Discover FICO Scores

[rockup55]

My last 6 monthly FICO scores as reported by Discover are as follows:  785, 765, 784, 783, 783, 765. Every time the dip to 765 happen, I always get the following as the factor affecting my score 

1. Age of accounts is low

The age of your oldest account and/or the average age of your accounts is relatively low. Having longer credit histories and fewer new accounts generally poses less risk to lenders.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          My average age which is rated as fair  is 4 years and obviously does not change in the months without the score drops. I have no baddies left, account mix rated very good, utilization rated very good at 1%,  missed payments rated exceptional at zero and inquiry rated very good at zero.  All of my categories stay basically the same from month to month.  Why do they keep hitting me with this roughly 20 point dip every three months or so for the same item (Age of accounts low) that can't change in in the near term and why would it not impact my score the same every month vs every three or four months.   

[Scupra]

Did you possibly forget to the post "the following"?

[jamie123]

What happened to the following? It seems to have disappeared.

[Anonymous]

Here are my suggestions, 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Here are my suggestions, 

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That did make me laugh but let's not be too hard on the OP.

[rockup55]

Don't know what happen to the rest of my post but the message was Low Average Age  which is 4 years.  It's obviously still 4 years on the months where the dips  does not occur so it seems that should affect the score the same every month and keep it to a 765 average.  All of my other factors are excellent to outstanding and have remained essential the same for the past 8+ months  --  no inquires, total accounts constants, utilization at 1%, zero miss payments

[jamie123]

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@rockup55 wrote:

Don't know what happen to the rest of my post but the message was Low Average Age  which is 4 years.  It's obviously still 4 years on the months where the dips  does not occur so it seems that should affect the score the same every month and keep it to a 765 average.  All of my other factors are excellent to outstanding and have remained essential the same for the past 8+ months  --  no inquires, total accounts constants, utilization at 1%, zero miss payments

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It would help if we knew a few more things about your credit history to give you accurate advise like:

Number of credit cards?

Utilization?

How many cards are you allowing to report each month?

Any auto loans or student loans?

Mortgage?

IMHO your fluctuations in credit score must have something to do with the number of credit cards reporting a balance each month.

FICO has a calculation that dings you points for every credit card more than one that reports a balance. As the number of cards that reports a balance climbs the dings get larger. That's why it would be good for you to answer the questions that I asked above. We would be able to zero in a little closer on the reason for the score changes.

[rockup55]

I have 5 cards that I am the primary and 4 that I am a authorize user to my spouse.  Utilization has never exceed 2% for almost two years on either an individual card or in total because I pay balances off several times during the month.  I tend to leave a balance of $5 on three out of 4 of my primary cards and a bigger balance on the fourth one because it seem to me that some time agao I was getting ding for non use of cards because I was paying the balance down to zero on everything except one card.  Based on your post, it sounds like you are saying I should only leave a balance on one card.  The only thing that does not make sense  is that for all months I have been leaving the small balance on 3 and the bigger balance on one so don't know why all months dont get treated the same.  I do not have a mortgage, auto loan or student loan and have not had either for 5 plus years.

[jamie123]

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@rockup55 wrote:

I have 5 cards that I am the primary and 4 that I am a authorize user to my spouse.  Utilization has never exceed 2% for almost two years on either an individual card or in total because I pay balances off several times during the month.  I tend to leave a balance of $5 on three out of 4 of my primary cards and a bigger balance on the fourth one because it seem to me that some time agao I was getting ding for non use of cards because I was paying the balance down to zero on everything except one card.  Based on your post, it sounds like you are saying I should only leave a balance on one card.  The only thing that does not make sense  is that for all months I have been leaving the small balance on 3 and the bigger balance on one so don't know why all months dont get treated the same.  I do not have a mortgage, auto loan or student loan and have not had either for 5 plus years.

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You are letting too many cards report balances if you want your highest scores. Both your cards and your wife's cards count in the "reporting cards" calculation even though you are only an AU on her cards.

Yes, you will get dinged a few points if a card that you haven't let report for a while does finally report. You might try just letting 2 cards report every month and rotate the cards that you let report so the stay active in the eyes of FICO.

Don't forget, your wife's cards and the way her cards report affect your scores too. How does your wife let her cards report?

There is a pretty big ding involved if 50% or more of your cards report a balance. That could be where you are seeing those 15 point drops?

[rockup55]

In addition to my cards, half of my wife cards report a small balance.  I appreciate your input.  I will start reducing the total number of cards that report each month to one or two.