Fico score eliminated following disability

[Anonymous]

I have been directed to this board to see if I can find out more information, and or possibly a solution to my issue.

I became disabled late 2004.

I had paid off my only credit card years earlier following divorce, and at the time only had an auto loan active.

When it became clear that I would no longer be able to work, and I was terminated from my job by my employer, I sold my vehicle and paid off my loan.

I then waited 3 years on my disability to be approved.

I had zero income during this time, and was living with family who supported me.

When I finally was approved I started to go about paying off various medical bills I had incured around and during my time of disability.

Well I have had some other issues come up, and I need to take out a loan.

I had initially applied back in december and was approved adnt told my score was 640. 

And I was calculating the amount I would need to borrow, and there are a couple of issues that caused me to put off actually borrowing the money and I also wanted to get a comparison rate from the competition, so I finally had another lender run my credit, and they initally told me there was a problem, with getting my information, and that they would look into it.

A couple of days later I was later informed by their loan office manager, that I no longer had a fico score at all, due to inactivity, and that I was basically reduced to my pre credit state. 

I personally feel it is driscrimanitory due to my inability to aquire credit during my time with no income or resources. I realize it is likely a between the cracks situation where a rule was made without though for people in my situation, and I of course am catching the slack in my already troubled situation.

I have looked and I as yet have been unable to find any information as to a time period of inactivity that would cause this. I have also been unable to find any recourse to try and resolve the situation. 

I have been told to basically "grin and bear it" and get a secured credit card to rebuild my score. 

But is this really my only option? 

Fair issacs says your beacon score is not the sole criteria used, but in my case thats exactly what I was told, that my lack of beacon score, that I had 3 months prior was the only reason they would not give me a loan. 

And yes it would have been secured against my vehicle that I purchaced with the remainder of my back pay after paying my family back for taking me in and supporting me during the past several years. 

The credit bureau that was used for my determination was equifax.

Is it possible I could contact them, or someone else to see If I can get my core reactivated?

I understand that my score might be lower than 640, but any score at all would be better than having no score.

They sent me my credit report, but I found no information in it related to my fico / beacon score.

I am still living with my family but if I were not this issue could have caused me many worse problems than merely being denied a loan especially with all of the seemingly unrelated things being tied into credit these days, such as insurance, employment, and housing. 

Any suggestions, or information would be greatly appreciated 

Thank You

[Scamp]

Welcome to the forums!

A few links that should get you started in understanding what happened with your credit score - or lack thereof:

What Are the Minimum Requirements for a Credit Score?

What's In Your Credit Score?

What's Not in Your Credit Score

Your Income Doesn't Matter to FICO!

It wasn't your being disabled or lacking in income, per se, that caused you to 'lose' your FICO score; if I read your post correctly, it sounds like it probably is just a lack of calculable data for the scoring algorithm to work (see links above), and it sounds like whatever you had on your reports in December that allowed a score to be generated may have aged off, leaving you with nothing on which the algorithm can work.

A secured card may be the simplest way to go to get something reporting and get yourself a score again.

Hope this helps, and welcome again!

[Anonymous]

if I read your post correctly, it sounds like it probably is just a lack of calculable data for the scoring algorithm to work (see links above), and it sounds like whatever you had on your reports in December that allowed a score to be generated may have aged off, leaving you with nothing on which the algorithm can work.

 Probably I just am troubled that this is yet another example of something that is geared to probably try and target a specific group in their calculations, But it ends up also targetingthe disabled, giving them yet another swift kick in the gut while they are down. And thus making it even harder to dig oneself out of the hole that becoming disabled in the first place places one in.  Hence my question about there being any potential options to persue, or If I should just take it and say thank you ,may I have another kick please. 

I know its unintentional but its also another kick while your down. I expected my credit score to be garbage, not to be eliminated, which up until it happened to me I was completely unaware of even occuring. 

A secured card may be the simplest way to go to get something reporting and get yourself a score again.

This is one thing I may do, my question would be how long would it take to regain any sort of score at all. Would activating a secured card give me a credit score even if it were say a 2, or would I have to have said card 6 months to generate a new score?

 

It also breeds the question, if I have in fact been reduced back to square one like I was at 18, does that really mean I have a fresh start, or are they going to take my medical bills and use them against me, which is one of my biggest problems with this. That they can discard my entire credit history because I have been unable to use it, the past few years, but yet they apparently can also retain any and all things potentially derogatory in my credit report.

 

 

Thanks for the welcome, and reply.

[haulingthescoreup]

Sorry to hear that you've gone through all this! But you should know that this is very, very common. Many people stop using credit for a period of time, for a variety of reasons. They got in over their heads, they decided to go off the credit grid and use only cash, they were in some sort of recovery program that forbade using credit, they were, umm, incarcerated, you name it.

You will be back in business once you get something going. Try a credit union, even if you can only get a secured card. It should start reporting within 2 - 6 weeks after you get it. You will have FICO scores again after six months.

It really isn't because you were disabled. This doesn't show up in any way, shape, or form on your credit reports. It's just that you went off the credit radar for a while, and they want to get you back on before they'll lend to you. So your task now is to find someone who will work with you, and again, my first suggestion would be a local CU. Also a local bank, if you can find one that hasn't been swallowed up by a humongous bank, and that can still make lending decisions at the local level.

Good luck!