Part of your FICO score (the credit rating system created by the Fair
Issacs Company) is computed based on how long you've held credit. If I
have a credit card that I have a long history with but on which I have
not made any charges to in the past few years, will the inactivity on
that card affect my FICO score and if so, how?

Hello believer23-ga,


Credit scores are based on five pieces of information. They are, in
order of importance:

   1. Payment history ? What is the track record? This represents 35% of the score.
   2. Amounts owed ? How much is too much? This accounts for the next 30%.
   3. Length of credit history ? How established is the history? This
represents 15%.
   4. New credit ? Is more debt being taken on? This is 10% of the total.
   5. Types of credit in use ? Is it a healthy mix? This is the final
10% of your score.

They want you to keep your balance low on revolving accounts, which is
what a charge card is. Keep it low and paying it on time is what keeps
a good rating on that account. You want to maintain a low balance and
pay it on time every month rather than a zero balance.

"Having balances on certain accounts. (Having a very small balance
without missing a payment shows that you have managed credit
responsibly, and may be slightly better than carrying no balance at
all.)"
http://www.banking.state.ny.us/brcrcs.pdf (Pg 2 of 4)

Google Searches:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=no%20balance%20on%20credit%20card%20affect%20FICO%20score&btnG=Google+Search
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=revolving%20balance%20affecting%20credit%20score&btnG=Google+Search

If this answer requires further explanation, please request
clarification before rating it, and I'll be happy to look into this
further.

Nenna-GA
Google Answers Researcher

Thank you for your question.
 
I believe that to answer it well, your question will require more time
and effort than the average amount of time and effort associated with
this price. Here is a link to guidelines about pricing your question,
in the pricing guide: https://answers.google.com/answers/pricing.html

the fact that you haven't used the credit available to you for a
period of time should not negatively effect your fico score, if that
was your question. assuming the credit issuer continues to report
every month you will continue to benefit from a number of factors. as
you stated, history length is a positive factor in computing a fico
score and with or without recent activity the account history
lengthens thereby adding to this positive factor. with no activity,
there can be no negative activity so it is reported as an account in
good standing each reporting period. the percentage of available
credit being accessed is an evaluation concept in the fico score. to
the extent that this account adds to available but adds nothing to
accessed it serves to keep that ratio at a lower level which is also a
positive in the calculation process.