Why hasn't my FICO SCORE changed ~ HELP

[Anonymous]

I'm new to this:

Okay earlier this early I requested a copy of my score from all three bureaus.

I have since applied and received credit and have paid my bills on time every month, for the last (3 years), I have 15 years worth of credit history. I have obtained credit from banks mostly, car notes, student loans, even credit errors on my reports, however my score which is 674 at Equifax has not changed. It hasn't gone up or down. Even my bank is telling me my score should be higher then what it is. I've been trying to get over the 700 mark for a year plus but everything I've tried has failed.

Is it possible that the credit bureau is not grading me correctly.

ANY ADVICE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED

[llecs]

Welcome to the forums!

I'd suggest reading Credit Scoring 101 (at least the first post) - great for knowing what is in your credit score and to see how your score is impacted.

Where did you request the score from? Directly from the 3 credit reporting agencies or was the score from a 3rd-part service like freecreditreport.com or truecredit.com?

There's only a finite number of places you can get your FICO score. You can only get your EQ FICO score from Equifax.com, myFICO.com, and from your lender. You can only get your TU FICO score from transunioncs.com (note the -cs), myFICO.com, and from your lender. Finally as of last February, it is impossible to pull your own EX FICO score, however, your lender can still provide it or you can get it printed on your checking statement if you happen to be a member of a CU in PA called PSECU.

Any other scores from any other source are not FICO scores, but what we call FAKOs. Lenders generally don't touch these scores and sites like freecreditreport.com profit millions off uneducated consumers (I was one) thinking that the scores they offer were FICO scores. Other sites like transunion.com or experian.com sell their own scores and are no way related to your FICO score.

If you got your FICO score from Equifax then as you got it from there now, then you are comparing a genuine FICO score. If that's the case, then you'd need to figure out why your score hasn't changed. There could be many factors. The fastest way to impact your score is CC utilization. For max points, make sure all but one CC reports $0 with the remaining reporting a balance of under 9%. You mentioned that you haven't been late in 3 yrs. That's great, but late payments, depending on the severity, can negatively impact your score up through the full 7 yrs they report. There's steps you can take via kind letters to those OCs that can help in removing those lates (GW letters).

How's your CC utilization?

Do you have any baddies holding you back?

[marty56]

I would also verify that all the accounts you have are on your CR.  if you have a major derog (90+ days late), your score might not change much until it falls off your CR (years).

I would also make sure that even if you PIF each month, the reported value is what efefcts your FICO score.  For examp[le, if you have a 10k limit on a CC, and you spend 9k, even if you PIF on the due date, the reported 9k still shows the card as being maxed out and could kill your score.  People who use their CC for business have this problem.