Fico Score did not improve after 7 month credit card activity

[fico64]

jeffriesde,

I do understand what your saying. The CC holder is sending me monthly statements after the purchases and it is being reported to the credit bureaus because on the Fico Equifax CR it states under the CC account: " Last activity August, 2012. "  So if I'm receiving monthly statements from my CC holder and that last month of activity in August is reporting on my CR, then the Fico score model should be reading this activity.  Instead, the scoring section on my report states: " There is no recent activity on your credit cards" as a negative.  I could give it a month or two, but after 7 months, the scoring model should not be reporting " no activity "

This is in error and is hurting my score. I don't max out the card, just small purchases.  I want to report this and have it corrected.

[jeffriesde]

I still think we are off...  Just having the CCC report that the account is active does not prove activity.   FICO scoring wants to know that you can handle a small balance on your CC.  

Anyone could get a card and put it in a sock drawer and never use it.  This does not show good use of credit, it shows that you could obtain credit and not that you could manage credit.  If you open a CC and put it in the sock drawer, the CCC will still report that the account is active with a $0 balance.  If you use it and pay it off before the statement date then it will report a $0 balance as well.   So this has the same effect to FICO.  

From what other have said on these boards to obtain the best scoring you should have at least 3 CC's with all but one showing a $0 balance and 1 reporting a balance of less than 10% of your overall available credit.

[fico64]

If I put my credit card in a sock drawer for a year with no balance and no activity, the credit report will state, active, zero balance and report the activity as being a year old. That is what I was doing 7 months ago. A forum member suggested I needed to start showing activity. So for the past 7 months, I made small purchases, received monthly statements, paid off the balances.  This is showing recent activity, I'm getting monthly statements, paying them, and the CC holder is reporting the activity presumably for the last 7 months. I let 7 months lapse since I started using the card, to get this activity established on the CR. I pulled my CR yesterday, and found last activity on CC account as being August, 2012, but the scoring model incorrectly states " there is no recent activity on your credit cards".  The moderator above said 7 months is not long enough time for the scores to change and that well may be the case, but the scoring model is wrong to report "... No recent activity" and needs to be corrected.

[fico64]

.... Just to add, I looked at my 7 month old Equifax Fico credit report. It reports last activity under CC account as December, 2010. Under the scoring section it states "There is no recent activity on your credit cards" . That is a correct statement because there was 1 year plus of inactivity.

However, the Equifax Fico credit report I pulled yesterday, shows last activity on CC account as August, 2012, but the scoring section states " There is no recent activity on your credit card".  OBVIOUSLY INCORRECT.

[AndySoCal]

FICO64, Are you paying the balance off before the billing cycle ends or after.? IE If the billing cycle ends on the 15th of the month are you paying the balance off before the 15th or after the 15th of the month.

[DaveSignal]

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@llecs wrote:

If "very good" is listed for Amount of Debt. There could be utilization issues holding your score down. What's your current util?

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+1.  If your card is reporting $0 balance, then that is why you are getting penalized for not using any credit cards.  FICO is a snapshot and sees what is currently on your report.  It doesn't see what your balance was last month or any months before that.  Only right now what is being reported as of the statement date.  At least one of your cards should have a balance.

[fico64]

AndySoCal,

I'm paying the statement after it's mailed and prior to the due date.

[vanillabean]

You may want to read my recent thread entitled The elusive FICO EX, which touches on a card that reports a positive balance, yet "There are no recent balances on your revolving credit accounts."

[fico64]

my-own-fico,

I agree with you. Eqifax is the most conservative of the three agencies. I have been monitoring my credit since 2005 and I see a lot of strange things.

The above information I commented on about my CR, defies logic. These scoring models speak in generalities, they are just a computer algoritham which can't seem to read the whole picture of a individual's credit.

The real estate market is improving in my area and I want to sell my home soon. Want my credit to be the best it can be. My suggestion is to prepare a detailed letter for a future lender to explain the odd inconsistencies reported by the three credit bureaus. 

If anyone has information on a direct contact to Fico management, I would appreciate it. I will research on my own and if I have results, will report it here.

[AndySoCal]

FICO64,

Am I correct that you have only one credit card of any tyoe? IE Store card, VISA Mastercard etc. Can you pull your Equifax credit report from annualcredit reports.com ? I would be curious  ot see what the date of last activity  is that is reported on that credit report for this account/s. If it is also reporting 2010 I would call the credit card company and have them coreect the date of last activity that is being repprted.