1-4-09 Fico scores and what is hurting them

[Anonymous]

790 TU Hurting your score : accounts with balances.        

1. You have too many credit accounts with balances.

Number of your accounts carrying a balance
3 accountsFICO High Achievers [?] have an average of 3 credit accounts carrying a balance.

1. Your FICO score considers the number of accounts you have with balances. For credit cards, even if you pay them off in full each month, your credit report may still show a balance on those cards. The total balance on your last statement is generally the amount that is shown on your credit report.
2. What to do about this: You should consider reducing the number of your accounts that carry a balance and keeping your balances low.

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 accountsAbout 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
   12 Years, 5 Months agoFICO High Achievers [?] opened their oldest account 19 years ago, on average. Average age of your accounts
   5 yearsMost 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.

Accounts with balances [?] 3

My balances 79.  on one card 2. on another card on almost 100,000. of credit.

Im not complaining abt the score just their reasoning what is hurting my score, the third bal is a vehicle loan of abt 43,000.

EQ 791  EX 820

[SCF]

How many total accounts do you have (installment + revolving)?  My understanding is that you want less than half of those to report a balance, so if you only have 4 or 5 accounts maybe that's what it's complaining about?

[Anonymous]

6 open CCs  , 1 auto loan,  3 CCs still on report but closed.

[Anonymous]

Looks like a time issue to me. Not much you can do about that.

If you have 6 open accts, try to have no more than 2 reporting bal. It's basically tweeking at this point. Wish I had that problem. 

Message Edited by contractor on 01-04-2009 09:19 PM

[smallfry]

790 is pretty good. AAoA of 5 years is most probably holding you back. Closed accounts are obviously not factored into the too many accounts with a balance. Seems like you have 7. Try not to have any more than 3 including the installment report a balance. 

[haulingthescoreup]

Vicki, I'm in the same boat. Even though you only had 2 cards report (2 of 6 cc's; i.e. fewer than half) and 3 total TL's report (3 of apparently 7 total open TL's), you still got the ding, and this happens to me too.

For most people, those proportions would have skated them under the wire, but for some of us, we get hit anyway. This is one reason I picked up some more cards --I was just trying to get a bit more forgiveness in my ratio. (There were other reasons, too --diluting bad history with good.)

[just_curious]

Why don't you just play the silly game that the Fair Issacs folks seem to require?

Go onto your cards' web sites a few days (try 4 or 5) before the card closing dates and pay the cards down or off in advance of their billing date (not the due date - the statement closing date).  Make FICO think you are using a very low percentage of your available credit no matter what you a really doing. 

FICO has no brain here - it considers a balance owed on the billing date without allowing for the fact that you always pay it in full a few days later, well in advance of the "due date".  They do not distinguish between people actually using revolving credit and people just charging things for convenience (or to get the rewards - like points or cash) that the cards offer.  You can boost your FICO score noticeably in just a couple months through this silly process.

Of course, FICO could also consider whether you ever pay interest or late fees, which would give them even better info and allow them to get to the same result, but that would require extra effort, so they prefer just giving those who like mileage points and cash rewards a lower score.  Stupid, but there you are.

[Anonymous]

I did have under the 1% reporting $81. , plus i do pay off twice a mth and i usually get them to report zero bal. guess this time hubby or i charged again after i paid but just before the statement close (maybe the same day). 

I'm not really going to play their game just was saying how stupid that sounds, too many accounts reporting.

I only put a note on the truck in Jun to get a auto loan on my report, I've never had one.  So thought it would be okay to do that.  Good rates so I'm leaving it there but will pay off in 2 years instead of 5.  Unless I get cold feet and pay off earlier.

And that auto loan and a BOA LOC put my age down because its been a few years since I opened anything.  I have no intentions of opening any new accounts. I closed some so I wouldnt have so much to tend to. 

Plus I'm probably going to take a ding because some of my old loans (PIF closed) will probably drop this year or next.

We never used CCs until a few years ago, the reason for getting them was we travel alot and it got to where it was a hassle to write a check, out of state. 

Like I said they are great scores and I'm not complaining just seems silly for that reasoning.

My hubbys scores are 807 EX  780 EQ  TU 762 as of 1-4-09 TU dings him for not using credit, tho he has the same exact report as mine, so who knows, maybe they like me better cause im cuter than him.  lol Good Luck all Vicki