Thin File or No-Hit Credit – Episode #96

No Credit Score

I got to read a funny tidbit yesterday. A landlord was saying a prospect has a zero credit score. He actually wrote “0-credit score”. I know I’ve never seen a credit report that says “0″ for the credit score. What’s happening here? The credit file must have a minimum number of tradelines for a credit score to be calculated. If the file is too “thin”, a credit score won’t be calculated.

Here’s the message you see from myFICO when this happens:

Who does this impact?

About 20% of the U.S. population is estimated to have thin files which cannot be scored. This is made up of lots of groups.

1. College aged adults who have not established credit yet
2. Cultural pockets of adults who are used to a cash based economy and have not established credit
3. People who have gone “off the grid” and canceled all their credit for years [ a small segment]

What do you need in your credit file to get a credit score?

1. At least one account which has been open for six months or more.
2. At least one account that has been updated in the past six months.
3. No indication of deceased on the credit report.

What can you do to build credit, if this has happened to you?

Follow my advice in my recent building your credit episode