FICO score question

[mom-from-missouri]

Maybe someone can explain this one. I have had no late payments in over a year. I have no auto payment, just a house payment and utilities. I also just got (last summer) a MyPoints visa, which I have been using, but I have also been paying it in full every month-carrying no interest (only putting a few dollars on it each month). A year ago, when my divorce was final, I got a copy of my credit report. A couple of minor things I had corrected. MyPoints visa shows me my FICO score on their website--it has always agreed with my credit report. Now all of a sudden, my score dropped by 100. I got a new copy of my credit report, and it too shows my score has dropped by 100 points. Nothing on it shows late or delenquent or looks wrong. I have not applied for anymore credit or bought anything on credit. So, my question is, why, out of the blue would my credit score just drop by 100 points?? Any ideas?

[tagrims]

I believe everytime you ask for credit score/report your score drops (though 100 seems too severe)....have you been applying for any new lines of credit? (credit cards, mortgage, car loan, etc.)

[mom-from-missouri]

I have not applied for anything in the last year, except for this card, & refinancing my home in October.--and nothing at all since October.

[sweeps]

You mentioned that you corrected some minor things on your report. This is counterintuitive, but paying off old, delinquent debts can make them recent events on your credit report. This in turn can have a negative effect on your score. Not sure if that's what happened here, but it's a possibility.

[mom-from-missouri]

what I corrected was a former address (house number was wrong) my middle initial, and the days of employment from a job back in the 80's. I corrected all that back in June or July of last year. I know the ex has old bills, but his name is not mentioned on my report, nor are any of his debts. Still, I wonder if that may influence it??

[Ima saver]

You need to call and ask. I know it is hard to get a real person to talk to, but it won't hurt to try.

[MrsChambers]

well I must only assume that this is a 100 point DROP in your credit and not an increase.

First let me tell ya that there are two kinds of pulls on your credit report. The first kind is called a SOFT PULL.. this is what you do when you look at your own credit report or when a CCC wants to look at your report to "offer" you a CC product. This kind of pull on your credit report has no effect on your credit score at all. You can pull your report once a day for years, and it will not effect your score at all.
the second kind of pull is called a HARD PULL, this is what is done after you have recieved your CC "offer" and they actually want to LOOK at your report. These kinds of pulls DO effect your credit score. HOWEVER, if you go on an "app spree" and you do it in a short period of time (days) it will not effect your credit score as much as it would as if you just nickled and dimed credit applications.


the only thing that I can think of that would cause your scroe to drop like that are:
#1 and old tradeline (good or not) was aged off your report. Age (no matter if it's a good tradeline or not) has a pretty big effect on your score.

#2 you having that CC and paying it IN FULL each month... basicly, your credit report is showing that you have this CC, with this limit, but each month, sense you pay it off in full each month, it's always reporting a 0 balance.... the best case would be to carry a MAX of 30% utilization on your credit card(s).... this way it shows that you have credit, and you are properly using that credit.... with paying off your bill each month, you have established that you have credit, but not that you know how to properly manage that credit... get it?

again, I will tell ya that you should go to www.creditboards.com and check it out... there are numerous posts about this exact same subject that you can do a search on..

ask me if you need more help okay!

[sweeps]

Originally Posted by MrsChambers

#2 you having that CC and paying it IN FULL each month... basicly, your credit report is showing that you have this CC, with this limit, but each month, sense you pay it off in full each month, it's always reporting a 0 balance.... the best case would be to carry a MAX of 30% utilization on your credit card(s).... this way it shows that you have credit, and you are properly using that credit.... with paying off your bill each month, you have established that you have credit, but not that you know how to properly manage that credit... get it?

I'm sorry but this is not good advice. First, there's a lot of debate going on about whether this is even true (that keeping a balance on your credit cards improves your score). Even if it is true, we're talking a very small increase to your score (and how much money is blown on interest in the meantime?).

Regardless, there's no way that MFM's credit score dropped 100 points simply because she paid off her CC's every month.

[MrsChambers]

GOSH - I didn't realize that I needed to share an opinion with Sweeps in order to reply to this topic and not get a little thread crapping going on- But apparently I do!!


Missouri-
just go to the creditboards - or a site like that - and READ READ READ... everyone has thier own opinons about credit reports and FICO scores. It's a very complicated matter to be honest with you.


P.S. I stand by my previous post...

[sweeps]

I apologize for coming across as too harsh. That wasn't my intent.

[cercis]

I was told that insurance companies were supposed to be doing "soft pulls" but when I got my credit score, one of the reasons listed for a lower score was too many inquiries. I hadn't applied for ANY credit at all in the last year, other than my mortgage. I HAD called 5-10 insurance companies for quotes.

So, I don't fully believe there is such a thing as a "soft pull". Well, that's not really what I mean, I guess what I mean is that I don't trust the idea of a "soft pull" because it relies on too many machines and people.

[sweeps]

I always thought that insurance companies do hard pulls?

On a side note, I just read in Kiplinger PF that the new FICO scoring method does not penalize for repeated hard pulls of the same type. So if you get your credit report pulled at several car dealers in a short time period, or at several insurance companies in a short time period, it will only count as one pull. Unfortunately, not everyone is using the new FICO scoring method yet.

[MrsChambers]

when you order your report, or if you subsribe to one of those monitoring services, you can see on your report, which inquires can only be seen by you *Soft Pull* and inquires that can be seen by others *Hard Pull* there you can see what's what.

If you see that someone has looked at your credit *hard pull* without your permission, or it was supposed to be a soft, but it was a hard. You need to contact that company *in writing* and tell them that you would like them to supply you with the permissional purpose for that pull.. if they can not supply you with this. you demand for them to take it off, or switch it to a *soft*.

Indeed, you can be denied credit for having tooo many inquires on your report.
(

HOWEVER, if you go on an "app spree" and you do it in a short period of time (days) it will not effect your credit score as much as it would as if you just nickled and dimed credit applications.

FICO scoring method does not penalize for repeated hard pulls of the same type. So if you get your credit report pulled at several car dealers in a short time period,

Yeah, like I said...


if you nickle and dime your credit applications then it will greatly effect your credit score - as opposed to let's say you are shopping for a car or a mortgage or looking for store credit... do it in a quick shot.. like hours or day's... but don't go around for weeks and weeks attempting to get credit...


most people *who are smart about it* when attempting to gain/build creidt do this.

1. they know exactly what is on each one of their three credit reports.
2. They know exactly what their credit score is for each of those three reports.
3. They know which bank pulls which report for thier particular state.
4. They have a good idea as to the *requirements* of each lender


Some lenders will approve you for a credit card if you have a bankruptsy (BK) on your reports, some not.
Some lenders will approve you for a CC if you have collections on your reports, some not.

It's a BIG GAME.. but with this game, knowledge is POWER my freind.

[sweeps]

The problem with FICO is that it's a black box. Unless someone works for Fair Isaac and has proprietary access to their scoring algorithms, no one really knows for sure what effect a certain action will have on someone's credit report.

[tomkat]

I've found that credit scores just fluctuate. Last month, my score went down almost 20 points for no apparent reason. This month, it's back up 10 points. I haven't been doing anything different or unusual (i.e., opening new accounts, paying bills late). I figure as long as it doesn't drop below 720, I'm ok (right now it's at 771).

Hi all, newbie here.

Saw this thread and thought maybe I could contribute a bit.

I too recently experienced a bizarre fluctuation in my score (815 down to 779) but it has since returned to what it was and all is fine.

I wanted to post in response to the mention above about taking a hit because there is no balance on your card (despite the fact that you are using it).

I am a traditional deadbeat, I don't "use" credit cards, I charge a few recurring monthly bills/charges to my one card and that's it. I know when the last of these hits the card and I pay the balance then - since posting range of these charges runs from about the 26th or so through the 4th of the next month, and I pay it as soon as that charge from the 4th hits, there is really only about a week of the month when a check would see any balance at all on my card.

GET TO THE POINT!!

sorry

On the most recent FICO report I pulled is a "negative factor" I have never seen before (and I check my credit relatively often).

The line reads:

"You have no recent revolving balance information being reported."


so although it certainly doesn't appear to be "hurting" me, it nonetheless does seem to have become a factor.