Possible Rebucketing?

[Lucid08]

Hi all!

Got a Scorewatch alert this morning with some pretty upsetting news. My score dropped from the low 600's to 549 according to the alert. I purchased a new Scorepower report just a few moments ago and the only thing that has changed, is that an old Medical collection finally dropped off my report.

Also, on prior reports I've never seen any red flags as they pertain to CFL accounts, but as of this report it's being listed as a negative with "ALL" of my installment loans being considered CFL's. Which I do have some, but I find it hard to believe that EQ is considering Navy Federal a CFL.

At any rate, the medical collection was my -only- negative item with no late payments -ever- on any of my accounts. Could this, in fact, have been a rebucketing that I am seeing here?

[haulingthescoreup]

Yes, you actually have a genuine rebucketing. Most score buckets appear to be for different ages, but there are two negative ones, and you just came out of one.

How far down the list is the CFL comment? If it's at the bottom, that means that it's not hurting you very much. But I agree with you, I would not have expected Navy FCU to code one of its installment products as a CFL.

Back to the other negative comments: what are they, in order? These are now the areas to work on, with the first-listed comment having the most effect on your scores. I'm guessing that util is your big killer.

And despite the upsetting drop, congrats on getting rid of the medical collection and having no negatives on your reports! I wish I could say the same. From here on out, it's all upward.

[Lucid08]

Hi Hauling!

From top to bottom, these are the 4 red factors hurting my score:

1. Short account history

2. High credit usage

3. Seeking credit

4. Consumer finance account.

So yes, it is at the bottom. So I guess it's tighten the old belt up now and get my credit usage down and not app for a long while. But, on a good note, my payment history bar is solid green with "great" inside of it! 

But I wonder why, now that I'm in a new bucket, did the CFL issue even come up? Prior scorepower reports have never dinged me or made mention of CFL accounts. This new bucket seems to indicate that CFL sccounts are now being looked at, whereas the old bucket I was in didnt care. Definately worth taking note of, I think.

[haulingthescoreup]

I think it's because your score dropped below a certain figure, so lucky you, you're rewarded with an additional negative comment.

I noticed that when my TU was 759, I had two negative comments. When it went to 761, I only had one. It briefly dropped down again, and sure enough, two negatives. Meanwhile EQ as usual trails behind, and it has three negatives. (Need to change my siggy --it keeps flickering back and forth across 730.) I don't know that the figures are the same across CRA's, but a lot of us have seen this.

I know that once someone hits 800, myFICO doesn't give negative comments, even though there might still be some on the underlying full report. It appears that the 800-crowd is too touchy for negative feedback.

[Lucid08]

Hauling,

Thanks for the feedback!

One last question: Is there any data available to make a best guess as to when the CFL accounts will stop hurting my score? As of this morning, if I ignore the Navy Federal installment loan, the remaining open CFL loans I have will be paid off by september of '09 and will forever stay closed afterwards.

[haulingthescoreup]

They'll have an affect as long as they keep reporting, which is ten years after closing. But CFL's have a very minimal effect on scores, so I wouldn't worry about it terribly. The very fact that the comment is tacked on after the short history/ low util/ seeking credit bit shows that it's pretty meaningless. After all, the seeking credit part probably isn't worth more than 10 points or so max, with your scores, so presumably the CFL presence counts even less.

From what I've seen, the CFL ding is just one of those last desperate things they throw at you to keep you from perfection!

[MattH]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:
They'll have an affect as long as they keep reporting, which is ten years after closing. But CFL's have a very minimal effect on scores, so I wouldn't worry about it terribly. The very fact that the comment is tacked on after the short history/ low util/ seeking credit bit shows that it's pretty meaningless. After all, the seeking credit part probably isn't worth more than 10 points or so max, with your scores, so presumably the CFL presence counts even less.

From what I've seen, the CFL ding is just one of those last desperate things they throw at you to keep you from perfection!

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I've got one CFL on my history from when the A/C compressor died at a time when we had very little cash because we'd put most of what we had into buying and furnishing our residence so we had to finance it through the HVAC dealer.  It was never even mentioned as a ding, so I guess a strong enough history otherwise can overcome a single CFL.

[Anonymous]

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@MattH wrote:

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:
They'll have an affect as long as they keep reporting, which is ten years after closing. But CFL's have a very minimal effect on scores, so I wouldn't worry about it terribly. The very fact that the comment is tacked on after the short history/ low util/ seeking credit bit shows that it's pretty meaningless. After all, the seeking credit part probably isn't worth more than 10 points or so max, with your scores, so presumably the CFL presence counts even less.

From what I've seen, the CFL ding is just one of those last desperate things they throw at you to keep you from perfection!

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I've got one CFL on my history from when the A/C compressor died at a time when we had very little cash because we'd put most of what we had into buying and furnishing our residence so we had to finance it through the HVAC dealer.  It was never even mentioned as a ding, so I guess a strong enough history otherwise can overcome a single CFL.

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That is correct.  Items that at one time were regarded as "hurting" me in comments were non-factors as my score improved.  When my score was in the mid to low 700's, inquiries hurt me.  When my score is above 800, my comments say there are no negatives even though I had MORE inquires then than previously and inquiries had been a negative comment previously.

[Lucid08]

Ok, I got to thinking...

Since I was rebucketed when my only collection aged off, I'm wondering if I will get rebucketed yet again when my oldest account hits its 2 year birthday in a few months?? Will this be another FICO score hit and a new round of negative items that I will have to contend with making sense of?

[haulingthescoreup]

You probably will, but your score may very well go up instead of down, if you can get the util down.

Rebucketing doesn't automatically result in a score loss. It all depends on how you compare with your new credit peers.