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Any day now, the new FICO scoring system (called FICO 08 because it was supposed to be released last year) will be fully implemented into the world of credit scoring. From what I can tell, this new formula—which represents the biggest change to the scoring model since the 1980s—is a change for the better. Consumers who have one or two slipups will be judged less harshly than they were under the old model. Legitimate authorized user accounts will be reported to the bureaus, another change in favor of the consumer. But one thing stands out as a big, big problem: credit card companies still have the power to damage a person’s score artificially by reporting a lower-than-actual limit. As I explain in 7 Steps to a 720® Credit Score, a large portion of a person’s credit score is judged by his balance-to-limit ratio. The smaller balance he has as a percentage of his limit, the better his score. But credit card companies regularly fail to report a person’s accurate limit, making his balance-to-limit ratio artificially high, therefore lowering his score. We cannot be certain why credit card companies do this—some theorize that it makes their customers appear less attractive to competitors, who therefore don’t send credit card offers to these customers. One thing is certain: this is a big problem in the world of credit scoring. Remember that the squeaky wheel gets the oil. Until the credit-scoring world adopts a model that truthfully reflects a person’s limit, it’s up to us to stay vigilant. Consumers whose credit reports show improper credit limits should get on the phone immediately with their credit card companies and start arguing to have the proper limit reported.