Credit Cards

[Tracey222]

I have a Capital One credit card with a 600.00 limit.  The card has been paid off for some time now but not closed.  There is a service fee of 20.00 per year for this card.  I was charged the 20.00 for the service fee paid it the same day and this dropped my score by 5 points. is there anyway that i can dispute this drop in my score??

[cw81]

Hi  Tracey

 I don't  believe you can dispute that   because you can't say for certain what caused your score to drop.  Your score is not your credit report. If there is an inaccurate entry on your report you  can dispute that.   I suggest you read   the stickies at the top of the forums  they provide a wealth of information about scoring.

Message Edited by cw81 on 06-30-2009 02:12 PM

[Tracey222]

TThank you.

[haulingthescoreup]

Yes, there is no way that paying the annual fee on a CC dropped your score. It isn't on your credit reports, and if something isn't on your credit reports, it doesn't go into your scores.

My guess is that the reported balance went up on an existing account, or an extra account reported a balance or something. And it's possible that if that $20 fee showed up on your credit report (as if it were a charge or something), that might have done it, especially since you haven't used the card in a while. It wouldn't be because it was the annual fee or that you then paid it; it would be because it was a new balance on a card previously reporting $0.

You can go nuts quickly, and many of us have, sorting out cause and effect with score changes, but safe to say, paying your fee isn't one of them.

Here are two sources you might want to start with:
Understanding Your FICO ® Score

Credit Scoring 101 (at least the first post.)