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How is a 16+ year credit history giving a "You have a short credit history"?

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Anonymous
Not applicable

How is a 16+ year credit history giving a "You have a short credit history"?

Last quarter, my credit history was 16 years and 2 months long, and my TransUnion score was 799.

 

Now, my credit history is 16 years and 5 months long, and it is reported that "You have a short credit history"and has caused my TransUnion to drop my score to 789.

 

How is it that "You have an established revolving credit history" is still helping my score, but "You have a short credit history" now appears to be hurting it concurrently?!

 

 

Message Edited by Lel on 02-02-2010 01:19 PM
Message 1 of 9
8 REPLIES 8
Lel
Moderator Emeritus

Re: How is a 16+ year credit history giving a "You have a short credit history"?

Hi QuasiChamelon, and welcome to the FICO forums.

 

The comments that you get when you obtain a score from this site - e.g. "you have a short credit history" - do not themselves affect your score.  The content of your credit report at TransUnion (in this case) is what generates your score.

 

These "what's helping" and "what's hurting" comments from here are generated by myFICO to help consumers understand what might be contributing to the score that they get.  Sometimes these do not seem to follow logically from the information that is actually present in the credit reports.  I believe that FICO high achievers, when they do get a "hurting" comment, are more likely to get one that doesn't seem to apply.

 

But again, the comment itself does not hurt your score.  To look for an explanation for your 10 point drop, it's better to look at your credit reports side-by-side to see what has changed.

 

From what I have seen, FICO scores toward the higher end of the scale tend to be more sensitive to minor changes in one's credit profile.  This is probably what you're experiencing.

Message 2 of 9
LIGHTNIN
Senior Contributor

Re: How is a 16+ year credit history giving a "You have a short credit history"?

Have you  recently used a new CC?

 

DH's CR's said the same thing about short credit history with 23yr of history.

 

But the only thing that he did different was applied for the new CC .

Then when he used it, CR says short history. 

 

"You have an established revolving credit history" is still helping my score.

Yes , it adds to your credit mix, which is 10% of your Credit Score. 

FICO's May 2015 EQ764 ~~Live below your means and always keep an emergency fund -Love Everybody ~ Big Kenny ~ Big and Rich ~~~~~Credit Scoring 101 - Common Abbreviations - Freq Req Threads - Free Credit Reports - What Steps Do I Take?DV? PFD?
Message 3 of 9
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: How is a 16+ year credit history giving a "You have a short credit history"?

Out of curiosity, what's your listed AAoA (average age of accounts)?

I ask because those who have very old overall history, as with your 23 years, can get dinged for relatively short AAoA.

And the older your history, the touchier FICO is about AAoA.

Also, the higher your scores, the sillier are the negative reasons.
* 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 9
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: How is a 16+ year credit history giving a "You have a short credit history"?

I have neither used a new credit card, nor applied for one last quarter.

Message 5 of 9
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: How is a 16+ year credit history giving a "You have a short credit history"?

Awhile back, I began cancelling unused credit cards to reduce my available credit.  I know that in the short run this could hurt my score slightly.

 

However, I just purchased my Experian score, and it's 809!  Experian doesn't have any negative factors against me, and counts in my favor the "Length of credit history."

 

TransUnion changed it's count of my accounts from 34 to 33 last quarter.  Experian says I have 39 accounts, and yet is not holding that against me.  Most of these accounts are closed and will drop off my credit report in time.  I have no need to apply for new credit, and don't plan to in the forseeable future.

 

TransUnion says that my AAoA is 6 years.  Experian says that it's 7 years.

 

Kevin

 

EX 809, TU 789.

 

 

 

Message 6 of 9
Lel
Moderator Emeritus

Re: How is a 16+ year credit history giving a "You have a short credit history"?


QuasiChameleon wrote:

Awhile back, I began cancelling unused credit cards to reduce my available credit.  I know that in the short run this could hurt my score slightly.

 

However, I just purchased my Experian score, and it's 809!  Experian doesn't have any negative factors against me, and counts in my favor the "Length of credit history."

 

TransUnion changed it's count of my accounts from 34 to 33 last quarter.  Experian says I have 39 accounts, and yet is not holding that against me.  Most of these accounts are closed and will drop off my credit report in time.  I have no need to apply for new credit, and don't plan to in the forseeable future.

 

TransUnion says that my AAoA is 6 years.  Experian says that it's 7 years.

 

Kevin

 

EX 809, TU 789.

 

 

 


 

Did you buy and Experian score from the Experian website, or the Equifax FICO score from here or from the Equifax website?

 

If it is the Experian score, then unfortunately that is not an actual FICO score.  If it's an Equifax score, then congratulations are in order.

 

 

Again, I wouldn't make a big deal out of the comments that are generated along with your score.  They're just guides that may explain your score, but they're not always accurate, especially if your scores are already high.  There was one time when I got a lender-pulled credit score that was well into the 800s, and it listed four negative factors that could be bringing my score down.

 

As mentioned previously, high scores tend to be very sensitive to even small changes in one's credit profile, and you've been making some changes.

Message 7 of 9
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: How is a 16+ year credit history giving a "You have a short credit history"?

This reason is somewhat misleading and has frustrated a lot of posters here. 

 

FICO measures many aspects of your credit file and combines that info into many different conglomerations.  Their FICO Code #14 encompasses many aspects; not only when your oldest account was opened, and your AAofA, but many other issues, including but not limited to your Oldest and AA of Open Accounts. 

 

It’s like my son getting a D in math and then seeing “You have a B on homework, and an A on tests”  It makes no sense until I see the whole picture and find out that he got an F on his quizzes. 

 

So, when the AA of your Open Accounts dips, or your ratios of AA to Oldest changes, or whatever else, you may see FICO Code #14 “Length of Time Accounts Have Been Established” show up on the negative side of your scales.  On myfico.com they reword that code and you’ll see “You Have a Short Credit History”  They then give you part of your report card – that is your “Average Age of Accounts” (mine is 8 years old – let’s give that a “B”) and “Your Oldest Account was Opened (mine is 28 years ago – let’s say that’s an “A”).  The rest of the picture that myfico is not listing but that is affecting my grade is that my AAof Open Accounts is 1.8. 

 

FICO scores are complex little monkeys – lots of things are involved in the ding for FICO Code #14 – myfico’s just reporting two pieces of the puzzle.  There’s a lot more in there.  If we try to simplify this reason code to just the two text statements that myfico is giving us, it may not always seem congruent. 

 

And, its impact may vary depending on other factors in your report.  This just doesn’t seem to impact DH in the same way as it impacts me.  In fact, this is on the positive side of his scale – but on the negative side of mine.  My Oldest & AA of Accounts AND Oldest & AA of Open Accounts are all higher than his.  His FICO score is much higher at 781 compared to my 711.  So other issues are at play here.  The hyper-sophistication of the FICO algorithms keeps them in business and makes it hard for us to always completely decipher. 

 

So, rest easy.  It may be good enough to know that we should pay attention to our Oldest Account, AA of Accounts, along with Oldest and AA of Open Accounts; and do our best to keep these items in good shape.

 

As Lel pointed out, mortgage pulls will always give you four FICO reason codes - no matter how high your score is.  The only other place to see all four reason codes is if you pull your report from myfico.com/12 - but all four codes are always there - even if they're not visible on myfico.com.

 

Just remember there's a lot of berries in the pie (or in each FICO Reason Code) and that's true for #14 "Length of Time Accounts Have been Established" (or in myfico lingo "You have an [established or short] credit history" as well as #12 "Length of Time Revolving Accounts Have Been Established"

 

Looks like you're building some lovely scores - congrats!

Message 8 of 9
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: How is a 16+ year credit history giving a "You have a short credit history"?

Thanks all!

 

I stand corrected, I miswrote Experian, and meant Equifax FICO.  Nice catch Lel.  I guess congratulations are in order. Smiley Wink

 

Kevin

 

EQ - 809, TU - 789

 

 

Message 9 of 9
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