Fico Scoring Thin File vs Previous File

Anonymous · ‎09-24-2017

I'm very new to credit my file is thin just started in 2013 no previous file do you score higher overall if you have a thin file vs having a previous file as in previous credit? Because my score was in the 700's and I had no trouble getting an unsecured credit card from BofA which was my very first card out of the gate 4+ years now and they started my credit line at $800 income was about 1,000 a month from work.

Anonymous · ‎09-24-2017

Thin (or thick) refers to the number of accounts one possesses on their credit report. This factor does not necessarily correlate with the factor of time. While in general over time people tend to pick up more accounts and thicken their file, that's not always the case. There are examples out there of someone having 20 years of credit history, but all it is involves just 1 account, a credit card that they've had that entire time. Conversely, there are people that have 1 year of credit history but 10 accounts on their report.

The quick and simple answer to your question though is that all things being otherwise equal, having an aged file (longer credit history) is going to aid in higher scores than someone with short credit history. A thicker file too relative to a thin one can have some scoring benefits as well.

Anonymous · ‎09-24-2017

@Anonymous wrote:
Thin (or thick) refers to the number of accounts one possesses on their credit report. This factor does not necessarily correlate with the factor of time. While in general over time people tend to pick up more accounts and thicken their file, that's not always the case. There are examples out there of someone having 20 years of credit history, but all it is involves just 1 account, a credit card that they've had that entire time. Conversely, there are people that have 1 year of credit history but 10 accounts on their report.

The quick and simple answer to your question though is that all things being otherwise equal, having an aged file (longer credit history) is going to aid in higher scores than someone with short credit history. A thicker file too relative to a thin one can have some scoring benefits as well.

Interesting... perhaps my file even though thin before I started credit had aged some parents never put anything in my name so that was good. My strat is lower utilization over time and try very hard not to open any new account while gardening one thing I've already notice the more credit I have received the less I use already which makes the utilization ever more easier to achieve.

Anonymous · ‎09-24-2017

I am not sure I understand the question. A thin file is one with a very small number of accounts (but at least one), It's differemt conceptually from a young file. A file can be thin and young (2 accounts each under a year in age), thin and not young (2 accounts each 10 years old), young and not thin (8 accounts less than a year old), or neither young nor thin (8 accounts of a variety of ages, with at least one 10 years old).

I don't know for sure what it would mean to have a "previous" file. (You mention comparing a person with a thin file against a person with a previous file.)

It sounds like you want to compare two things (and ask which gives you a scoring advantage) but it isn't clear to me what those things are

Anonymous · ‎09-24-2017

@Anonymous wrote:
I am not sure I understand the question. A thin file is one with a very small number of accounts (but at least one), It's differemt conceptually from a young file. A file can be thin and young (2 accounts each under a year in age), thin and not young (2 accounts each 10 years old), young and not thin (8 accounts less than a year old), or neither young nor thin (8 accounts of a variety of ages, with at least one 10 years old).

I don't know for sure what it would mean to have a "previous" file. (You mention comparing a person with a thin file against a person with a previous file.)

It sounds like you want to compare two things (and ask which gives you a scoring advantage) but it isn't clear to me what those things are

Which would have an advantage someone who started without any credit debt ,BK,etc or the person who started out with credit burned a bunch of banks and now has to start over while the law does allow for 7 years for debt to drop off not sure about BK but with scoring who has an advantage or is their perhaps no advantage in scoring if the person repairs credit after those 7 years does the person who burned a bunch of banks still get factored into the score as negative even if they have repaired the credit?

Anonymous · ‎09-24-2017

The key idea for credit scoring is what is on a person's credit report. A credit score is the result of taking all the data that's on the report and turning into into a single number, typically between 300 and 850.

It sounds like you want to compare two people, whom I'll call Bob and Fred to make it easier.

Bob has never had any accounts of any kind,

Fred did have accounts on his credit report at one time, but several of them showed bad credit behavior. You are unsure in your example how far in the past the bad behavior was. If it was a long time ago (10 years for a bankruptcy, 7 years for everything else) the bad marks will have dropped off his reports, and therefore his score will only reflect the good stuff that remains (assuming he still has an open account).

Bob will have no credit score.

Fred will have a credit score, which may be low if he has bad stuff on his reports, or pretty decent if the bad stuff is gone and his credit card utilization is low.

A terrible score is worse than no score, but a decent score is better than no score.

Hope that helps.

PS. People here are really friendly and like to help others out. You'll make it easier for them if you try to break your post into shorter sentences. I had to read what you wrote several times before I could guess what you were driving at. That's because you pushed a whole bunch of words together without a comma or period:

or the person who started out with credit burned a bunch of banks and now has to start over while the law does allow for 7 years for debt to drop off not sure about BK but with scoring who has an advantage or is their perhaps no advantage in scoring if the person repairs credit after those 7 years does the person who burned a bunch of banks still get factored into the score as negative even if they have repaired the credit?

Try saying that aloud in one breath. It'll be pretty hard. If you broke that into a few shorter sentences, just like if you were talking, it will be easier for folks to understand. That's just some friendly advice to help you get help more easily.

Anonymous · ‎09-24-2017

@Anonymous wrote:

Interesting... perhaps my file even though thin before I started credit ...

I got a bit lost with your statement above. Before one "starts" credit, that is, opens any accounts at all, they have NO credit. Having no credit means no file, so if you have no file it can't be thin or thick.

If you have 2 accounts on your credit report, that's considered a thin file. If one of those accounts is say 5-10 years old, while your file is thin it wouldn't be considered "young" any longer.

Is there something specific that you're looking to learn about relative to your file? Perhaps you can give a little time line history of your file... like what year did you open your first account, second account, etc. and did you ever have any negatives on any of those accounts?

Anonymous · ‎09-24-2017

Just curious about what is factored into a Fico score perhaps I should have made it simple for others to understand . Thank You!