Understanding FICO® Scoring

[GramboVet]

I have been lurking around for a while and now have a couple of questions.  I have been a member at the TransUnion monitoring service for a little over a year and recently found out it was a fake score so today signed up here for myFico and and got my report.  On the section of "Understanding your Fico Score" I have three things that are hurting.

1. You have a public record on your credit report. I had a Chapter 7 bk  that will not get off unitl March 2013 so I understand that.

2. You have a short credit history. It goes on to say "Your oldest account was opened 9 years, 9 months ago."  My question here would be what constitutes a "long" credit history?  

3. You've recently been looking for credit.  I have one inquiry from June 14, 2011. My second question is how long does that hurt your score?

Thanks in advance for any help.

FWIW my Equifax Fico Score pulled today is 707 and at TransUnion today it's 754.

[pizzadude]

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GramboVet wrote:

I have been lurking around for a while and now have a couple of questions.  I have been a member at the TransUnion monitoring service for a little over a year and recently found out it was a fake score so today signed up here for myFico and and got my report.  On the section of "Understanding your Fico Score" I have three things that are hurting.

1. You have a public record on your credit report. I had a Chapter 7 bk  that will not get off unitl March 2013 so I understand that.

2. You have a short credit history. It goes on to say "Your oldest account was opened 9 years, 9 months ago."  My question here would be what constitutes a "long" credit history?  

3. You've recently been looking for credit.  I have one inquiry from June 14, 2011. My second question is how long does that hurt your score?

Thanks in advance for any help.

FWIW my Equifax Fico Score pulled today is 707 and at TransUnion today it's 754.

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Welcome to the forums !!

One thing to remember about FICO scoring is that it is a relative comparision against others with similar credit profiles.  So sometimes the FICO scoring reasons might not exactly make sense at first glance but you are being scored against others in the same scoring bucket.

Your inquiry will stop hurting your FICO score after one year, so next month it won't affect your score.   However be aware that inquiries will still show on our your reports for 2 years.

[MarineVietVet]

Welcome to myFICO GramboVet,

To answer question #2 about credit history on average FICO High Achievers (those with a 760+ score) opened their oldest account 19 years ago. You can find more information like this here.

[GramboVet]

Thanks for the replies but I'm still confused about the short credit history and it being listed under the heading of  "hurting your Fico Score".  From the report is says "In your case, either your oldest account was opened recently or the average age of your accounts is relatively low". 

The report says that my oldest account was opened 9 years, 9 months ago and says "Fico High Achievers opened their oldest account 19 years ago, on average."  Not sure who would classify 9 years, 9 months as "recently".

It also says your "Average age of your accounts is 5 years. And, Most Fico High achievers have an average age of accounts between 6 and 12 years" .  To me, 5 years doesn't seem "relatively low".

My question is how many years does your oldest account and/or average age of your accounts have to be so it doesn't negatively effect your score.

Thanks again.

[MarineVietVet]

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GramboVet wrote:

Thanks for the replies but I'm still confused about the short credit history and it being listed under the heading of  "hurting your Fico Score".  From the report is says "In your case, either your oldest account was opened recently or the average age of your accounts is relatively low". 

The report says that my oldest account was opened 9 years, 9 months ago and says "Fico High Achievers opened their oldest account 19 years ago, on average."  Not sure who would classify 9 years, 9 months as "recently".

It also says your "Average age of your accounts is 5 years. And, Most Fico High achievers have an average age of accounts between 6 and 12 years" .  To me, 5 years doesn't seem "relatively low".

My question is how many years does your oldest account and/or average age of your accounts have to be so it doesn't negatively effect your score.

Thanks again.

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There is really no way to answer that IMO (In My Opinion). There are simply too many factors involved. Plus everyone's credit profile is different and constantly changing.

Also FICO lists the factors hurting and/or helping your score in order of importance. So as long as your BK is reporting as negative #1 your profile will not be optimal.

However I would consider a score of 707 at this point as not bad at all.

[GramboVet]

Thanks for your reply and I guess maybe someone can chime in who can remeber when that aged off of their credit report. Maybe it won't until #1 on the list goes away next March. Or pigs fly. I think I've done everything I can until those three things go away.

Thanks again