My equifax score dropped from 715 to 700 in one month... what happened?

[Anonymous]

An update from the OP here...

I am using this Equifax product to pull up my score  "Equifax Credit Report and Score." 

It looks like one of the credit cards I had at an electronics store was closed (no balance or anything, I just didn't use it).  That wasn't showing up before, but now it is.  I'm guessing that was why I had a drop in credit score? 

I'm curious as to why my score doesn't go up?  I use my AMEX Zync for nearly everything, and pay it off every month.  I pay my student loans and my car payment on time. I have no negative issues. Yet my score never goes up.  Why is this?

[boomhower]

Assuming no big changes like new accounts or derogs your score changes very slowly. It won't budge for months on end. Credit is a slow process so don't be surprised when it takes a while to see changes.

[Anonymous]

A balance not PIF before the statement date (not the due date) could be what dropped your score.  No big deal though, just pay earlier and it should go back up next month.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

An update from the OP here...

I am using this Equifax product to pull up my score  "Equifax Credit Report and Score." 

It looks like one of the credit cards I had at an electronics store was closed (no balance or anything, I just didn't use it).  That wasn't showing up before, but now it is.  I'm guessing that was why I had a drop in credit score? 

I'm curious as to why my score doesn't go up?  I use my AMEX Zync for nearly everything, and pay it off every month.  I pay my student loans and my car payment on time. I have no negative issues. Yet my score never goes up.  Why is this?

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I truly don't believe that this is a FICO score, so it's hard to know why it's not changing.

Is your Zync card your only card? As a charge card, it isn't factored in utilization.

If you pull an Equifax FICO report, it will list your negative factors (what's holding down your score) on screen two. But again, if you're looking at a FAKO score and report, it's kind of meaningless, as lenders don't use it, and it doesn't react the way your FICO's do.

[Anonymous]

Ok, I'll have to pull my real deal FICO then. 

And yes the Zync is my only card.  I just applied for Chase Freedom.  I'll probably get turned down though, so if that's the case I'll try out American Express Blue Cash or Capital One's Cash back card.

Will update when I get my Equifax FICO!

[GregB]

I typically see the opposite problem. Most of the useless FAKO versions seem to bounce around like crazy.

Someday when I'm bored I am thinking about making up a spreadsheet with the changes in my Plus, TransRisk, Vantage vs my EQ and TU FICOs.

I would guess I would have 200 score changes on the 3 FAKOs that I track vs. 2 changes on real FICOs.

[Anonymous]

Ok, so I got denied for Chase Freedom, which is what I expected.  But in the report they sent me it said my credit score was 634. 

Does someone have any tips on what I should do at this point for building credit?  I thought I was doing everything right, paying my car payment on time, using my credit card for all purchases (Zync) and paying it every month, and paying my student loans on time.  I guess there is something I am doing wrong?  Does the fact that I have so much debt from my student loans ($30k) and car ($9k) have a negative effect?

[Ms-Kato]

Don't feel bad...my new cap 1 card just reported a balance (1 month old card) and my EQ dropped

20 points from 690 to 670

So much for all the work I been doing .

And I had 4 Negative tradelines removed in the same month.

EQ only reporting 3 of my 5 CC's so my ULI took a huge hit hence the big drop in score.