Why am I unscorable despite (seemingly) meeting the minimum requirements

[grego2718]

Hi,

I am reported as "unscorable" on Experian and myFICO (which uses Equifax).  I do get a score at Equifax with their Vantage 3.0 (670) score. 

I  have a Credit Card from Citi that I've had for decades, and its data is up-to-date in all three bureau's Credit Report.  I did what I could to get some errors at Experian fixed (e.g. they had my year of birth as 1919), but that doesn't seem to have made a difference. 

Talking to CS at Experian was no help - they keep saying I must not have a CC that's old enough, with up-to-date data (again, their report says otherwise).  When I tell them that their report contradicts that answer, they just repeat it.

I cannot get a score via MyFICO either - their message says that my "data from Equifax does not meet the minimum requirements for calculating a FICO score".  Again, the CR from Equifax shows my up-to-date CC, and Equifax can calculate their Vantage 3 score so I don't understand why it can't be used by FICO.

myFICO CS attempted to be helpful, but couldn't shed light on the problem.

I could not get a score out of TransUnion, but they use Vantage 3 as well so I didn't even pursue that further.

Any ideas on what might be the real problem?  One thought is that I have paid off the balance in full for this card every month for at least the past decade.  Perhaps that makes that card not qualify as a credit card?

[FicoMike0]

Paying in full shouldnt be a problem. Have you been using the card over the past 6 months?

[grego2718]

Yes, I have been using the card regularly, and the balance in the credit reports is up-to-date.   I've had the card >30 years.

[FicoMike0]

I don't get it.

[FicoMike0]

Credit.com has a free trial offer. They offer fico 2 thru 9 from all three cra. They were only able to get me two of the three, but they did classic plus auto and bank card, a lot of scores. Might give them a try, nothing invested but time.  Just don't forget to cancel before they bill you.

[GZG]

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@grego2718 wrote:

Any ideas on what might be the real problem? 

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likely split file/something wrong with your file 

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/ 

pull all 3 reports from ACR, what do you get for each one, what errors are there on each report?

[grego2718]

All three reports seem to have the same core information - i.e. the citi card with its up-to-date information.  slight differences in personal data, such as ph number, but just things that supposedly don't matter to a score.  There a couple of affinity cards from stores from waaay back that I closed out a long time ago with no issues.  (although one seemed to have been closed out twice according to experian's data - I disputed that and the card was removed, as it was well over 10 years ago.)

I suspect it's as you say - something wrong with my file - that occurs in making the call to the FICO service.  I will look into what a split file is.  I wish the agencies could give me more detailed information about exactly what information is going into the call to get the FICO score, and exactly what comes back.  

Using the mechanism available at myFICO I do get a score estimate (something like 720+) when I plug in my information manually. 

[Thomas_Thumb]

Get copies of your credit reports from all 3 CRAs. If you have a split file, Fico can't help. Only the CRAs can merge split files and they may require some info from your lender(s). Perhaps your card issuer botched something so the card is not linking to your CRA identity or the card is being miscoded as closed.

[grego2718]

All three reports look reasonable to me at this point.   All show my one CC with > 6 mos of history and up-to-date status reports. 

How would I know if there is a split file?     I've read that split files may come from an excessive amount of data overloading the CRA's system, but I've only had 3, maybe 4 Credit cards total, some paid off car loans from way back, and some closed mortgages/HELOC info in it, depending on what was reported by the lenders.

It seems odd that both experian and MyFICO, which uses Equifax data, are unable to generate a score for me.  (although Equifax can generate a Vantage 3 score for me).  Is there a way that I can get more precise information about exactly what parameters are being sent in the request to FICO to generate a score, and exactly what results are returned? 

Assuming 1 CC with >6 mos of history and updated information is sufficient to generate a score, so it seems like what is passed to the call to FICO is not what is in my report.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions.

Greg

[Slabenstein]

When you pay in full, do you pay before or after the statement cut?  Also, along similar lines, what is the current reported balance for your Citi card on your EX and EQ ACR's, and what were the reported balances for the last six months?  Six months history has to be six months active history, so, from what you've said above, I would want to make sure you don't have a payment pattern that disguises active use.