Too few accounts

VantageScore code numbers

Code numbers can differ by bureau and score version. The wording of the statement is what to match.

What puts this reason on your score

VantageScore gives the same explanation for this code and for 96, 'Too few open accounts': your file doesn't have enough credit behavior information about your loans. One secured card and a phone plan that doesn't report give the model very little to read.

Being scoreable and scoring high are different things. VantageScore designed 4.0 to score more people with short or dormant histories, but a score built on two accounts still has little to stand on, and this code says so.

What to check on your credit report

• How many open and closed accounts each bureau shows
• Accounts you have that don't appear, such as a loan from a small lender
• Rent or utility payments that could be reported

What you can do about it

• Add one account at a time and pay it on time. A secured card or a credit builder loan is a common start.
• Ask whether your landlord or a rent reporting service can report your rent. VantageScore says its models use rent and utility payments when they're reported to the bureaus.
• Don't open several accounts at once to fix it. That trades this code for new account and inquiry codes.

How soon a change can show

A new account first appears after the lender's first report, usually within a month or two of opening. The code fades as more accounts build history.

If you are applying for a mortgage

A thin file can still qualify, with less room for error. Rent reported to the bureaus counts in VantageScore 4.0, which can help a thin-file buyer whose lender uses it.

Guides that go deeper

• Thin file or credit invisible? How to tell, and the fix for eachCredit invisible means no file at all. A thin or stale file exists but can't be scored. The CFPB's corrected numbers show which group is bigger.
• How to build credit from nothing, with a month-by-month planNo credit history at all? How a credit file starts, which first account makes sense, when a score appears, and a 12-month plan with the math shown.
• Rent reporting services: what they cost and which bureaus they reachReported rent helps only in scores that read it, at bureaus that receive it. Which scores use rent, how it gets reported, and what a service costs.
• How credit builder loans work and who they helpA credit builder loan holds the money until you've paid it off. What gets reported, what it costs, and what a CFPB study found about who benefits.
• What your credit score reason codes are telling youReason codes list what held your score back the most, in order. What the common ones mean, which you can act on, and which to leave alone.