New FICO Credit Score Changes

Fair Isaac, the developer of the FICO credit score, has made some changes to the way your FICO credit score is calculated.  Here are some of the changes:  If you are an authorized user on someone else’s credit card, you will no longer benefit from the credit rating associated with that credit card.  You’ll now need to become an actual supplemental card holder to get any credit scoring benefit.  Also, one late payment won’t kill your credit score anymore.  Your score used to drop 100 points if you paid one item late.  Now the drop won’t be as punitive.  However, if you have a trend of paying late, you will be hit even harder than before.   Additionally, applications for new credit won’t hurt your score as much as before.  On the other hand, your credit score will be more sensitive to the balances you carry.  Also, active use of your credit card now matters.  If you have a credit card that you haven’t used in awhile, it will weigh less in your credit score than before.   Fair Isaac made these changes to the FICO scoring system for lenders as the credit industry complained about some aspects of the old scoring model.