<prompt> Human: For 20 years I had outstanding credit in the high 700s. I sold my houses in 2014 and only had one credit inquiry in 2015. Now, in 2018, I wanted to apply for a mortgage again with more than 20 down payment in cash.I found that not having used credit, not having any inquiries in 3 years tanked my score. Instead of 760 777 782 as scores, I have 612 633 685. My lender gave me a quote on a 30 year note as 5.375 interest.Needless to say, Im furious. And now my car insurance is going up due to a lower score. Meanwhile, I own everything outright and dont spend more than I can afford. I am the picture of fiscal responsibility. I had heard that the score may diminish, but I never expected it to plummet over 170 points, especially when it was frozen.So my question is, how the hell do I get out of this:What kind of credit card should I get? Do I pay off the entire balance monthly of leave a small balance to build credit? How many monthsyears will this take to recover? How many cards should I float? What credit limits should I be looking at getting?So many questions. Advice appreciated.  <response>: Your credit score is based on how well you pay on your active credit accounts. If you chose not to have any credit accounts for the last while, theres no recent information about how good you are at paying on credit accounts. I am the picture of fiscal responsibility.Okay, but it isnt a fiscal responsibility score, its a credit score. You could be a billionaire but if you dont have credit accounts you wont have a good credit score. 