Understanding FICO® Scoring

[REALESTATE444]

BARRY PAPERNO

ON YESTERDAY'S EQUIFAX CREDIT REPORT IT STATES THAT ONE OF THE KEY FACTORS AFFECTING MY SCORE IS THAT I HAVE "NO RECENT REVOLVING BALANCE INFORMATION. I WAS TOLD THAT BECAUSE I DON'T CARRY A CREDIT BALANCE FICO SAYS THAT I DON'T USE MY CREDIT CARDS. I USE FOUR CREDIT CARDS REGULARLY BUT PAY MY BALANCE OFF IN FULL AT THE END OF EACH MONTH. ON MY BANK OF AMERICA CARD  I HAVE AN AOL AND A VERIZON CHARGE PLACED EVERY MONTH WHICH I PAY OFF.. YET DESPITE THIS MONTHLY CHARGE AN THE NOTATION ON MY REPORT THAT MY "DATE OF LAST PAYMWENT" WAS 10/2007 AND "ACTUAL PAYMENT AMOUNT" WAS $422 FICO SAYS THAT I AM NOT USING MY CARD.  ON MY OTHER CREDIT CARDS IN  ORDER TO ADVOID HAVING A "O" BALANCE I PAY EXTRA TO SHOW A CREDIT BALANCE BUT THIS IS INTERPRETED AS A "O" BALANCE AND THEY REPORT THAT I AM NOT USING THESE THREE CARDS. I USE THESE CARDS AND THIS INFORMATION IS INCORRECT. WHY CAN'T FICO DEVELOPE A SYSTEM TO SHOW THAT I AM USING THE CARDS THAT I DO USE.

THE SECOND AND LAST REASON GIVEN FOR MY LOWER CREDIT SCORE IS THAT 'THERE IS A LACK OF INSTALLMENT LOAN INFORMATION BEING REPORTED"  I HAVE A NEAR $15,000 AUTO  LOAN AT MY CREDIT UNION WHICH FOR NEARLY TWO YEARS IS ALWAYS BEING PAID ON TIME SINCE IT IS ELECTRONICALLY TRANSFERRED FROM MY BANK ACCOUNT TO THE CREDIT UNION BEFORE IT IS DUE. THE CREDIT UNION TELLS ME THEY REPORT IT TO "EXPERIAN." I AM TOLD BY LAW THE CREDIT REPORTING COMPANYS ARE SUPPOSE TO SHARE THIS INFORMATION.  WHY DOESN'T FICO KNOW ABOUT MY OUTSTANDING RECORD

IN PAYING OFF THIS LOAN?

THANKS FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE IN HELPING ME STOP MY DECLINING CREDIT SCORE AND HELPING ME INCREASE IT

                                                                          REALESTATE444

[SmartCookie]

Make sure you are not paying off your cc balance before the company actually reports to the CRAs.  Usually but not always this is the statement date.  Sometimes it is not.  Call them and ask when they report... and you can also get a daily monitoring service like privacymatters.com if you'd like to stay more on top if it all without pulling direct reports all the time.

Your credit union is not legally obligated to report.  I would call them too and ask why they are not reporting... is it just an error on their part?  If they have the capability to report they should do it on your request... make sure you tell them to report your full history.

Nice scores.

Please no all caps... hard to read! 

Message Edited by SmartCookie on 12-04-2007 02:21 PM

[masdeocho]

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REALESTATE444 wrote:

THE SECOND AND LAST REASON GIVEN FOR MY LOWER CREDIT SCORE IS THAT 'THERE IS A LACK OF INSTALLMENT LOAN INFORMATION BEING REPORTED"  I HAVE A NEAR $15,000 AUTO  LOAN AT MY CREDIT UNION WHICH FOR NEARLY TWO YEARS IS ALWAYS BEING PAID ON TIME SINCE IT IS ELECTRONICALLY TRANSFERRED FROM MY BANK ACCOUNT TO THE CREDIT UNION BEFORE IT IS DUE. THE CREDIT UNION TELLS ME THEY REPORT IT TO "EXPERIAN." I AM TOLD BY LAW THE CREDIT REPORTING COMPANYS ARE SUPPOSE TO SHARE THIS INFORMATION.  WHY DOESN'T FICO KNOW ABOUT MY OUTSTANDING RECORD

IN PAYING OFF THIS LOAN?

If your score is over 760, that's about as good as it gets.  You don't get any better rates for hitting the high notes.

Ask your credit union if they will report to TU and EQ.  If their policy is to report only to EX, the information is not getting to the other two credit bureaus which is why you show a lack of installment activity on TU and EQ reports.

The CRAs have no legal obligation to share information; they are separate, distinct, and competing companies.  The only info they are required to share is if you place a fraud alert (and sometimes they don't do it).

[MidnightVoice]

And raising your score above 806 will not gain you anything - you hit the top level over 40 points ago 

[Dawn]

When looking at ridiculous "reason" codes, I think we sometimes focus on a consumer's score in situations such as this instead of addressing the issue of "buggy" software.   It really doesn't matter to me what the score is ... an invalid "reason" code appears to be a short-coming in the software that does not lend itself to warranting my trust in that software.  If a consumer's scores were lower and they still got an invalid reason code, would it still be acceptable? 

[psychic]

I just have one question--Given that your score "has been lowered to 806," I assume that your score was at one time higher than it is now.  What are you doing differently now as compared to the time when you had a higher score?

[Noah_Bodie]

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REALESTATE444 wrote:

WHY CAN'T FICO DEVELOPE A SYSTEM TO SHOW THAT I AM USING THE CARDS THAT I DO USE.

...

THE CREDIT UNION TELLS ME THEY REPORT IT TO "EXPERIAN." I AM TOLD BY LAW THE CREDIT REPORTING COMPANYS ARE SUPPOSE TO SHARE THIS INFORMATION.  WHY DOESN'T FICO KNOW ABOUT MY OUTSTANDING RECORD

IN PAYING OFF THIS LOAN?

Sorry to say it, but nobody in the credit reporting industry gives a dang about you. The credit reporting industry answers to it's customers--banks. Big friggin' banks with 80 story buildings. They couldn't care less about those with FICOs over 720 because those folks, every last one of 'em, gets the best rate possible offered by the lender. Don't matter if you're at 850, 720 or somewhere in between. Those people are deadbeats in the eyes of the lenders. Deadbeats are people who don't pay, and in this case it's interest that they don't pay--or at least pay the lowest amount of interest possible.

Although CRAs are required to share certain information between them, aside from Fraud Alerts the CRAs are not required to do ANYTHING with the shared information they receive from other CRAs. Good or bad. Disputed or otherwise.

What exactly do you mean by your "Outstanding record in paying off this loan"? It's either paid on time per the terms of the loan, or it's not. Ya don't get the Medal of Freedom for paying a loan on time or early.

[SmartCookie]

Contrary to popular belief ... Noah does not wear a black hooded cloak and carry a scythe.

He just tells it like it really is. 

[positronicshell]

preach on noah!

re444, why don't you make a small purchase right after you pay off your balance, that way you show 1-9% util when your statement prints? that way they see you are using the card?

xoxox jane

[haulingthescoreup]

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denbar2003 wrote:

When looking at ridiculous "reason" codes, I think we sometimes focus on a consumer's score in situations such as this instead of addressing the issue of "buggy" software. It really doesn't matter to me what the score is ... an invalid "reason" code appears to be a short-coming in the software that does not lend itself to warranting my trust in that software. If a consumer's scores were lower and they still got an invalid reason code, would it still be acceptable?

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Agree!

A sensible score report is a sensible score report. I'd be ticked if I got something like this too, wherever my scores were.

I'm guessing that one reason that it seems to happen more often with those in the upper score ranges is that y'all are more likely to carry the peculiar cards with no limits that the CRA's can't figure out how to code. But like I said, that's just a guess.