Started Using Upgraded Amazon Prime Visa - Score Jumped 18 Points

[JLK93]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

TT, JLK, Elim, and any other experts --

This thread started with our OP relaying an alert message, which was "Recent Activity has been detected on an inactive account in your [insert CRA name] data."

People who use the myFICO credit monitoring packages get this alert message all the time, and many of them wonder whether using a card after a long period of inactivity could in itself affect one's score.  (Assume that we are talking about a small purchase and that the card then reports this small balance to the CRAs.)

Can we say with virtual certainty that (apart from the two known issues listed below) this Inactive To Active transition is not in any way part of the FICO algorithms?  I would love to get a final answer to this.  It affects me in a practical way, because I tend to go out of my way to use each one of my cards every three months because of this d*$m alert message -- essentially on the off chance that there is some kind of connection with the actual algorithm.

The two ways that have been identified that this transition could affect the score are as follows:

    (1) "Too few accounts with recent payment information" (as TT observes, FICO appears to like it when more than just 1-2 accounts are showing activity).  Here the card becoming active might HELP the score.

    (2) Number of credit cards showing a balance (FICO likes it when most of your cards are showing a $0 balance).  Here the card becoming active might HARM the score.

Aside from that, is everyone certain that the text of the alert is simply that: the text of alertable event, but not an event that has any relationship whatsoever to any FICO scoring model?

PS.  As BBS observes, a final way that the score could be affected is if all cards were previously $0.

---

I went back through 3 years of alerts and documented every alert I've received for inactive accounts reporting activity. I posted the results in a previous thread. I don't remember the exact numbers. However, I had numerous alerts for inactive cards reporting activity after 12 months, 10 months, 8 months, 5 months and 3 months. I have never lost or gained even 1 point for those alerts. If it was a scoring event, it seems like I would have seen at least 1 point change at some time or another.

My Transunion FICO 8 scores have pretty consistently dropped about 3 points whenever 4 cards report a balance. That has been pretty consistent for most buckets. So, letting inactive cards report a balance could decrease scores in this scenario. 

[gamegrrl]

Well, just got another alert a minute ago. I have just attained my first perfect 850 via TU!!!

The alert was just the normal "the total balance of all your HELOC accounts has changed" alert that I get every month after my HELOC payment is made.

[JLK93]

---

@gamegrrl wrote:

Well, just got another alert a minute ago. I have just attained my first perfect 850 via TU!!!

The alert was just the normal "the total balance of all your HELOC accounts has changed" alert that I get every month after my HELOC payment is made.

---

Congratulations!

You rock gamegrrl!!!

[JLK93]

---

@gamegrrl wrote:

Well, just got another alert a minute ago. I have just attained my first perfect 850 via TU!!!

The alert was just the normal "the total balance of all your HELOC accounts has changed" alert that I get every month after my HELOC payment is made.

---

I also got my first 850 on TU when my youngest account aged to 1 year.

[gamegrrl]

Maybe it really is that my newest card passed that 1 year old mark.

Someone else asked about the specifics of the inactive card usage: It was a card that I hadn't used since May 2016 (Amazon Prime Visa). I used it to pay for some Amazon purchases, but paid it off before the statement cut, so it reported usage but no balance.

Note: I am so glad that I have a place where I can come and say "I got an 850" and people know what I'm talking about and understand why I'm stoked. 

[JLK93]

---

@gamegrrl wrote:

Maybe it really is that my newest card passed that 1 year old mark.

Someone else asked about the specifics of the inactive card usage: It was a card that I hadn't used since May 2016 (Amazon Prime Visa). I used it to pay for some Amazon purchases, but paid it off before the statement cut, so it reported usage but no balance.

Note: I am so glad that I have a place where I can come and say "I got an 850" and people know what I'm talking about and understand why I'm stoked. 

---

Youngest account aging to 1 year is a major rebucketing event for FICO 8. How many points did you pick up on TU?

[elim]

---

@gamegrrl wrote:

Well, just got another alert a minute ago. I have just attained my first perfect 850 via TU!!!

The alert was just the normal "the total balance of all your HELOC accounts has changed" alert that I get every month after my HELOC payment is made.

---

   Fabulous!  You should keep a screen-shot of that just for bragging rights, lol (scores are a roller coaster after any credit move).

   Your perfect score gives me more ammunition to succeed at some hard-core gardening.  TY for this thread.   :]

[JLK93]

Is there any possibility you could calculate the overall percentage remaining of all your loans?

[gamegrrl]

---

@JLK93 wrote:

Youngest account aging to 1 year is a major rebucketing event for FICO 8. How many points did you pick up on TU?

---

TU gained 14 points on Wednesday, then another 10 points on Thursday, for a total of 24 points.

[gamegrrl]

---

@elim wrote:

   Fabulous!  You should keep a screen-shot of that just for bragging rights, lol (scores are a roller coaster after any credit move).

   Your perfect score gives me more ammunition to succeed at some hard-core gardening.  TY for this thread.   :]

---

Thanks :-)  If I ever hit all three on 850, I will probably get a tattoo of the three gauges. ROFL