Use of Older Card

[Anonymous]

I recently went into a car repair shop and puled out my normal Visa... It was denied as the charge was called out as Fraud Potential by Chase for being higher than my normal charging. I didn't know why it was denied at the time, but got an e-mail 10 minutes later asking if the charge was mine. 

In the 10 minutes in between, I provided another card... one that I never ever use and I keep only for such odd times.

Well... I just found that the single use of that card just hit my credit report for a whopping 12 point deduction. It was paid off in full the next week. But, because it had been inactive for 18 months or more it showed up as a problem. 

Is there any way to argue away such an anomoly?

[Gidgetmom]

Talk about poor timing!  It's my understanding that your score will rebound next month once it reports paid.  Not sure if there is anything you can do about it in the meantime.

i actually got a small score bump a couple of months ago because a card that was inactive became active.  Weird.  

Good luck!

[RobertEG]

Inclusion or exclusion of accounts from FICO scoring based on inactivity is built into the algorithm.

It's hard to argue with an algorithm, and Fair Isaac is unlikely to develop another algorithm for use only on your credit report.

It is what it is.......