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Not all credit reports have FICO scores

02.24.09
By John Ulzheimer

Every once in a while I get a question from a consumer or lender about a credit report that didn’t come with a score, despite the fact that the consumer tried to buy it. This brings up an interesting and little known fact, which is that not all credit files can be scored. The industry term for a credit file that cannot be scored is that it has failed the credit scoring model’s minimum scoring criteria.  

So what are the minimum credit scoring criteria? To receive a FICO® score, a credit report must meet these three minimum requirements in order to be scored:

  1. The credit file cannot have any sort of “deceased” indicator. This is to prevent fraudulent applications and protect consumers who have passed away. What sometimes happens, however, is a consumer may have a joint account with someone who has passed away and the deceased indicator may show up on both credit reports. This causes the surviving spouse/partner to not receive a score. That consumer must then have the deceased indicator corrected on his or her credit reports.


  2. The credit file has to have at least one account that has been open for at least three months. This account cannot be a collection or a public record; it has to be an actual account. It cannot be a student loan in deferment or any type of account currently in dispute. The credit-scoring model looks at the “date opened” field to determine if the account passes these criteria.


  3. The credit file has to have at least one account that has been updated within the past year. Again, this cannot be a collection or a public record. The credit-scoring model looks at the “date reported” field to determine if the account passes these criteria.

One single account can satisfy numbers two and three above. So, for example, if I have a Chase Visa on my credit report that was opened three years ago, was just updated last month, and is not currently in dispute, my credit report will qualify for a score.



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