BionicDog

FICO paid my bills for 8 years... I got lots of free steak dinners from Fair Isaac as well (although I ate more calamari than steak).

Here's my theory about how the ID score works: The less evasive you are about providing personal information on your applications, the lower your ID score. The score tries to measure the likelihood that you are who you say you are, and the more redundant data it finds in the system, the more it is assured of your identity. I always provide my SSN to credible companies (but I also have a freeze on EX and closely monitor EQ credit reports). If you have a lot of recent credit applications, your score would likely increase because this is a red flag for fraud... I have not applied for anything in the last year... The ID score is not necessarily a measure about how much you move around. I've had 4 addresses in the last 6 years, although I have been at the same address for the last 3 years. You are considered more risky if you can be traced to multiple SSNs or multiple names. If you have been a victim of ID theft, I'm sure that would increase your score as well, based on the topology they are using.... I've had one name, one SSN my whole life. ...other theories???

I'll try to explain it better. On December 31, you were scored against a population that had average years in file < 5 (scorecard #1). That means, the oldest average time in file within that population would be 4 years, 11 months. At this age, you would be the "elder" and get the maximum amount of points that scorecard could give for average age. On January 1, you were moved into a population where everyone's average time in file was > 5 years (scorecard #2). You are now the "young punk" because everyone that you are being scored against has a longer time in file than you. You are receiving the minimum amount of points available for average age in scorecard #2. You got knocked down a peg - scoring is not perfect, but like our legal system, it generally works. Soon the scorecard switch will work to your advantage, because you have a better potential for a higher score on scorecard #2. You will not be the "young punk" for long... you are already marching your way toward becoming the elder of scorecard #2. I'm not sure where the next scorecard break is, but I've seen evidence there is a threshold at 10 years... Not sure if there will be another scorecard jump between 5 and 10 years...

More like BIG DOG! Yeah, but I'm sure most of you all have my FICO Score beat! BTW that 199 was with SSN, and they asked what county I live in, my email address, and verification of 2 old addresses.

Just to clarify for everyone that this is NOT LexisNexis data... LN is a competitor of IDA. It is, however, "LexisNexis-Like" data, but the data is stored by IDA. If you follow the link I posted above on data sources, you'll see that the data sources come from: Credit Applications Credit Transactions Payments Change of Name/Address Demographics I'm still trying to figure out more about the actual sources, but this is what I know for now.

199 for me This service is offered by a company called ID Analytics. It split off from HNC about the time that Fair Isaac (FICO) merged with HNC. Thus, the ID Score has indirect ties to FICO Score. THIS DATA IS USED BY VISA/MC FOR ACCOUNT ORIGINATION AND ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT DECISIONS. This is the same company as the mysterious "IDA, Inc, Consumer Assistance Center" that appears on adverse action letters people have received. Some useful links: ID Analytics website: http://www.idanalytics.com Analytical explanation of ID score and data sources: http://www.idanalytics.com/solutions/technology.html Sample IDA Report on fatwallet: http://s.fatwallet.com/static/attachments/...1_idareport.png Getting access to your personal report: http://www.idanalytics.com/solutions/get_p...nformation.html. Who wants to do an experiment to see how well these guys to comply to FACTA? Anyone want to request their report?

As you can see, I am new in this forum. I need to do some studying because I never have heard the terms "segmentation" and "score buckets" I only have ONE Installment loan(UNless a Mortgage counts as one) and it was for the car which I paid off. Thanks for all the helpful replies but I must admit that I still don't understand why NOT owing money makes a score go DOWN. That is counter intuitive:) Your score went down because for the segment of population you are in, having one OPEN ACTIVE installment account makes you less of a risk than zero OPEN ACTIVE installment accounts. Less risk means more points. It's the same with revolving accounts - if you don't have any, you get dinged on your score. It's part of the credit mix factor of the FICO formula... Hope this helps...

Yep, FICO seems to account for the regular account aging on the few days following the first of each month. That's assuming everything else remains equal - no new accounts, INQs, high util, etc... If it does that why did my scores go down? Avg age of accounts was 4 years on Dec 31st but the next day on Jan 1st it was 5 years and I lost 34 points on EQ. Shane, what's happened in your case is that you have been bumped onto a new scorecard. It is the only explanation, when a good thing, like an increase in time in file, leads to a decrease in score. I've thought for a while that there is a threshold at 5 years within the scorecard segmentation, and cases like yours helps to confirm my suspicions. In a nutshell, you went from a scorecard where you were "the elder" to a new scorecard where you are more like "the young punk". The good news is that your new scorecard gives you more opportunity to improve your score over time. Your score should rebound from the drop pretty quick. Along with the new scorecard comes new score factors, and I think that is part of the confusion as well. Keep us posted about how long it takes to get those points back.

DO IT TWICE??? Add a note in the COMMENTS??? That's fine, unless you plan on doing STATISTICS on the data, considering it is a DATABASE and all. You cannot do statistics on a comments field. Nobody loves data like I do, and analyzing it is half the fun!

I have a question - how often do lenders pull from more than one CRA? If the lenders use two CRAs, for example, are we supposed to enter two records into the DB? It only allows selection of one CRA, entry of one score... What about check boxes instead of a radio dial for CRAs, and room to enter scores from each of the CRAs...? (as long as we are talking about redesigning it, )

Here is a brief summary based on my hundreds of hours of research on the topic of Specialty CRAs. I have detailed data on each of these organizations, including information about how to obtain your free reports, consumer websites, etc... I am currently struggling with getting the information out of my research database and into a format I can post in this forum. In the meantime, if anyone has questions about a particular company, I am happy to post what I know. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF THERE ARE ADDITIONS, CORRECTIONS, ETC... I am also documenting the companies defined as Resellers by the FCRA. Many of the companies named by others in this post are not Nationwide Specialty Consumer Reporting Agencies (NSCRAs), but are in fact Resellers of the NSCRA data. Resellers are not required to do much under the FCRA... I will post this list in a separate topic, and keep this one strictly related to NSCRAs. NSCRAs List by FCRA Category You are entitled to a free yearly consumer report from each of the following organizations, assuming that they have a file containing data about you. Each of the following organizations has a proprietary data source, which, in theory, is regulated by the FCRA/FACTA. Some companies have excellent legal compliance, but many do not acknowledge that they need to release their data to consumers. Below is a summary of Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies (CCRAs) and Nationwide Specialty Consumer Reporting Agencies (NSCRAs). The category (0) Credit History is not defined explicitly by the FCRA, but it is implicit within the document that there are "Credit Reporting Agencies," defined as a subset of "Consumer Reporting Agencies." The other categories (1-5), as well as the term Nationwide Specialty Consumer Reporting Agency (NSCRA) are defined in section 603(w) of the FCRA. (0) Credit History - CCRAs The Big 4 (EQ/EX/TU/IN) ID Analytics, Inc (IDA) Issuers' Clearinghouse Service (ICS) Advanced Resolution Services, Inc (ARS) Lakeside Information Resources (LIR) LexisNexis (Banko, RiskView products) Payment Reporting Builds Credit (PRBC) (1) Medical Records Medical Information Bureau (MIB) (2) Tenant History Acxiom® Corporation ChoicePoint, Inc Resident Data Inc. Contemporary Information Corp. First Advantage / Safe Rent IntelliCorp Records, Inc. LexisNexis National Credit Reporting (may not meet "Nationwide" requirements) National Tenant Network (NTN) Tenant Data Services The Screening Pros, LLC (3) Check Writing History ChexSystems, Inc. Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) National Check Network (NCN) TeleCheck Services, Inc. TeleTrack, Inc. (Cross-Check – unsure if they have a database or not) (4) Employment History Acxiom® Corporation ChoicePoint, Inc ChoicePoint WorkPlace Solutions Inc. Contemporary Information Corp. First Advantage / Safe Rent IntelliCorp Records, Inc. LexisNexis (Employment Screening Report) The Work Number (5) Insurance Claims ChoicePoint, Inc C.L.U.E. Inc. ISO Insurance Services ...more info to come about available consumer reports and contact info for each organization...

Thanks for the info... I checked into Deluxe, and couldn't find any references to SCAN or any other data they might house. I eventually figured out that ChexSystem's parent company FIS incorporated the SCAN data into the FIS DebitBureau database. The new Debit Report contains the old SCAN data... Consumers don't seem to have access to this new report yet, which is a violation of the FCRA...

I noticed yesterday that the link to get you SCAN report is broken: https://www.consumerdebit.com/consumerinfo/...eport/index.htm I cannot find any references to SCAN on Chexsystem's consumer site (www.consumerdebit.com) or the parent site (www.fisglobal.com). I have a few questions: 1. Is the SCAN database info included on the ChexSystems Consumer Report? (which can be obtained here: https://www.consumerdebit.com/consumerinfo/...port/index.htm). I can't tell by looking at the sample report, and I don't have a file to pull... 2. Is the SCAN product being replaced by another product in the banking industry? FIS has quite a few, and I'm wondering if they are doing away with the SCAN brand name... Anyone know? Thanks!

My three cents: 1) FICO definitely counts closed TLs in the average age calculation. 2) FICO calculates average age using months (not years as one poster stated). The formula seems to give you full credit for partial months. 3) Closing positive accounts will have a negative impact on your score 10 years from now. Positive closed trades only stay in your credit file for 10 years. Once they drop off, you lose all that history in your average age calculation. My average time in file is not as high as it should be, because all my paid off student loans recently aged right off my file. I don't close any good accounts, even if they do have paltry limits.

Yes, a reported 0 balance is generally better than a blank. I should also mention that trades that have not reported recently (say within a year) seemingly are not factored into your utilization, so if these are older, closed accounts, it doesn't really matter what balance they are reporting. If the accounts are being regularly reported, it is definitely to your advantage if they report a 0 balance instead of blank...