topic Re: Found Out How Long You Can Sock Drawer Any BOFA Accounts in Credit Cards

Found Out How Long You Can Sock Drawer Any BOFA Accounts

plasticguy — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:57:34 GMT

Emailed BOFA because I wanted to know their in-activity policy and this was their reply. Please be aware that in order for us to close and account due lack of use, you need the card to be unused for at least 6 months without any kind of transactions. We hope you find this information useful. We appreciate the opportunity to assist you online. Should you have any other further inquiries, please e-mail us again. Thank you for choosing Bank of America. We value your business and look forward to serving your banking needs.

Re: Found Out How Long You Can Sock Drawer Any BOFA Accounts

smallfry — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:50:53 GMT

If I wanted to keep the card and credit limit intact I wouldn't go 6 months. Maybe 2-3 tops.

Re: Found Out How Long You Can Sock Drawer Any BOFA Accounts

MidnightVoice — Mon, 03 May 2010 21:15:22 GMT

6 months to a year is typical in my limited experience. I make sure every one of my cards is used every month - utilities, charitable deductions etc. The exception is our one and only store card, but that still gets used every couple of months

Re: Found Out How Long You Can Sock Drawer Any BOFA Accounts

Anonymous — Mon, 03 May 2010 22:01:37 GMT

Now, the key question would be….

How long (months) do you continue showing zero (0) balance on your credit report before FICO no longer counts or uses the account credit limit for scoring purposes??

Re: Found Out How Long You Can Sock Drawer Any BOFA Accounts

Anonymous — Tue, 04 May 2010 00:28:11 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Now, the key question would be….

How long (months) do you continue showing zero (0) balance on your credit report before FICO no longer counts or uses the account credit limit for scoring purposes??

Why would they do this?

What if you just PIF every month? Nobody should be penalized for that...

Re: Found Out How Long You Can Sock Drawer Any BOFA Accounts

Anonymous — Tue, 04 May 2010 11:20:29 GMT

After a certain period of time FICO classifies a continuous zero account as an inactive account and no longer uses inactive accounts in scoring purposes.

It is my understanding this account will continue to be scored for “History” purposes only.

Re: Found Out How Long You Can Sock Drawer Any BOFA Accounts

sycotik — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:53:03 GMT

If that is true then I am in a world of hurt. I pay off all of my credit cards (except the same one which i let post a $5 balance) every month. Are you sure about this?

Re: Found Out How Long You Can Sock Drawer Any BOFA Accounts

MidnightVoice — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:54:38 GMT

@sycotik wrote:
If that is true then I am in a world of hurt. I pay off all of my credit cards (except the same one which i let post a $5 balance) every month. Are you sure about this?

IDo you mean you pay off your cards before the statement date so that they appear as zero balance?

Re: Found Out How Long You Can Sock Drawer Any BOFA Accounts

Anonymous — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:58:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

After a certain period of time FICO classifies a continuous zero account as an inactive account and no longer uses inactive accounts in scoring purposes.

It is my understanding this account will continue to be scored for “History” purposes only.

Are you sure?

Can anyone else comment on this?

I just don't see how a scoring system designed to determine reliability would penalize you for paying in full every time....

Re: Found Out How Long You Can Sock Drawer Any BOFA Accounts

MidnightVoice — Tue, 04 May 2010 19:34:24 GMT

Your CCC knows if you use a card even if you PIF before the statement date and it reports a zero balance to the CRAs every month for years. They will be happy

I have no idea if FICO starts ignoring cards that constantly have a zero balance - I tend to doubt it, but I have been wrong before

Re: Found Out How Long You Can Sock Drawer Any BOFA Accounts

plasticguy — Wed, 05 May 2010 13:40:35 GMT

Has anyone considered the section on your report where it says " Date of Last Activity?" So if you're paying before the statement generates, there is still activity on the card, thus it should not have a bad impact

Re: Found Out How Long You Can Sock Drawer Any BOFA Accounts

Anonymous — Wed, 05 May 2010 14:10:59 GMT

First and foremost, I wish to apologize to “plasticguy” for stealing his thread.

Your information is very valuable and having zero balance reporting to the credit bureaus on credit cards for long periods of time does have an adverse affect on your FICO Score.

Thanks for posting your results. We now have a better insight as how the Credit Issuers view dormant accounts.

The following is some information found on the Internet. I hope it is helpful for those who are adamant in building their FICO credit scores

Rotate and use all of your cards - a dormant credit account will not help your score

The average FICO credit score is calculated based on certain factors that affect your credit behavior. One of the factors that the FICO score is based from is your payment history, which is given more weight in calculating your individual credit score. Next up comes the different amounts that you currently own and the number and types of accounts as well as the balances that you maintain.

Another factor used in calculating for your average FICO credit score is the length of your credit history. This includes the length of time that your credit history can be tracked. The length of time of your accounts as well as the time since your last credit activity is also being looked upon to calculate for your average FICO credit score.

The types of credit accounts that you have maintained are also being put into consideration in the calculation of your FICO credit score. The number of new credit accounts that you have opened recently also has a weight in assessing your average FICO credit score.