FICO drop after closing account

[gap512]

After closing a high interest line of credit (when they refused to lower it...I now know this was a big mistake), my experian score dropped from 700 to 595. In preparation for seeking a mortgage, I am planning to pay off $10-15,000 in credit card debt (about 1/2 of my cc debt). My question is - will paying down this debt offset the hit I took from cancelling the 10K line of credit? If so, how long can I expect it to take?

Now, to make things a little more confusing - that drop from 700 to 595 was reported by myfico.com. The following day, I received my scores on truecredit.com and it showed that experian had gone up to 712. I'm not sure which one to believe. Is it possible for there to be that much fluctuation in 4 days?

[Anonymous]

Please read this thread about credit scoring!

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=ficoscoring&thread.id=29793

Your FICO score is correct and your TrueCredit (FAKO score) is incorrect.  I would pay down my debt as soon as possible because when your FICO score takes a dramatic jump downwards it could piss off other creditors right away during these fickle credit days.

Pay as much debt off as you can right away because your creditors are watching closely!!!  Please use TrueCredit for information only because the scores on the site are dead wrong.

Good Luck!!!

TheTaxMan

[Junejer]

Hi Gap, welcome to the forums. As TheTaxMan says, read credit scoring 101 to learn the difference between FICOs and FAKOs. The majority of lenders (over 90%) use FICO scores to aid in their decision making process. Use TC for the daily updates, but please ignore the scores and the advice that they give. As you can see, the action that you took, lowered your FICO, but raised your FAKO. Following their advice can further lower your FICO.

You should get your overall and individual util down to 1-9% If possible. Were you carrying a balance on that LOC? Is it possible to re-open it? You can use that $10,000 in the util calculation.