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Esteban5 wrote:

We can just treat this as a learning process.  Yes, I've already made the requests to the 3 bureaus. 

 

IMO, I can't go down any further than the 40+ points I've been dinged by putting a haircut (less than $20) on one inactive Visa and a tank of fuel on another inactive Visa ($50).  Both credit limits on these cards are over $15K each.  Not sure how much the re-bucket has contributed, but we can all just treat this as an experiment - using my FICO score.

 

The 10-12 accounts (the actual number depending on which bureau) I've requested to be removed are not the oldest accounts I have.  One of the inactive Visas I used is 16 years old, the other is over 10 years old.

 

The accounts I'm attempting to prune from my reports consist of the following (and most should have fallen off on their own already):

 

Macy's - June 2001

Macy's -  December 2002

GEMB/JCP - April 2001

GEMB/ROBSG - November 2000

HSBC - January 2001

BofA - March 2002

WACH - May 2001

MB Fin. - November 2000

BP/Citi - November 2001

FUSA - July 2001

WAMU/Fannie Mae - April 2001

 

The accounts I still use (one Visa for business, one Visa for personal and AMEX) have reported balances, but are paid in full each month - and these accounts are 16-18 years old, so I really doubt the pruning of some younger, inactive accounts will have a negative impact....but we shall see.  Two of the three bureaus are reporting my HELOC ($10K balance) as a revolving credit account - I've asked them to classify it as Real Estate, which should shed some different light on the scoring of that account.

 

So, here's where I see the "Silver Lining"....

 

1.  The zero balances on the two Visas will be reported as $0 again in the next 4-8 weeks.

2.  The re-bucket should have worked it's magic in the same time frame

3.  Total number of accounts should be under the target number of 30

4.  The HELOC should be re-classified as real estate as opposed to a standard revolving (cc account) on 2 of the 3 bureaus

5.  The HELOC will be paid off by year-end

 

I'll update this information as time marches on to show what the effects are....

 

As someone else mentioned (and have confirmed this with my mortgage broker), I still qualify for Tier 1 credit, so if we end up placing a contract on a home - we won't have any trouble.

 

.....and to think a haircut and a tank of fuel is what started this avalanche...

Message Edited by Esteban5 on 04-15-2008 04:32 AM

Message Edited by Esteban5 on 04-15-2008 04:36 AM

Message Edited by Esteban5 on 04-15-2008 04:37 AM

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Here is another summary of the reason codes in FICO reports, dunno if this contains any new information or not but it seems like a good place to check and compare:

http://www.bayhouse.com/FairIsaac-FICO-risk-factors.shtml

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MattH wrote:
Here is another summary of the reason codes in FICO reports, dunno if this contains any new information or not but it seems like a good place to check and compare:

http://www.bayhouse.com/FairIsaac-FICO-risk-factors.shtml

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The same for NextGen FICO scores:

http://www.bayhouse.com/FairIsaac-NextGen-risk-factors.shtml

Matt, fascinating link! Thanks for posting.

What's even more interesting are the links contained in the website.

I've saved it to my favs.

I just got my EX score up from 792 to 809 by paying off most of my credit card debts. Now I meet practically all of the High Achievers characteristics on the list. I no longer really need credit. It's amazing what not needing it can do for your FICO score.

Message Edited by Timothy on 05-04-2008 06:30 PM

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Esteban5 wrote:

Figure this one out!!

Your FICO score has gone up to 800 on April 30, 2008.

Reason: It says I used a dormant account.

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I got a the same alert on the same day, but the "dormant" account wasn't used at all - as far as I can tell, the CCC just updated the info that was sent to the CRAs.

The funny thing is that when I really used a dormant account (a different one) a month earlier, my score dropped 13 points.

The more I read these forums the more I realize that when one has scores in the upper end of the the FICO scale, they tend to be very sensitive to even minor changes in the credit file.

High scores bouncing around for no or little apparent reason once a score goes past the mid-700s is a known issue.

The main reason for this is the FICO scoring algorithms are biased toward the mean. All other things being equal, Fair Isaac's computers would "like" everyone to have a FICO score between (roughly) 670 and 720.

This is why it's easy to get out of the 400s provided you can get a couple revolving charge accounts reporting in good standing with low util. You can rise from 450 to 525 in just a few months, and past 600 in a year to eighteen months. But as you get closer to that mean, progress slows.

The opposite principle works for those with unusually high scores, say in the low 800s. The system "wants" to pull you down to the mean, so little teeny things like a change in credit ratio or higher util can punish you far more than someone whose score is 710 or so.

I can attest to that NWM. While my explosion in new accounts from last May to last October did not help matters much I have seen no real progress since July of last year. Scores are stuck in the 700-717 band. Hopefully when my new accounts age to 1 year I can move outside that score band. Hopefully.