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ScoreWatch report - 23 yr old account = Short History?

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chally
Regular Contributor

ScoreWatch report - 23 yr old account = Short History?

Mom's ScoreWatch report p.2 "understanding your FICO score", What's hurting your score -You have a short credit history. Goes on to say oldest account opened 23 yrs 9 mo, AAoA 13 yrs with 5 accts.

 

Any insight is appeciated as this short history thing just makes no sense. Thanks!

Message 1 of 12
11 REPLIES 11
llecs
Moderator Emeritus

Re: ScoreWatch report - 23 yr old account = Short History?

Based on your mom's scoring bucket, on average, her history is newer than others within that bucket relatively speaking. The pos/neg factors are ranked in order with #1 hurting the most and the last the least. Is this at the bottom of her list? ETA...or is it the only negative item?

 

 

Message 2 of 12
chally
Regular Contributor

Re: ScoreWatch report - 23 yr old account = Short History?

 

 


@llecs wrote:

Is this at the bottom of her list? ETA...or is it the only negative item?

 

 


Thank you for moving to the appropriate place. This was #2 of 3.

 

Dad opened a BoA MC in 2004 with Mom an AU.  He passed 11/2008 and in the midst dealing with that, a final payment of $30 to bring balance to 0 was somehow overlooked.  BoA closed the card and CO 5-2009. A call to them today resulted in them aggreeing to delete the TL.  The following pertain to this singular event.

 

#1 was

You have a serious delinquency (60 days past due or greater) or a derogatory description on your credit report.

#3 was

You recently missed a payment or had a derogatory indicator reported on your credit report.

 

The rest of the report is spotless.

Message 3 of 12
bettercreditguy1
Established Contributor

Re: ScoreWatch report - 23 yr old account = Short History?

 This also translates into "you do not have very many accounts in your report". It would be a good idea to get one or two cc's only in your mom's name and use them so there are some payment comparbles.

Updated scores 3/7/21 TU 849, EQ 829, Ex 818 (all Fico scores) Remember the Three P's: Pay early in Full, Pay on Time, Patience
Message 4 of 12
dddewdrop
Valued Contributor

Re: ScoreWatch report - 23 yr old account = Short History?

 A lot of times when someone has a good credit score the reasons listed don't make much sense. Especially the 3rd and 4th in the list. Many people report that they make little sense. If you read more posts on this forum you  will find in several places people are advised to focus on the one or two reasons listed and to focus on those. I suspect as others have indicated that your mom's credit report is "thin". It is certainly ias ronic that they are sighting a short account history olbviously 23 years is a very long time. I would read between the lines on that one and like someone else said use it as an indicator that there are maybe too few tradelines on the account and thus either disregard it entirely or add a credit card or two. That certainly won't help your AAoA but it will make the report less thin as well as increase the overall credit limit and reduce credit util% when/if your Mom carries a balance on any credit cards. Good luck.

Message 5 of 12
chally
Regular Contributor

Re: ScoreWatch report - 23 yr old account = Short History?

Currently she has 2 individual cards, both opened in early 2009. The oldest 2 TL were joint accounts. Of the 5 account, the BoA the only AU. 

 

When we sat down to convert the joint accounts to individual, It was my understanding that upon a spouses death, history from those TL held jointly would continue to carry forth on mom's CR( they appear on CR and will till 2015). Perhaps I was misinformed as to the weight these joint accts carry for the surviving spouse? But at the end of the day, the joint acct cards were in dad's name (name as it appeared on card).

 

^ Thanks for the replies all, much appreciated.

Message 6 of 12
dddewdrop
Valued Contributor

Re: ScoreWatch report - 23 yr old account = Short History?


@chally wrote:

, the joint acct cards were in dad's name (name as it appeared on card).

 

 


    That statement is a bit confusing to me. If it is a joint account then she should inherit the card and she should already have the history on her credit report. If it was his account and she was AUed that is a slight distinction. I am not well versed in how these things work when someone passes away. In my understanding you are correct in your assumptions. It should be weighed equally to anything else moving forward.

Message 7 of 12
chally
Regular Contributor

Re: ScoreWatch report - 23 yr old account = Short History?

FWIW, turns out Veridian CU issued a card with dad as primary, mom as joint (full access / liability). However when primary dies, they are unable to remove primary from acct letting joint to assume primary, they have to issue a new individual card w/new starting date. 

 

Message 8 of 12
dddewdrop
Valued Contributor

Re: ScoreWatch report - 23 yr old account = Short History?

Thats too bad. Im sorry for you for the loss of your father. I'm sure the last thing you want to be dealing with is these financial issues right now, Good luck,

Message 9 of 12
chally
Regular Contributor

Re: ScoreWatch report - 23 yr old account = Short History?

Thanks, dddewdrop;!
Message 10 of 12
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