How do you go about disputing # of years of credit?

[Madison]

I just paid to get my FICO scores from Trans Union and Experian and wow was I shocked. The Trans Union was 35 points lower than Equafax....in trying to figure out why it was so much lower, I noticed that Equafax had me with 30 years of credit history and Trans Union had me at ONLY 13 years credit history...what the hey! I went to the Trans Union site to dispute and there is nothing I can click on to dispute # of years credit history. Has anyone else had this experience and how did you get it resolved? How does Trans Union lose 17 years of credit history? Experian has me with 29 years of credit history so they only lost one year of my credit history. Any suggestions?

[Anonymous]

You can't dispute the length of history on your report.  That number is the same as the age of the oldest account on that report.  If your history is shorter on one report than it is on another, then the report with the shorter history probably is no longer reporting your oldest account on the report with the longer history.

If an old account has fallen off, there's not really anything you can do about it.  Sorry.

Message Edited by cheddar on 04-17-2008 04:28 PM

[RobertEG]

Madison, thanks for posting this, for it brings up a question in my mind that is still unresolved as to how old, and closed, accounts are included.

Somewhere on here I read that accounts are dropped from your credit report 10 years after they are closed.If that is true, then how in the world could the CRA, and thus FICO score, accurately assess  your oldest date of credit?  If I have an account opened 23 years ago that I closed 10 years ago, does that mean that I am about to lose that forever from my reported oldest date of credit, and also from calculation in my average age of credit in teh calculation of my score? 

Appears so, from what Cheddar says.... I guess I should have started reading this forum 10 years ago, which was before credit reports were even available to consumers, along with any explantion of this scoring.

Never close accounts never meant more.

Message Edited by RobertEG on 04-17-2008 04:38 PM

[Anonymous]

Robert, unfortunately yes, that's exactly what it means.  I agree with you that it's not entirely fair.

"Length of credit history" is sort of a misnomer.  More accurate would be something like "length of credit history on all accounts either currently open or closed within the last ten years."

BTW, it's still possible, of course, to have a very, very long credit history by maintaining a single account for decades.

Message Edited by cheddar on 04-17-2008 04:38 PM

[Anonymous]

RobertEG - This is my biggest criticism of FICO's formula.   The only reasoning that I can come up with is that FICO has determined that the longer the relationship with the lender, the less riskier the borrower is.

This thinking is flawed on many levels.   I must have opened and closed 20 different credit cards over the years, due to poor customer service, better rates and rewards on cards I switched to, etc.   By making good, sound financial decisions, I am penalized because these closed cards were deleted from my credit file 10 years after closure.

This leads me to think that the "oldest TL" part of the formula is somewhat self serving to the lending industry.   I suppose you could stretch it and make the case for a correlation between length of time spent with a cc lender with the potential time spent with a new lender.  In other words, you will not be as likely to re-finance out of a loan if you have a older TL,

Whadda going to do ?

[Anonymous]

---

Boscoe wrote:

RobertEG - This is my biggest criticism of FICO's formula.  

---

To be fair, FICO generates scores based on data on credit reports.  It is not FICO that causes closed accounts to drop after ten years.  That lies on the CRAs.

[RobertEG]

I closed my oldest account back then because it was a joint account with my now ex-wife, and I thought it kinda prudent at time of my divorce!  My ex- is STILL killiing me after a decade!  Hell hath no fury liike an ew-wife!

[Anonymous]

To be fair, FICO generates scores based on data on credit reports.  It is not FICO that causes closed accounts to drop after ten years.  That lies on the CRAs.

 _______________

Cheddar, 2 things:

1) FICO could actually base the oldest TL on the date the file is opened.   For example, my TU file was opened 2/1985 when I opened a Mellon Bank card with a $500 CL.  THAT should be my oldest TL, which would be 23 years old now.  But, since I've opened and closed several cards since then, my oldest TL is much younger and this has affected my score.

2) The Feds need to amend the FCRA to require the CRA's to keep closed accounts on the credit report for a period much longer than 10 years, or at least allow the oldest TL to stay on.  Further, there needs to be a provision to allow older closed TL's to be re-added to the credit reports.

Agree?

[RobertEG]

I think the point that Cheddar was making is the calculation of the score is not based on the FICO model, it is based on what is in the credit report that is run through that model.  FICO does not retain the date used to calculate your score, the CRAs do.  FICO software will look at the oldest account that the CRA pumps into it.  It is not FICO programming.

Abuses are with the CRAs, not FICO itself.  I encourage you to read HR 5244....

Message Edited by RobertEG on 04-17-2008 05:31 PM

[RobertEG]

Congress has recently introduced legislation into commitee to reform many actions of the CCCs in their actions and thus data reported to the CRAs.  Take a look at HR 5244, recently introduced before Congress. 

I am not sure whether posting a call for political support of a bill pending before congress is a prohibited action on this forum, and I rely on one of the mods for guidance.  AT the least, I encourage all to read HR 5244 and contact your congressman in its support of widespread abuse that affects not only our FICO date from the CCCs, but our credit health.

Message Edited by RobertEG on 04-17-2008 05:52 PM