No FICO Score

[Anonymous]

I've been looking into buying a house recently and  something I didn't realize is that even if you do have a credit history it is possible for FICO to be unable to give you a score.  Basically my last line of credit was a car loan that I paid off  2 years ago and I haven't had the need to open up any other line of credit since.  While looking into this I see one thing needed to report a score is an account that has been open for six months or longer.  The verbage on the "account open for six months or longer" isn't really clear to me.  I had my auto loan open for 5 years, but it is now closed.  The verbiage doesn't specify if the account needs to be currently open or not.  Any insight?

[llecs]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I've been looking into buying a house recently and  something I didn't realize is that even if you do have a credit history it is possible for FICO to be unable to give you a score.  Basically my last line of credit was a car loan that I paid off  2 years ago and I haven't had the need to open up any other line of credit since.  While looking into this I see one thing needed to report a score is an account that has been open for six months or longer.  The verbage on the "account open for six months or longer" isn't really clear to me.  I had my auto loan open for 5 years, but it is now closed.  The verbiage doesn't specify if the account needs to be currently open or not.  Any insight?

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Welcome!

In order for a FICO® score to be calculated, a report must contain these minimum requirements:

· At least one account that has been open for six months or more

· At least one undisputed account that has been reported to the credit bureau with in the past six months

· No indication of deceased on the credit report (Please note: if you share an account with another person this may affect you if the other account holder is reported deceased).

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The above is a copy and paste. They should probably amend it saying "currently open account that has been open for six months or more.". 

[Repo-ed]

good news is once you establish a score, it will climb quickly.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the response.  I've read this before, but this statement:

- · At least one account that has been open for six months or more

doesn't make it clear if the account has to still be open or not.  I had an account that was open for 5 years (my car loan) but it was paid off two years ago.

[scarrollprint]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thank you for the response.  I've read this before, but this statement:

- · At least one account that has been open for six months or more

doesn't make it clear if the account has to still be open or not.  I had an account that was open for 5 years (my car loan) but it was paid off two years ago.

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For you, the loan fulfill's that requirement, however if the loan is the only thing on your report and its been paid off for the past two years, you don't fulfill this requirement:

 At least one undisputed account that has been reported to the credit bureau with in the past six months

basically, you need activity every 6 months to have a valid score. Doesn't matter if its positive reporting or negative, as long as their is reporting - now obviously you don't WANT negative reporting - no score is easier to fix than a negative one.

I would suggest going to your local bank and disscussing with them about getting a credit card. You may have to wait a couple months to get that mortgage just based on the fact that they don't like seeing you take out new credit in the past so many months - but if you don't take out any credit, your not going to be able to get a mortgage as you have found out already.

For optimal scoring you probably want to go out and get 2 or 3 different cards. Use 1 for a redbox or a pack of gum every month and the other bring someone out to dinner with then pay it off in full. This will help build that score rapidly and give you a nice solid report.

[Anonymous]

Ok I gotcha, that's exactly what I was wondering.  Thanks a bunch!