to the forums!

 

Info about these matters is all over the forums. I've asked that your post be moved to Understanding FICO Scoring, or the moderators might decide there's a better place for it.

 

Many of us have gotten a ding for using a card just once in >6 months. It's annoying, but it's a one-time deal.


I thought FICO scoring system had no "memory". How come FICO system is able to detect the length of inactivity? Smiley Surprised

 

Message 3 of 4
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Fickle FICO

The full reports show whether there's been activity on an account. They also show what your balance has been each month. (The full reports that we get from EX show this second bit.)

 

The system doesn't have a memory, in that it doesn't fault you for what happened on a previous set of reports. It scores off of what's on the report pulled at that moment. So if whether you've used a card recently is something that's reported, that's a factor that can affect scores. (Not everything that's on a report is scored, of course, just what's part of the scoring formulas.)

 

So when we say that "FICO scores don't have memory," that's for such things as last month there was 60% util, but the current report shows 9%, so you'll get scored on that 9%, because that's on the report that's being crunched to create the score. Or if you had a clean report, but a late was put on there improperly, and then it's removed, your scores should go back where they were before the incorrect late showed.

 

Except that they never quite do, because your reports are always a little bit different, even if it's only that everything has become a month older.

* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 4 of 4
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