Post app spree downward spiral, will it stop....745 to 680.

[racer-x]

Sooooo,  with a myFico EQ of 745, I went on a good sized app spree about 2 months ago.  EQ has been plummetting ever since.

At time of spree, I had 2 inq on EQ, 1 on TU and 0 on EX.  MyFico EQ was 745, Walmart TU was 652-ish and EX was 670-ish (fako).  EQ squeaky clean. A paid collection on TU and EX.

I netted about $55k in new credit.  I now have 9 Inq on EQ, 2 on TU, and 1 on EX.  Oldest account is 5 yrs, AAoA is 1 yr.  Most of my apps were targeted for EQ pulls since that was my highest score and squeaky clean record.  Utilization is 12% with balances reporting on 7 of 13 accounts.  Trying to find out when statements cut on new accounts seemed to have gotten the best of me.  I've got them now though, and by next month, there will only be 3 of 13 accts reporting balances and utilization will be 10% or maybe a little less.

Currently, myFIco EQ is 680, Walmart TU 674 and EX fakos 707-721.  Surprisingly, TU and EX have gone up.

I knew I was going to take a score drop with the new accounts, AAoA, new inquiries, etc....But I was hoping to bottom out at around 720.  I know with time,  paying utilization down even farther, and having fewer accounts reporting balances, my scores will surely come up again. 

Can't help to feel a little dejected though.  Been fixing my credit for 3650 days to get to 745, and to lose 65 pts in a matter of 45 days, just sucks. lol.

I was posting up the info so people in similar app spree situations can get an idea as to what to expect from an overzealous app spree.

[tinuviel]

I can understand how you feel. But take heart in knowing that time is your friend. Use your credit responsibly and your scores will bounce back. You'll feel much better once you start to see them rebound, and with any luck at all you'll start to signs of recovery in just a few months; in a year, you'll be looking much better. Best wishes!

[racer-x]

tinuviel - and that's why I did it, for the future.  I plan to buy a house in a year maybe 1.5 yrs.  I wanted to show/prove my creditworthiness before I bought a house with some high-ish CL accounts and using them very responsibly over the course of 12-18 mos.  I don't  want or need anymore credit.  My DTI is still only 6%.  No mortgage and just a small ($8K) auto loan.  No student loans, etc...

I'm rotating cards.  Using them and trying to PIF as soon as the transaction goes through.  One problem I had was trying to pay a balance before it reported.  But sometimes I got 'caught' when a transaction went from  'pending' to cleared literally overnight, and before I could get to the computer to PIF, the statement would cut and report a balance.

I did take a trip to florida a month ago and put about $7K among my 3 big CL cards.  Those 3 cards will continue to report a declining balance for the next few months and then I will be all clear again.  Util will be down below 7% and just 1 or 2 cards reporting a balance.

[bettercreditguy1]

You took the hit in one fell swoop. To the formula, it looks like you are desparate for credit. Keep your balances low, pay on time, pay in full if possible, and in a year or so you will have several aged accounts. In the mean time do not apply for any new credit. Should you need an emergency pull, you need some down time between apps. (ie needing a different car or mortage). Seems like the unexpected often crops up when not planned for. Just my two cents.

[Sevenfeet]

I've been watching a similar series of events with my recent app spree.  I was wary of the outcome at first since I was thinking of refinancing my home but now that i chose not to, I'm just watching the scores change with a level of interest measured in a little short term horror.

Seriously, I knew this ws going to happen to some extend.  I began with three cards and a $26K CL at the beginning of the year.  My EQ FICO score was at 732 with EQ, EX and TU all within a few ticks of each other (754, 755 & 760 respectively).  No baddies of any kind.  I only had no inquiries in 12 months on any of them but lots in 2011 when i was car shopping (9 on EQ, 3 and 4 on the others).  What's interesting is that although FICO says it doesn't account for inquiries over a year old, I'm thinking the credit bureaus may think differently on that calculation.  For example, EQ now says on my credit score evaluation that I'm carrying too many inquiries...when only just two hit them during the app spree (for a two year total of 11).  My EQ score dropped sharply after the second app down to 727 before any new accounts showed up.  I'll be curious as to what happens when these old inquiries start falling off in the May/June time frame.

Another observation is that new accounts do drop scores but they can be mitigated by large opening CLs.  My Fidelity Amex has a CLs of $20K and Penfed is $28K.  When both reported, neither moved the needle that much.  I had two good size CLIs at BofA and Chase when all this began which helped.  I haven't seen the US Bank at $7K report yet but the Discover IT which came in at a smallist $2.5K caused all my scores to dive again.  EQ is sitting at 721 now and EQ FICO dipped to 719 briefly before rebounding to slightly to 722.  Credit Sesame says my EX score dropped from 760 to 739.

I now have 8 cards and a $123K total CL.  My scores will still move before it's all over...the Amex BCP ($20K) and the US Bank Cash+($7K) has yet to post (although their inquiries did).  And one last thing in my favor....some of my balance that I transferred to Penfed is being reported by Penfed but it was too late in the cycle to be reported by BofA (so it has me carrying more debt than I really do).  When that shakes out later this month, it should be good for a few point back up.

[youngandcreditwrthy]

I hate when balances double report bc of a bal xfer...
One more reason why having a s**t ton of avail cred is a good thing :-)

[racer-x]

Just a little update. 

I'm back up to a 702 EQ, TU is now 694 ( I think it was in the 650 range at time of spree).  I actually hit EQ 702 at the end of March, but then, I unknowngingly let Paypal report a $167 balance and my score dropped to 690.  This month, I'm back to 702.  I only have 4 of 13 accts reporting balances.  I have $72K in CL's, with 9% utilization.  And no more INQ's.  I've been in the garden.

Onward and Upward!

[09Lexie]

It's tough to see that CS after a successful spree. my drop was 37 points and after a few months I've recovered 15 points. You are obviously winning the battle- keep fighting!

[indiolatino61]

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@racer-x wrote:

Sooooo,  with a myFico EQ of 745, I went on a good sized app spree about 2 months ago.  EQ has been plummetting ever since.

At time of spree, I had 2 inq on EQ, 1 on TU and 0 on EX.  MyFico EQ was 745, Walmart TU was 652-ish and EX was 670-ish (fako).  EQ squeaky clean. A paid collection on TU and EX.

I netted about $55k in new credit.  I now have 9 Inq on EQ, 2 on TU, and 1 on EX.  Oldest account is 5 yrs, AAoA is 1 yr.  Most of my apps were targeted for EQ pulls since that was my highest score and squeaky clean record.  Utilization is 12% with balances reporting on 7 of 13 accounts.  Trying to find out when statements cut on new accounts seemed to have gotten the best of me.  I've got them now though, and by next month, there will only be 3 of 13 accts reporting balances and utilization will be 10% or maybe a little less.

Currently, myFIco EQ is 680, Walmart TU 674 and EX fakos 707-721.  Surprisingly, TU and EX have gone up.

I knew I was going to take a score drop with the new accounts, AAoA, new inquiries, etc....But I was hoping to bottom out at around 720.  I know with time,  paying utilization down even farther, and having fewer accounts reporting balances, my scores will surely come up again. 

Can't help to feel a little dejected though.  Been fixing my credit for 3650 days to get to 745, and to lose 65 pts in a matter of 45 days, just sucks. lol.

I was posting up the info so people in similar app spree situations can get an idea as to what to expect from an overzealous app spree.

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Credit scores are like going on a diet...it takes a good long while to see any results, but it seems like you can undo all your hard work almost overnight...! Don't worry though, those scores will rebound in time, as long as you continue to do the right things. The best of luck to you.