FICO Causes and Effects (What Happened, and How Did it Affect Your FICO?)

[haulingthescoreup]

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@positronicshell wrote:
OK here is an interesting SW alert:

i am AU on DH Wamu CC.
he has not used it in almost a year so I had him use it for a small purchase.
he bought $45 worth of touch-up paints for our road bikes (1% UTIL).
when this reports, we both get a SW alert:

his EQ FICO goes up 7 points.
my EQ FICO goes down 13 points.

the explanation SW gave was the same.
UGH, scores are so impossible to understand!

xoxox jane

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MV has a similar classic relating to length of credit history, I think it is. He and his DW have the same length of history, but his is listed as a positive and hers as a negative.

I just had something similar happen after a score hop (that isn't real, unfortunately.) One the previous report, my 18-year history was a positive, but on this one, the identical history was listed as a negative, as in not long enough. Both of these in TU, by the way.

[MeganML84]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

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@MeganML84 wrote:

Gw'd a 6 month old collection off EX report. Score goes from 623 to 673.

GW WORKS!

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Wowzers! Serious congratulations to you!!!

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Thanks!

Hopefully tomorrow it will be off my TU report as well. Then the only derog I have to deal with is ONE paid collection on my EQ report from 2004. Grrr....

It is SOOOOOO nice to see my EX report where it says, "You have no collections." Earlier this year I had 5!!

[BBYGRL]

I just received a SW alert. My score dropped 5 points when a $33 Macy's charge reported. My balance is $33 with a CL of $2000. My total (all cards) uti is below 20%. I know I will get the points back. It just sucks!

[Anonymous]

On 12/26/07 my score was 726. On 1/5/08 it dropped 29 points to 697. This is by far the largest drop ever, however there was no change in any of my accounts, i.e., no increase in balances, or any other negative event. (I have never had any late payments or collection accounts.) Can anyone here provide any explanation, or even informed speculation, for this large drop in my score when no event occurred that triggered it? There were no other major events for many months before this drop, and my FICO score has been in the range of 720 to over 750 for several years. I am wondering if this score drop may have something to do with the global credit crunch, that is, as credit has dried up generally, perhaps Fair Isaac reconfigured their algorithm after the New Year and my FICO score dropped along with a lot of other peoples'.

[Anonymous]

- 1st hard inquiry, score in 800 range drops 11 or 12 pts (I think from 811 to 799),

- 10 or so more inquiries and (i think) 8 new accounts, score drops another 20 pts (in the 770 range). notice that average age went from 9 years to about 5 years,

- utilization from around 0% to over 35%, score drops to the 740 range,

- the 8 new accounts age 6 months, no new inquiries, and util down to 20%, score back in the 770 range,

- when moving from 4 cards w/ balances to 5 cards/ with balances, score drops 11 points.  when moving back to 4 cards w/ balances, score goes up 11 points.  very consistent, and does not matter how much balance is, even single digit dollar amount on a $10K line,

the pattern is consistent across all three, though one burea had all the inquiries.  once 6 months passed, the inquiry effect almost vanishes.

all real FICO scores.

Message Edited by ChumChurum on 01-22-2008 10:54 PM

[Anonymous]

how long do lates usually take to drop off?

[Anonymous]

36 point jump- maybe due to adding a car loan (my Camry was paid for over 5 years ago- so, still on my report, but not open).

(Edit: Graph removed)

I had a 36 point dip right around the first of the year, which was probably a re-bucket (just in time for car-shopping, of course ), then an 11 point dip middle of January was a car loan inquiry.  Stayed steady for the next couple inquiries, then jumped when the car loan showed up.

Oddly, the message I got along with the "new account" (car loan) alert said that the "Too many accounts with balances" may not be hurting my score as much.

Hmm. Just noticed that the initial dip that I thought was a rebucket was the same number of points as the jump.  Maybe I got rebucketed the other way, back into the category of "people with new accounts less than 6 months old".  I'd opened a CC and re-fi'd a HELOC last May; so by Jan. those 2 would be over 6 months old.  It'll be interesting to see what happens in July/August when the car loan turns 6 months old...

Message Edited by MsMS on 02-06-2008 08:00 AM

Message Edited by MsMS on 02-07-2008 06:00 AM

Message Edited by MsMS on 02-07-2008 06:10 AM

[haulingthescoreup]

Hi, everyone --just want to remind/ inform our members that these Scorewatch graphs keep updating away, long after the thread has been read. You are welcome to post them, as long as you realize that you really ought to go back and delete them after a week or so.

MsMs, if you can't delete it yourself, please post back here once you're ready to have the graph disappear, and one of us will be happy to remove it for you.

[Anonymous]

Wow they update!!! I would love to put a fico downloadable graph on my desktop that updates. What an awesome idea. I am going to try it.

I log in to check it every day. So I took my score page to my desktop to update daily. I'll wait a week to see if it updates with out logging in. That would be soooo very cool. I like it so much I am going to submit it to MyFICO as an idea.

Message Edited by ilovepizza on 02-06-2008 04:00 PM

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Wow they update!!! I would love to put a fico downloadable graph on my desktop that updates. What an awesome idea. I am going to try it.

I log in to check it every day. So I took my score page to my desktop to update daily. I'll wait a week to see if it updates with out logging in. That would be soooo very cool. I like it so much I am going to submit it to MyFICO as an idea.

Message Edited by ilovepizza on 02-06-2008 04:00 PM

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Well, I hate to tell you, but they only update when a Scorewatch alert score change generates, or when you pull your FICO EQ. Otherwise, that would be pretty slick --just let it keep puttering along, posting new scores without you having to pay a penny!

Anyway, just so everyone realizes, these graphs are like the Portrait of Dorian Gray. The graph keeps moving, whether upwards or downwards, telling anyone who wants to look what your real EQ score is!

I've removed all the posts that I can find with the graphs. If anyone finds another, and they would like it removed, please pm a mod.