Old Debts Under $100 Don't Matter Under FICO '08

From Consumerist.com:

An update to how the new FICO '08 scoring system got revamped this year:

Collection amounts where the original debt was under $100 will be totally disregarded, MarketWatch reports. Back in Feb we reported that they would still be taken into account but only matter less. Also, FICO'08 has been rolled out to all three credit bureaus since last month. Before it was only being tested at one and there was some disagreement over whether all the bureaus would accept it.

However, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae haven't adopted FICO '08 yet. So if you're getting a traditional conforming mortgage backed by one of them, lenders are still going to judge you under the old FICO system.

No matter what flavor of FICO gets applied to you, you can do better at the credit score game by paying your bills on time, maintaining low debt to income ratios, high available credit to debt ratios, keeping old credit cards open, and disputing erroneous items from your credit report.