Why won't Equifax Score Reset to it's Highest Level

[veracious]

I've experimented with reporting various utilization levels over an 8 mo. time frame.

I cannot get my score to reset to it's highest level.

What do I have to do?  I've seen many people claim that your scores will recover after utilization returns

to "X" utilization. In my experience it never goes as high as it once was.

I'm talking about  only a 14 point difference but  I'd like to see these points return to the high level.

I've read on here that FICO has no memory, but in my case, FICO doesn't like me.

---

Edited: spelling

[haulingthescoreup]

OK, here comes the tiresome questions, lol:

How old is your oldest account, and did it get older in this interim?

Same question for AAoA.

Did a negative fall off or get removed during this period, and if so, was it a serious one, or maybe your last one?

14 points is a big difference. Sounds more like a score bucket change (which isn't triggered by util changes, btw.)

[veracious]

Thanks, hauling, for your quick response.

No negatives on my thin credit file.

My oldest account aged by 8 months during the interim.

Oldest account increased from 11years 9 months to 12years 2months?.

AAoA  remained at 5 years.

The highest level was achieved after I opened the new account,  but had not made a charge on the card.

After the first charge on the card, my score dropped 11 points. I then PIF and  score dropped another 5 points.

It has been bouncing back and forth 5 points for a few months now.

My latest report lists the AAoA at 5years 2 months

What happened?

---

ETA:  BTW  I let a0% utilization report a couple of times and no change , just kept bouncing 5 points back and forth.

[haulingthescoreup]

---

@veracious wrote:

Thanks, hauling, for your quick response.

No negatives on my thin credit file.

My oldest account aged by 8 months during the interim.

Oldest account increased from 11years 9 months to 12years 2months?.

AAoA  remained at 5 years.

The highest level was achieved after I opened the new account,  but had not made a charge on the card.

After the first charge on the card, my score dropped 11 points. I then PIF and  score dropped another 5 points.

It has been bouncing back and forth 5 points for a few months now.

My latest report lists the AAoA at 5years 2 months

What happened?

ETA:  BTW  I let a0% utilization report a couple of times and no change , just kept bouncing 5 points back and forth.

---

A-ha! You've been rebucketed by age, I'll betcha.

12 years, either oldest or AAoA, has been identified before as one of those Magic Years, along with 2 years, 5 years, and 19 (??) years.

If true, this means that you're now being compared with those with longer-established credit, so you've dropped down the pecking order a bit.

I don't know if adding accounts would help (don't know whether a thin file is a problem for your score bucket), but I sure wouldn't do so solely in an attempt to increase scores. They will recover with time.

It's very possible that the FICO propeller-beanie guys who know the formulas are rolling around on the floor laughing at everything I just wrote, but you are certainly not the first person here to see unexpected score changes when hitting 12 years.

What are the negatives listed in order for your new score and for your not-yet-12-years-old reports? Did anything change?

[Imhotrodcrazy]

---

@haulingthescoreup wrote:

A-ha! You've been rebucketed by age, I'll betcha.

12 years, either oldest or AAoA, has been identified before as one of those Magic Years, along with 2 years, 5 years, and 19 (??) years.

If true, this means that you're now being compared with those with longer-established credit, so you've dropped down the pecking order a bit.

I don't know if adding accounts would help (don't know whether a thin file is a problem for your score bucket), but I sure wouldn't do so solely in an attempt to increase scores. They will recover with time.

It's very possible that the FICO propeller-beanie guys who know the formulas are rolling around on the floor laughing at everything I just wrote, but you are certainly not the first person here to see unexpected score changes when hitting 12 years.

What are the negatives listed in order for your new score and for your not-yet-12-years-old reports? Did anything change?

---

I just wanted to say that my oldest account turned 19 yrs last month and there was no increase in either of my TU or  EQ scores.  My aaoa is at 7 yrs now.  Nothing else changed on my reports from the previous  month.  Maybe that next magic year for me is 20?   Hope this helps in some small way. 

[veracious]

Thanks , haulingthescoreup.

Here's the differences, lowest score first 

773

• Hurting your score
• 1. New account

• Helping your score
• 1. No missed payments
• 2. Long account history
• 3. Low credit usage
• 4. Recent credit card use

What’s hurting your FICO® score

The negative factors listed here are reasons why your FICO® score is not higher. You should focus on changing the behavior that caused these negative factors. These factors are listed in order of their impact to your score, the first has the greatest negative impact and the last has the least.

Please note that a negative factor can be provided even if you are better than the national average of FICO® high achievers on that factor. In all likelihood, this means that your FICO® score is already quite high. The fact that you are still receiving a negative factor means that there is still some room to work on that factor.

1. You opened a new credit account relatively recently.

   Your newest account was opened
   7 Months ago

   FICO High Achievers [?] opened their most recent account 27 months ago, on average.

   Your FICO score considers how recently you opened a new credit account. People who recently opened a new credit account are slightly more likely to miss future payments than those who have not.

   What to do about this: Avoid opening more credit accounts at this time and as a general rule, if you don't need or plan to use credit, don't apply for it.

What’s helping your FICO® score

The positive factors listed here reflect areas of your credit behavior that are helping your FICO® score. You should continue the good practices listed here. These factors are listed in order of their impact to your score – the first has the greatest positive impact and the last has the least.

1. You have no missed payments on your credit accounts.

   Number of your accounts with a missed payment
   0 accounts

   About 93% of FICO High Achievers [?] have no missed payments at all. But of those who do, the missed payment happened nearly 4 years ago, on average.

   You helped your FICO score by paying your bills on time. Staying current with your bills will continue to help your score.

2. You have an established credit history.

   Your oldest account was opened
   12 Years, 2 Months ago Average age of your accounts
   5 years

   FICO High Achievers [?] opened their oldest account 19 years ago, on average.

   Most FICO High Achievers [?] have an average age of accounts between 6 and 12 years.

   Your FICO score measures the age of your oldest account and the average age of your accounts. Your FICO score was helped because you have a relatively long credit history and you haven't recently opened many new accounts.

3. You've limited the use of your available credit.

   Ratio of your revolving balances to your credit limits
   0%

   For FICO High Achievers [?], this ratio is 7%, on average.

   Your FICO score evaluates your total revolving account [?] balances in relation to your total credit limits on those accounts. Your FICO score was helped because you've kept this ratio of balances to credit limits low.

4. You've shown recent use of credit cards.

   Your FICO score evaluates your mix of credit cards [?], installment loans and mortgages. People who demonstrate responsible use of different types of credit are generally less risky to lenders. You helped your FICO score by showing recent use of a credit card.

Next

Higher score:

erstanding Your FICO® Score

789

• Hurting your score
• 1. New account

• Helping your score
• 1. No missed payments
• 2. Low credit usage
• 3. Long account history
• 4. Recent credit card use

What’s hurting your FICO® score

The negative factors listed here are reasons why your FICO® score is not higher. You should focus on changing the behavior that caused these negative factors. These factors are listed in order of their impact to your score, the first has the greatest negative impact and the last has the least.

Please note that a negative factor can be provided even if you are better than the national average of FICO® high achievers on that factor. In all likelihood, this means that your FICO® score is already quite high. The fact that you are still receiving a negative factor means that there is still some room to work on that factor.

1. You opened a new credit account relatively recently.

   Your newest account was opened
   2 Months ago

   FICO High Achievers [?] opened their most recent account 27 months ago, on average.

   Your FICO score considers how recently you opened a new credit account. People who recently opened a new credit account are slightly more likely to miss future payments than those who have not.

   What to do about this: Avoid opening more credit accounts at this time and as a general rule, if you don't need or plan to use credit, don't apply for it.

What’s helping your FICO® score

The positive factors listed here reflect areas of your credit behavior that are helping your FICO® score. You should continue the good practices listed here. These factors are listed in order of their impact to your score – the first has the greatest positive impact and the last has the least.

1. You have no missed payments on your credit accounts.

   Number of your accounts with a missed payment
   0 accounts

   About 93% of FICO High Achievers [?] have no missed payments at all. But of those who do, the missed payment happened nearly 4 years ago, on average.

   You helped your FICO score by paying your bills on time. Staying current with your bills will continue to help your score.

2. You've limited the use of your available credit.

   Ratio of your revolving balances to your credit limits
   1%

   For FICO High Achievers [?], this ratio is 7%, on average.

   Your FICO score evaluates your total revolving account [?] balances in relation to your total credit limits on those accounts. Your FICO score was helped because you've kept this ratio of balances to credit limits low.

3. You have an established credit history.

   Your oldest account was opened
   11 Years, 9 Months ago Average age of your accounts
   5 years

   FICO High Achievers [?] opened their oldest account 19 years ago, on average.

   Most FICO High Achievers [?] have an average age of accounts between 6 and 12 years.

   Your FICO score measures the age of your oldest account and the average age of your accounts. Your FICO score was helped because you have a relatively long credit history and you haven't recently opened many new accounts.

4. You've shown recent use of credit cards.

   Your FICO score evaluates your mix of credit cards [?], installment loans and mortgages. People who demonstrate responsible use of different types of credit are generally less risky to lenders. You helped your FICO score by showing recent use of a credit card.

Sorry for the messy post. I used copy & paste.

[veracious]

Thanks imhotrodcrazy.

FICO scoring reasoning changes on a case by case basis I guess.

The only thing for certain is you can't be certain

[MarineVietVet]

---

@veracious wrote:

Thanks imhotrodcrazy.

FICO scoring reasoning changes on a case by case basis I guess.

The only thing for certain is you can't be certain

---

Yes and yes.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

[haulingthescoreup]

I'm guessing that the new account hurts more for the older age bucket than for the younger. Supposedly those FICO High Achievers rarely get new credit.

This is one of my ongoing gripes about the currently-used FICO score formulas. I can see that in the past, those who've had credit for a long time would rarely get new cards, so a new account might be a sign of instability. But with all the rewards cards these days, it's not unusual to keep apping. My 83-year-old mother is still woo-hoo'ing about her new PenFed gas card. (For that tank of gas every two months.) Since the formulas were created by looking at existing (= older) credit reports, I wonder if we're not being scored on 15-year-old credit usage patterns. After all, TU98 means 1998.

hotrodcrazy, interesting about no score change for you when you hit 19 years. I wonder if your credit profile is so stable that there wasn't really anything to help (or hurt) when you went up another year?

[llecs]

---

@haulingthescoreup wrote:

After all, TU98 means 1998.

---

Really? All this time I thought it was 1898.