cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

My credit score flat-lined?

tag
Anonymous
Not applicable

My credit score flat-lined?

I'm still trying to figure out this entire credit score thing, and how to increase my scores.

By no means, do I think I have "bad" scores, I just don't know why they have not increased. Seems that they have "flat-lined" so to speak.

 

Most of these scores were provided by CreditKarma or Discover...

In July before I began apping for new cards I was at 758. Which seems to be on the high end.

Started apping for cards so I knew it would decrease due to hard pulls. In August is dropped to 748.

By the middle of August I quit apping for cards, and have just been using & paying on them each month. All cards are at 0% APR, and I owe roughly $450 still; which will be paid off in the next month or two. My total credit utilization is at 3% or less each month. 

In September my score dropped to 732. And for the past 2 months (October & November, so far) it has been a consistent 721.

Also, the past 2 months Discover is reporting a score of 738.

 

I don't think any of these scores are really considered bad, but I'm just trying to figure out why they continue to decrease, and I have not seen any upwards movement even though I have been paying on the cards & keeping utilization relatively low. Any ideas? Or do I just need to be patient & they will eventually rise again?

Message 1 of 10
9 REPLIES 9
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: My credit score flat-lined?


@Anonymous wrote:

I'm still trying to figure out this entire credit score thing, and how to increase my scores.

By no means, do I think I have "bad" scores, I just don't know why they have not increased. Seems that they have "flat-lined" so to speak.

 

Most of these scores were provided by CreditKarma or Discover...

In July before I began apping for new cards I was at 758. Which seems to be on the high end.

Started apping for cards so I knew it would decrease due to hard pulls. In August is dropped to 748.

By the middle of August I quit apping for cards, and have just been using & paying on them each month. All cards are at 0% APR, and I owe roughly $450 still; which will be paid off in the next month or two. My total credit utilization is at 3% or less each month. 

In September my score dropped to 732. And for the past 2 months (October & November, so far) it has been a consistent 721.

Also, the past 2 months Discover is reporting a score of 738.

 

I don't think any of these scores are really considered bad, but I'm just trying to figure out why they continue to decrease, and I have not seen any upwards movement even though I have been paying on the cards & keeping utilization relatively low. Any ideas? Or do I just need to be patient & they will eventually rise again?


Lowered average age of accounts. Inquiries. Rebucketing. Sneezing.

 

Any of these can affect your credit score and cause it to flatline.

Flatline is preferable to nosedive though Smiley Happy

Message 2 of 10
Involver
Valued Contributor

Re: My credit score flat-lined?

Don't pay attention to scores from Credit Karma or other sites like that.

 

Discover is at least offering you a FICO.

 

You're losing points due to new accounts / INQs / AAoA / being placed in a different scoring bucket.

 

Scores aren't the end-all, be-all.  What's important is that your reports are clean.  Your scores will recover in a matter of months and will likely be higher than when you began.

Message 3 of 10
HiLine
Blogger

Re: My credit score flat-lined?

There's a whole credit scoring section where people focus more on credit scores. This credit card section is these days flooded with credit card rewards info.
Message 4 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: My credit score flat-lined?

Experienced many stalled flat lines in my score history. Stopped at around 700 and sat there for better than two years. Nothing seemed to move it up. Then AAoA helped and it started upwards ever so slowly. Seems to drop quicker than it goes up.
Message 5 of 10
lg8302ch
Senior Contributor

Re: My credit score flat-lined?


@Anonymous wrote:
Experienced many stalled flat lines in my score history. Stopped at around 700 and sat there for better than two years. Nothing seemed to move it up. Then AAoA helped and it started upwards ever so slowly. Seems to drop quicker than it goes up.

lol....I have that feeling too especially with TU....just cannot get close to the other two with TU  Smiley Sad  

Message 6 of 10
Desmoire
Regular Contributor

Re: My credit score flat-lined?


@Anonymous wrote:

I'm still trying to figure out this entire credit score thing, and how to increase my scores.

By no means, do I think I have "bad" scores, I just don't know why they have not increased. Seems that they have "flat-lined" so to speak.

 

Most of these scores were provided by CreditKarma or Discover...

In July before I began apping for new cards I was at 758. Which seems to be on the high end.

Started apping for cards so I knew it would decrease due to hard pulls. In August is dropped to 748.

By the middle of August I quit apping for cards, and have just been using & paying on them each month. All cards are at 0% APR, and I owe roughly $450 still; which will be paid off in the next month or two. My total credit utilization is at 3% or less each month. 

In September my score dropped to 732. And for the past 2 months (October & November, so far) it has been a consistent 721.

Also, the past 2 months Discover is reporting a score of 738.

 

I don't think any of these scores are really considered bad, but I'm just trying to figure out why they continue to decrease, and I have not seen any upwards movement even though I have been paying on the cards & keeping utilization relatively low. Any ideas? Or do I just need to be patient & they will eventually rise again?


Like previous posters have mentioned, it's most certainly AAoA and INQ that have caused you to dip a bit. Do you have any Auto Loans? Mortgages? From what I have seen (I am good friends with an underwriter for a reputable financial institution) it is impossible to get to high 700's or 800's without mortgage and auto loan history.

myFICO Scores EQ 778 TU 783 EX 772 | Mortgage 106774.00 | Auto Loan 15251.00 | AMEX BCE 0/25500 | Lowes 0/6300 | Barclay Rewards 0/5000 | NASA FCU 0/5000 | FNBO 0/4400 | Amazon 0/4000 | FNBO Employee 283/2900 | NFM 0/2600 | Chase Freedom 0/2500 | Best Buy 0/2300 | Cap One 0/2250 | FNBO 0/1100 | NASA FCU Rewards 0/1000 | Quicksilver 0/750 | Younkers 0/500 TOTAL: 283/74,450 0.003% UTIL
Message 7 of 10
takeshi74
Senior Contributor

Re: My credit score flat-lined?

You can't just expect constant increases in your scores and you can't really rely too much on CK's score.

 


Started apping for cards so I knew it would decrease due to hard pulls. In August is dropped to 748.


It's not just hard pulls but AAoA as well.

 


@Anonymous wrote:

My total credit utilization is at 3% or less each month.


Which is good but you're not going to get constant increases for maintaining ~3%.  Your score is increased due to improvements to utilization -- not based on maintaining it.

 


@Anonymous wrote:

I don't think any of these scores are really considered bad, but I'm just trying to figure out why they continue to decrease, and I have not seen any upwards movement even though I have been paying on the cards & keeping utilization relatively low. Any ideas? Or do I just need to be patient & they will eventually rise again?


You've touched on a couple of factors.  The others are mentioned here:

http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/whatsinyourscore.aspx

 

You are building positive Payment History but it takes time to benefit from building that.  You've addressed utilization which is the second biggest factor (Amounts Owed).  You've reduced your AAoA due to the new accounts and it will just take time to build that.  You've incurred hard pulls (New Credit) and the effect of those should taper and fall off relatively quickly.  Can't comment on Types of Credit since you made no mention of them.

 

Building/rebuilding takes time and responsible usage.  Put yourself in the proper mindset for it.

Message 8 of 10
takeshi74
Senior Contributor

Re: My credit score flat-lined?

(nm - dupe)
Message 9 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: My credit score flat-lined?

You need at least 6 months positive history before you recover from the new tradelines.

 

Just wait until January and you'll see that flatliner start beating again

Message 10 of 10
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.