credit score going down..I need expert help!

[Anonymous]

I really need help!  This year, I paid my last student loan payment, and then in August my last car payment. Both are reporting in good standing 0 balances.  I have 1 personal loan and 1 credit card, but those are only reporting on Experian and they are in good standing, never late.  I have not had an inquiry since Sept when a mortgage co. ran my credit.  In Aug. I had a NYS tax warrant, and by Sept. it was vacated on all 3 reports (it truly was an error and I fixed it quickly) My last late payment was Feb 09 on my car, and everything else is old but paid off. However, my scores are going DOWN each month!  For example, my Equifax was a 619 in Sept, after the warrant was vacated it went to a 605, and now it is 603!  I have gone over my credit reports with a fine tooth comb and I can't find out WHY.

     My mortgage broker said NOT to open any new accounts (which isn't so hard since now I'm a 603!)

     What do I do?  I am trying to buy a house..but I am getting FARTHER away!

[MarineVietVet]

I'll make a few comments and then let others add their 2 cents.

Having more than one credit card wil help you but right now that's not an option because of the mortgage situation. What you can do with the CC you have is try and have less than 9% utilization report each month on it's statement. You can use it however you want during the month but time your payments so that the <9% utilization is achieved a few days before the statement posts because that monthly balance is what is used to calculate utilization.

You can try and get that late payment removed early through GW letters.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802, EQ - 10/10-813, TU - 10/10-774

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the quick reply!  I really appreciate it!

Even if my last late payment was Feb 09, and I'm moving farther away from it,  why are my scores inching down?  Do you think my scores are going down because  I don't have any more active accounts on TU and Equfax because my loans timed out? Do people LOSE points for no active credit?

My loan/CC are only reporting on Experian, and that is going up, but my mid-range and bottom scores are going down. My mortgage broker uses the mid-range score to apply to FHA.

You know, another thing I was thinking is this:   Do mortgage brokers see different scores? In other words, maybe the score she gave me in Sept was higher than what I would  have seen on MyFico (I joined AFTER Sept to see when I would hit 620-640)

[MarineVietVet]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thank you for the quick reply!  I really appreciate it!

Even if my last late payment was Feb 09, and I'm moving farther away from it,  why are my scores inching down?  Do you think my scores are going down because  I don't have any more active accounts on TU and Equfax because my loans timed out? Do people LOSE points for no active credit? You do have active credit though. You have an installment loan and a CC.

My loan/CC are only reporting on Experian, and that is going up, but my mid-range and bottom scores are going down. My mortgage broker uses the mid-range score to apply to FHA. I would contact whoever has these accounts and ask them why they are not reporting to TU and EQ. It might just be a clerical error. However not every creditor reports to every CRA but it's worth checking into.

You know, another thing I was thinking is this:   Do mortgage brokers see different scores? In other words, maybe the score she gave me in Sept was higher than what I would  have seen on MyFico (I joined AFTER Sept to see when I would hit 620-640) That's a possiblity.There are mortgage enhanced credit scores.

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[BrandonSS]

Have you pulled all 3 reports from annualcreditreport.com?  If not, see if there is a collection showing somewhere?

Also where are you pulling your scores?  myFICO or?  If not myFICO, try pulling your EQ and TU from here as they are true FICO scores.  If you google discount code for myFICO you can find a code to take a certain percentage off the price to cut you a little bit of a deal. 

[Anonymous]

My first report/scores was from the mortgage broker.  At that time, we saw that Equifax was still showing the tax warrant, so I went on that site and re-disputed it. Also, Equifax was showing a balance for the car loan I finished, so I had to call Ford Credit and ask them to re-submit a zero balance paid in full.  After the warrant  was deleted, I went on the site and bought the 3-in-one score/report to see if those changes were made (Exp and TU had already made the changes)  The warrant was deleted and Ford Credit did make the changes and even put "paid as agreed"  even though I had a late in Feb 09, but that is when I first saw that my scores on Equifax and TU were dropped!!

Oh, and my loan and CC are through my credit union, so I guess they only report to Exp.(that score is slowly going up)

How do I pull up ALL 3 scores so I have a decent mid-range? My Equifax went from 616 (broker pulled) to 605  in late Oct.(after the warrant and Ford Credit 0 balance) to 603 today! And thats with no more hard pulls since the broker pulled it in early Sept. Even the broker can't explain it after seeing my report, and she considered sending it to underwriting, but FHA is too set on the mid-range.

It must sound like I'm either omitting something or not seeing something! I must be doing something wrong....

my first idea is to open a new account, like a car loan, but at my score range, the payments would be high and my debt/income ratio would suffer..

[MarineVietVet]

I mentioned revolving utilization in my first post. Do you know what your utilization is?

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802, EQ - 10/10-813, TU - 10/10-774

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".
 

[BrandonSS]

No one can buy their true Experian FICO unfortunately unless they are lender pulled.  They stopped doing that last Feb i believe.  But you can pull your EQ and TU from this site.  As far as I know, this is the only place you can purchase your true FICOs. 

The score you are seeing from your 3 in one are not your true FICOs. 

[MarineVietVet]

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@BrandonSS wrote:

No one can buy their true Experian FICO unfortunately unless they are lender pulled.  They stopped doing that last Feb i believe.  But you can pull your EQ and TU from this site.  As far as I know, this is the only place you can purchase your true FICOs. 

The score you are seeing from your 3 in one are not your true FICOs. 

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It was February, 2009 that Experian stopped selling their score to consumers.

You can also purchase your Transunion score at www.transunioncs.com. At www.equifax.com EQ will still sell you an EQ FICO score but they make it very hard to find.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802, EQ - 10/10-813, TU - 10/10-774

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

[Anonymous]

o.k...so I took everyone's advice, and I bought the scores from MyFico (plus I found a promo code!)

and....my score, according to MyFico, is higher!  That is so wierd, on the EQ site, it has gone down 616 (lender pulled) to 605 (their number) to 603 (their number) but here its gone from 616 in Sept to 621 today.

So, My Fico.com  actually has the REAL score? What does a lender see then? 

This number makes so much more sense to me..THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!