How does credit scoring work if you only have an Amex?

[SRT4kid93]

Let's assume someone only has Amex charge cards. These cards do not report a utilization ratio. But ratio makes up a large part of your score. So how would your scores work if you only had Amex's and never had a utilization ratio reported?

imagine the scores were a test, would that mean your scores would be low because you are missing 30-35% of what makes up a credit score? So no matter what you do, the best you could do was 70%, since 30% is missing?

Or would that mean your scores were high, because the scores automatically calculated 0% utilization ratios every month?

[FicoMike0]

I'd guess either you get the zero for util, or you're unscoreable because you have no credit.

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@SRT4kid93 wrote:

Let's assume someone only has Amex charge cards. These cards do not report a utilization ratio. But ratio makes up a large part of your score. So how would your scores work if you only had Amex's and never had a utilization ratio reported?

imagine the scores were a test, would that mean your scores would be low because you are missing 30-35% of what makes up a credit score? So no matter what you do, the best you could do was 70%, since 30% is missing?

Or would that mean your scores were high, because the scores automatically calculated 0% utilization ratios every month?

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You will have a score after 6 months of credit history. It will be based primarily on payment history and age of the account. Since the file doesnot have a revolving account it will be penalized for: "no recent revolving activity" - probably 25 points. Also, since the file has no open installment loan another 30 points is unavailable.

A new clean file with a single revolving account should have a default score around 700 after 6 months. Ultra high utilization could drop that score 80 points. If the account were a charge card, default score might be 670-680. Still, after 5 years of ontime payments, a  single charge card account file should be capable of reaching 740-750 score if clean. Score might be 10 points higher with 2 charge cards vs 1.

You can lose far more points for high utilization than the no recent revolving activity penalty. In other words a maxed out revolver or revolvers could drop a thin file score to 610-620. The same balance(s) on a npsl charge card(s) might score 660-670.

BTW - Fico has a scoring factor for total balance on credit cards, not just utilization. An AMEX charge card is a credit card, just not a revolver.

[pizzadude]

Moved to Understanding FICO Scoring