What is the picture of a FICO in the vicinity 0f 785

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymouswrote:

what if any are the consequences of a card reporting inactive on credit reports?  Will this adversely affect scores?

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We had one guy a year ago or so who posted on the forum.  He had exactly one credit card (and an open mortgage I think).  After exactly one year of not using the card at all his score took a substantial dive.  About the only reasonable conjecture we could come up with is that FICO treats inactive cards as though they weren't there -- and since he had exactly one card, his profile became one of having no revolving accounts at all, which would have affected his Credit Mix and Utilization and so on.

That said, even if that is true, you'd really have to work hard to get a card flagged by the issuer or FICO as inactive.  A few months is not nearly long enough.  In his case it was exactly one year.  And it only became evident because he had exactly one card.  In contrast, suppose somebody had four credit cards, with exactly one showing a balance.  One of the zero-balance cards has been sock drawered by our guy and he has forgotten about it; and after a year (we imagine) it is flagged by the issuer or by FICO as inactive.  Our guy would go from 1 out of 4 cards showing a balance to 1 out of 3.  His utilization would likely still be be < 9%.  So there would likely be no discernable effect.

I believe that some of the credit monitoring systems (myFICO Ultimate and others) include alerts when a card that hasn't been used in a while become active again.  Sometimes the alert is accompanied by a score drop.  As always, people wrongly infer that the alertable event (card became active again) caused the score drop or boost.  This is an error.  Much more likely is that the score had already changed but no alertable event had yet occured to prompt myFICO to recalculate the score.

[Anonymous]

I really have thank everyone again for all the information.  Also, I would like to thank everyone for answering questions multiple times as it may have seemed that they were answered and then I asked them in a different way.  My background is in finance, not credit obviously, but one would think this information would be readily available for most to learn.  This is certainly not the case.  I have asked my friends with almost perfect scores and friends with terrible scores if they knew any of these concepts and they certainly had no clue.  I have said it before and will again this site is absolutely invaluable for anyone trying to build and keep credit.  Everyone seems willing to offer up some wisdom.

I will use what I learned as it has become something of an interest to me.  Not just my score, but how detailed and complicated it can get.  The consumer doesn't stand a chance without this knowledge.  I will try to pass this knowledge on to my nieces and nephew as they grow and ensure they don't make the same mistakes that I made.  Take care and thanks again to everyone.

[arkane]

To be fair, if you use credit responsibly you can reach a very high score (>800) naturally without knowing any of the intricate details. I managed an 802 after 4 years and change of history, and all I knew was "util <10% for maximum scoring potential".

I feel OCD types like me actually benefit from these forums the most, as once we start to understand the system on a much more in-depth level, it allows us to micromanage credit down to the very last point. I'd never have known about AZEO or the SSL technique if not for these forums, and I suspect my mini-spree in November would not have ended quite as well.

[Anonymous]

Yes very fair, if u pay your bills on time and spend wisely you can and will have an excellent credit score.  I did, but went through some business changing events and had zero knowledge on what to do and where to go.  Unfortunately not everyone gets through perfectly on time and manage debt correctly, sometimes unforeseen events will force change.  This is where I am saying this knowledge should be readily accessible to help avoid making bad decisions when forced with a crisis and what to do when it does go bad.

I am also here learning to help my credit score, naturally.  However, I find myself also intrigued by the depth of information to be learned from so many angles on credit.

[arkane]

Oh don't get me wrong, these forums benefit everyone. I just feel even those who already have decent credit still have a lot to gain from these forums.

[Anonymous]

I agree wholeheartedly.  It truly baffles me that the intricacies of credit are just not well known to people that would consider themselves highly knowledgeable about just about everything.  As I believe you stated, it seems I also seem to have been more than intrigued by so many different posts and answers to my questions from the veteran contributors.  I guess I have a bit of ocd in me too.

[909]

HeavenOhio said:
I've let my AMEX card report zero for two consecutive months, which is something I've never done before. I wonder if that's enough to make the card inactive.“


I’ve had MyFico alerts telling me that 4 and 5 months of paying to zero before statement cut date and then leaving a balance results in an inactive account moving to active. I’m not sure about two months.