LOC Balances vs. CC Balances

[Slim1Der]

I believe that LOC balances heavily affect your FICO score more than a CC balance.

Case in point, I had posted about using my NavCheck for the first time in the amount of $2,964. As soon as it reported to EX, I got a MyFico alert of a balance increase and subsequent score decrease of 39 points! I was heated to say the least. My thinking was that I would PIF and once the ZERO balance reported, it would go back up 39 points. WRONG. It went up 2 points. 

Anyways, I got over it and now I got worried that my new US Airways MasterCard(my new go to card) would make me suffer the same fate on my credit score because I charged up almost the same amount on it from a ZERO balance to $2,300. Well, it reported and got another MyFico alert for EX and TU and guess what? NO SCORE CHANGE!

Can anyone confirm this with me? Why would it drop 39 points when using the LOC and not drop at all when using the CC?

[NRB525]

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@Slim1Der wrote:

I believe that LOC balances heavily affect your FICO score more than a CC balance.

Case in point, I had posted about using my NavCheck for the first time in the amount of $2,964. As soon as it reported to EX, I got a MyFico alert of a balance increase and subsequent score decrease of 39 points! I was heated to say the least. My thinking was that I would PIF and once the ZERO balance reported, it would go back up 39 points. WRONG. It went up 2 points. 

Anyways, I got over it and now I got worried that my new US Airways MasterCard(my new go to card) would make me suffer the same fate on my credit score because I charged up almost the same amount on it from a ZERO balance to $2,300. Well, it reported and got another MyFico alert for EX and TU and guess what? NO SCORE CHANGE!

Can anyone confirm this with me? Why would it drop 39 points when using the LOC and not drop at all when using the CC?

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Interesting. When the NavCheck is reported, does it report your loan limit as $2,964 and loan amount also at $2,964 (100% utilization) or is there a higher LOC limit reported?

and FWIW, I think many of the "score changes" attributed to a single event are really just that single event being the timing trigger to get FICO to go back and re-calculate from history, meaning the one listed event is probably not the only driver for the actual score change. It would be an influence, but not the only factor.

[Anonymous]

I believe you are right on the LOC. i had a 500 dollar LOC report 500 and 1 lost 41 points from a Penfed LOC.this was last month no other change. I am hoping it goes back once i payed it down.

[Anonymous]

LOC's are reported as REVOLVING credit. The same as a CC. It's very well known NAVCheck reports this way. It's easy to get an adds an instant $15K in utilization in most cases.

So yes they will impact your credit harshly especially if it displaces your Utilization a fair amount. 

Point. They're not affecting your credit more than a CC.... But exactly the same.

It's more likely that the new account and Drop in AAoA affected your score more than the utilization did.  

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

LOC's are reported as REVOLVING credit. The same as a CC. It's very well known NAVCheck reports this way. It's easy to get an adds an instant $15K in utilization in most cases.

So yes they will impact your credit harshly especially if it displaces your Utilization a fair amount. 

Point. They're not affecting your credit more than a CC.... But exactly the same.

It's more likely that the new account and Drop in AAoA affected your score more than the utilization did.  

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My findings relate to my US Bank LOC (large CL) where I have experienced that it hits my credit scores exactly the same as credit cards. Reports a credit limit and utilization is factored the same. Why a LOC would take scores down 30+ points is a really big hit. WOW!

[NRB525]

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@Slim1Der wrote:

I believe that LOC balances heavily affect your FICO score more than a CC balance.

Case in point, I had posted about using my NavCheck for the first time in the amount of $2,964. As soon as it reported to EX, I got a MyFico alert of a balance increase and subsequent score decrease of 39 points! I was heated to say the least. My thinking was that I would PIF and once the ZERO balance reported, it would go back up 39 points. WRONG. It went up 2 points. 

Anyways, I got over it and now I got worried that my new US Airways MasterCard(my new go to card) would make me suffer the same fate on my credit score because I charged up almost the same amount on it from a ZERO balance to $2,300. Well, it reported and got another MyFico alert for EX and TU and guess what? NO SCORE CHANGE!

Can anyone confirm this with me? Why would it drop 39 points when using the LOC and not drop at all when using the CC?

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OP: Are you using the MyFICO Credit Alert system? And if so, were all three bureaus reporting this drop?

Reason I ask is, if I list out all the alerts over the last two weeks, and what the alert was, by bureau, they are quite lumpy. I don't think the one headline in a particular alert is the only change in the calculation, rather it happens to be the catalyst to run a "recent history" recalculation, and you may or may not have gotten alerts to all of the changes in your credit file leading up to this recalculation.

Case in point: on EX, on 11 November, I have a notice after I paid off a small AMEX bill, and my EX dropped 11 points. A few days later, the same event on EQ caused EQ to drop 3 points, and at that moment, EX and EQ were within 1 FICO point of each other. Each had other changes, including "High Utilization" on another card which factored into the EQ change date, but was not explicitly stated on the same day with the EX change, it was actually on EX the day after the 11 point EX drop.

[Slim1Der]

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@NRB525 wrote:

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@Slim1Der wrote:

I believe that LOC balances heavily affect your FICO score more than a CC balance.

Case in point, I had posted about using my NavCheck for the first time in the amount of $2,964. As soon as it reported to EX, I got a MyFico alert of a balance increase and subsequent score decrease of 39 points! I was heated to say the least. My thinking was that I would PIF and once the ZERO balance reported, it would go back up 39 points. WRONG. It went up 2 points. 

Anyways, I got over it and now I got worried that my new US Airways MasterCard(my new go to card) would make me suffer the same fate on my credit score because I charged up almost the same amount on it from a ZERO balance to $2,300. Well, it reported and got another MyFico alert for EX and TU and guess what? NO SCORE CHANGE!

Can anyone confirm this with me? Why would it drop 39 points when using the LOC and not drop at all when using the CC?

---

OP: Are you using the MyFICO Credit Alert system? And if so, were all three bureaus reporting this drop?

Reason I ask is, if I list out all the alerts over the last two weeks, and what the alert was, by bureau, they are quite lumpy. I don't think the one headline in a particular alert is the only change in the calculation, rather it happens to be the catalyst to run a "recent history" recalculation, and you may or may not have gotten alerts to all of the changes in your credit file leading up to this recalculation.

Case in point: on EX, on 11 November, I have a notice after I paid off a small AMEX bill, and my EX dropped 11 points. A few days later, the same event on EQ caused EQ to drop 3 points, and at that moment, EX and EQ were within 1 FICO point of each other. Each had other changes, including "High Utilization" on another card which factored into the EQ change date, but was not explicitly stated on the same day with the EX change, it was actually on EX the day after the 11 point EX drop.

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Experian was the only one to report a score drop due to this balance reporting. A day later I did have my Equifax drop by 29 points because I removed a dispute, maybe Experian dropped because of this as well? But see, that's why I got the MyFico Credit Alert System, and it has been working well, letting me know each time if any action is going on with my reports, and the score changes associated with it. I'm tempted to try it again, not that I have absolutely NOTHING going on with my reports, but I sure don't want to take a double digit hit again. None of my scores are in the 700 range because of that, and that sucks!