The Anatomy of a Credit Score
August 5, 2006
Despite my current balances on the 0% BTs, my Equifax score is still 700. [higher than 40% of the U.S. population]
Equifax Positive factors:
I have 2 installment loans.
One is a fully paid off auto loan on my car, the other is the truck loan for BroDucky.
I have not applied for credit in the past 12 months.
(I haven’t? Oooh … maybe it’s almost time for another App-O-Rama ….)
I have never been late with my payments and no collection accounts or negative public records are listed.
Equifax Negative factors:
I opened 12 accounts in the past 24 months.
Uh, yes, that was the last App-O-Rama, and I did make several hundred dollars to pay for gifts and the business suit I needed but couldn’t afford.
I opened my first account 5 years ago *this is an interesting explanation they have here*:
You opened your first credit account 5 years and 5 months ago. This does not include disputed accounts and accounts for which the date opened is not reported. Also, this may not include accounts closed more than 7 years ago.
This lowers your score. Having had credit accounts for a long time is a positive factor because your credit history allows lenders to evaluate how you typically use credit and repay your debts. However, accounts that have been open for a long time may have a short payment history, either because you have not used the account recently, or because the lender has not reported the payment history to the credit bureau. Having a short payment history is a negative factor, even for accounts that have been open for a long time. This is because it does not provide lenders with the information they need to determine how you repay your debts. Accounts that were opened 40 or more years ago and have 2 or more years of reported payment history are considered best. On the other hand, if your oldest account was opened up to 7 years ago, your credit history may be considered short, and less than 3 years ago is often considered too little. It is worth noting that because lenders can be slow to report new accounts to the credit bureaus, you may have accounts not yet recorded on your credit report that may be younger or older than your listed accounts.
I am currently using at least 50% of my credit limit on 3 open bankcard(s).
They even list the three cards they used to calculate this. Yep, two BTs and the one regular use card, but this does show that their “snapshot” of my high balance on this card is already outdated. I paid that balance off last month!
Experian: 684 [higher than 35% of the population]
The only different item in the Negative factor was this:
You applied for credit 6 time(s) in the past 12 months, as recorded in this credit report.
(Mortgage and auto loan applications within the last 30 days do not count towards this total. All mortgage applications before that within a 14-day period count as a single application. This is also true of applications for auto loans.)
TransUnion: 687 [higher than 35% of the population]
The only different item in the Negative factor was this:
You applied for credit 4 time(s) in the past 12 months, as recorded in this credit report. Mortgage and auto loan applications within the last 30 days do not count towards this total. All mortgage applications before that within a 14-day period count as a single application. This is also true of applications for auto loans.
