cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Has Fico Changed the way it scores?

tag
smallfry
Senior Contributor

Re: Has Fico Changed the way it scores?

28 open accounts? 5 reporting balances should not be hurting you then.
Message 21 of 45
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Has Fico Changed the way it scores?



smallfry wrote:
28 open accounts? 5 reporting balances should not be hurting you then.


Which brings me back to my original question: Has Fico Changed the way it scores?
 
I just went over this thing with a fine tooth comb:
 
28 Total Accounts
-4  Accounts Listed as closed by consumer
-1  Account listed as sold/transferred
-1  Account listed as lost or stolen card
22 Actual open accounts
 
Several others have had no activity for over 7 years.
 
At what point do these things fall off?  It just blows my mind that this years report is virtually identical to last years except for 1 less account with balance and $8000 less owed.  Common sense and rationallity says it should have gone up and not down.Smiley Mad
Message 22 of 45
smallfry
Senior Contributor

Re: Has Fico Changed the way it scores?

FICO is not using the new scoring system yet of that I am positive. You might be getting penalized for dormant cards. Only think I can think of. That's why I decided to trim the herd. I was having a problem putting decent usage on all of them so I now only have 5 that get used all the time. I PIF before the cut date on nearly all of them.
Message 23 of 45
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Has Fico Changed the way it scores?



smallfry wrote:
FICO is not using the new scoring system yet of that I am positive. You might be getting penalized for dormant cards. Only think I can think of. That's why I decided to trim the herd. I was having a problem putting decent usage on all of them so I now only have 5 that get used all the time. I PIF before the cut date on nearly all of them.

 
How exactly do you "trim the herd"?  Some of these accounts that were closed by me show no activity since 1998 or 1999.  I don't even have the account numbers any longer.  How do you go about having them removed?  I'm also confused about the Paying in Full before the cutoff date.  How do I know what that date is.  In other words, I ran this report on the 11th and had already set up my bank to pay the 5 monthly charges on the 12th.  If I ran another report say on Tuesday might I get a different score? 

Message 24 of 45
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Has Fico Changed the way it scores?

Your closed accounts will fall off 10 years after you closed them. So some of them will be going away soon, if you closed them in '98 and '99.

edit: whoops, twitchy fingers. I'm guessing you're looking at reports pulled from the myFICO site? If so, I don't think that they display the actual date paid, only the month and year. My daily pulls from TrueCredit for all three CRA's always show the actual date reported on at least one bureau's report, and I think your freebies from annualcreditreport.com also show the actual date.

The easiest way though is to call each card company and ask when they report. The CRA's don't always post immediately, but once they do, it will be the $$$ that your card company (and mortgage company, and car loan company, etc) gives them.

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 10-13-2007 10:08 AM
* 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 25 of 45
smallfry
Senior Contributor

Re: Has Fico Changed the way it scores?

Lilac the cut date is the day your accounts close. It is on your statement. This is not the day your payment is due it is the closing date.
Message 26 of 45
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Has Fico Changed the way it scores?

That varies, though. I've heard that some CCC's post on a different date than the statement date. Why they would do that, I don't know, unless it's just to confuse us.

Discover and J.Crew both told me that they report every Friday, but the dates I see on the reports are within a day or two of the statement (close) date. Go figure.
* 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 27 of 45
smallfry
Senior Contributor

Re: Has Fico Changed the way it scores?

HSBC loves to do this but they use the last day of the month IIRC. All of my current accounts report exactly as they are supposed to. Walmart closed last nite and the update was on my EX before midnight. I love EX for its efficiency.Smiley Wink
Message 28 of 45
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Has Fico Changed the way it scores?

Well, I must say I've learned a lot since the 11th.  I didn't even know these boards existed because I've never felt the need to question my score before this year.  What a wake up call.  Apparently a lot of you keep daily track of your scores and that's something I've never considered doing. 
 
It's not like we plan on making any major purchases any time soon.  I just pull our report once a year and read all my credit card statements line by line to make sure no fraud has occurred.  I've pulled one of my free reports and will probably get the other 2 soon. 
 
If I were going to sign up for one service, what one would you recommend.  I don't want to be inundated with emails.
 
I will certainly be checking these boards frequently from now on. 
Message 29 of 45
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Has Fico Changed the way it scores?

For frequent pulling of all three reports, I will cautiously recommend TrueCredit, which you can find on the TransUnion site. If you've been reading these boards, you'll know that they seriously blundered by banning a number of people from their service, essentially accusing them of credit fraud. (They have a software hiccup that can cause scores to -ahem- change with frequent soft inq's.) But so far, they've left me alone (5 weeks now). However, if you go with any monitoring service other than the ones from myFICO, and I think the one from Equifax (only monitors your EQ score), you will be shown goofy FAKO scores and solemn advice on how to improve your scores, some of which can actually hurt your FICO scores. Also, their reports are less detailed that the ones that you get directly from each CRA or from annualcreditreport.com.

I wouldn't recommend getting into this craziness unless you're trying to repair/ improve your credit, or unless you're being targeted by venal collection agencies, or unless you suspect that some identity issues might be going on. OR unless you discover a sick fascination for how your credit reputation is almost completely out of your control, until you educate yourself as you are doing! Smiley Wink

Didn't get any extra e-mails, by the way. Be sure to opt out on any service, if you decide to do this.

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 10-13-2007 11:58 AM
* 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 30 of 45
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.