Using an inactive card lowers fico score Im confused

[Anonymous]

My wife recently used my VS card which was not used in months and my score FICO score dropped as result. Is there a rule on using old cards? I am just wondering because I have quite a few cards in the drawer that I have not used in awhile and I not sure what to do. Any advise would be helpful. Thanks again.

[Anonymous]

No, it doesn't affect it. But pay in full before the statement hits so you don't have multiple accounts reporting a balance.

[Anonymous]

Its just strange beacuse I used the card so it wont close and my score dropped. Funny thing is the balance was less than 100 dollars and I still took a hit.

[Anonymous]

I had just the opposite happen to me. i used an old card and got a 20+ point jump across all bureaus

[taxi818]

Using a dormant card does not actually effect the score. it just triggers an alert thru fico. What ever was going to happen with your score was going to happen anyway regardless of using a dormant card. Most like cause is utilization. But this is a trigger to get an alert. just like getting and inquiry. or in my case. new employment reported. Only thing changed was the way they spell it. its the same company.  The new address triggered the alert and it said my fico score went down 3 points. But i already knew it was going to go down since i just bought a new car. and got 6 new inquiries. But they seem to be only counting as one. Fico is very complicated and once you start to reconize the triggers you will easily figure out the true cause of score increase or decrease.Evidence as to what im trying to explain below.

[UncleB]

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@taxi818 wrote:

Using a dormant card does not actually effect the score. it just triggers an alert thru fico. What ever was going to happen with your score was going to happen anyway regardless of using a dormant card. Most like cause is utilization. But this is a trigger to get an alert. just like getting and inquiry. or in my case. new employment reported. Only thing changed was the way they spell it. its the same company.  The new address triggered the alert and it said my fico score went down 3 points. But i already knew it was going to go down since i just bought a new car. and got 6 new inquiries. But they seem to be only counting as one. Fico is very complicated and once you start to reconize the triggers you will easily figure out the true cause of score increase or decrease.Evidence as to what im trying to explain below.

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Wow... I wasn't aware employment ever came into play with the FICO scoring model.  My own reports show no employment information at all, which is the way I like it.

Very interesting... 

[Revelate]

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@UncleB wrote:

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@taxi818 wrote:

Using a dormant card does not actually effect the score. it just triggers an alert thru fico. What ever was going to happen with your score was going to happen anyway regardless of using a dormant card. Most like cause is utilization. But this is a trigger to get an alert. just like getting and inquiry. or in my case. new employment reported. Only thing changed was the way they spell it. its the same company.  The new address triggered the alert and it said my fico score went down 3 points. But i already knew it was going to go down since i just bought a new car. and got 6 new inquiries. But they seem to be only counting as one. Fico is very complicated and once you start to reconize the triggers you will easily figure out the true cause of score increase or decrease.Evidence as to what im trying to explain below.

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Wow... I wasn't aware employment ever came into play with the FICO scoring model.  My own reports show no employment information at all, which is the way I like it.

Very interesting... 

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It doesn't, it's just another thing that triggers a score update which is what taxi was trying to illustrate.  Employment, address changes, cards becoming active, and interest rates changing... none of which affect FICO, it's just an Equifax Scorewatch trigger.

[CreditMagic7]

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@Revelate wrote:

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@UncleB wrote:

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@taxi818 wrote:

Using a dormant card does not actually effect the score. it just triggers an alert thru fico. What ever was going to happen with your score was going to happen anyway regardless of using a dormant card. Most like cause is utilization. But this is a trigger to get an alert. just like getting and inquiry. or in my case. new employment reported. Only thing changed was the way they spell it. its the same company.  The new address triggered the alert and it said my fico score went down 3 points. But i already knew it was going to go down since i just bought a new car. and got 6 new inquiries. But they seem to be only counting as one. Fico is very complicated and once you start to reconize the triggers you will easily figure out the true cause of score increase or decrease.Evidence as to what im trying to explain below.

---

Wow... I wasn't aware employment ever came into play with the FICO scoring model.  My own reports show no employment information at all, which is the way I like it.

Very interesting... 

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It doesn't, it's just another thing that triggers a score update which is what taxi was trying to illustrate.  Employment, address changes, cards becoming active, and interest rates changing... none of which affect FICO, it's just an Equifax Scorewatch trigger.

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You mean an interest rate change is something lenders report to the CRA's? I had no idea and always assumed it was an internal thing with Lenders.

[Revelate]

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@CreditMagic7 wrote:

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@Revelate wrote:

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@UncleB wrote:

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@taxi818 wrote:

Using a dormant card does not actually effect the score. it just triggers an alert thru fico. What ever was going to happen with your score was going to happen anyway regardless of using a dormant card. Most like cause is utilization. But this is a trigger to get an alert. just like getting and inquiry. or in my case. new employment reported. Only thing changed was the way they spell it. its the same company.  The new address triggered the alert and it said my fico score went down 3 points. But i already knew it was going to go down since i just bought a new car. and got 6 new inquiries. But they seem to be only counting as one. Fico is very complicated and once you start to reconize the triggers you will easily figure out the true cause of score increase or decrease.Evidence as to what im trying to explain below.

---

Wow... I wasn't aware employment ever came into play with the FICO scoring model.  My own reports show no employment information at all, which is the way I like it.

Very interesting... 

---

It doesn't, it's just another thing that triggers a score update which is what taxi was trying to illustrate.  Employment, address changes, cards becoming active, and interest rates changing... none of which affect FICO, it's just an Equifax Scorewatch trigger.

---

You mean an interest rate change is something lenders report to the CRA's? I had no idea and always assumed it was an internal thing with Lenders.

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No, Equifax keeps score breakpoints corresponding to typical interest rate tiers (mortgages mostly); when you cross a threshold scorewise it can trigger an update.  Not talking tradeline data.

[CreditMagic7]

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@Revelate wrote:

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@CreditMagic7 wrote:

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@Revelate wrote:

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@UncleB wrote:

---

@taxi818 wrote:

Using a dormant card does not actually effect the score. it just triggers an alert thru fico. What ever was going to happen with your score was going to happen anyway regardless of using a dormant card. Most like cause is utilization. But this is a trigger to get an alert. just like getting and inquiry. or in my case. new employment reported. Only thing changed was the way they spell it. its the same company.  The new address triggered the alert and it said my fico score went down 3 points. But i already knew it was going to go down since i just bought a new car. and got 6 new inquiries. But they seem to be only counting as one. Fico is very complicated and once you start to reconize the triggers you will easily figure out the true cause of score increase or decrease.Evidence as to what im trying to explain below.

---

Wow... I wasn't aware employment ever came into play with the FICO scoring model.  My own reports show no employment information at all, which is the way I like it.

Very interesting... 

---

It doesn't, it's just another thing that triggers a score update which is what taxi was trying to illustrate.  Employment, address changes, cards becoming active, and interest rates changing... none of which affect FICO, it's just an Equifax Scorewatch trigger.

---

You mean an interest rate change is something lenders report to the CRA's? I had no idea and always assumed it was an internal thing with Lenders.

---

No, Equifax keeps score breakpoints corresponding to typical interest rate tiers (mortgages mostly); when you cross a threshold scorewise it can trigger an update.  Not talking tradeline data.

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That makes better sense then because i am following from the title of this topic which specifically references "an inactive credit card" (TL) not mortgages.