Random 26 point drop??

[Anonymous]

I logged in today to see that I had a random, significant drop in my Equifax score.

Nothing has actually changed, the last update was on January 30th where I paid off the balance of one of my cards, and the score increased by 2 points.

The update today is "Your FICO score has decreased from 727 to 701".  The reason for it is "You've made heavy use of your available revolving credit."

Wait, what?  I have a 13% average utilization.. the highest single util is 38%, but it has been there for two weeks.  This one is high because of a 0% interest deal going on with that purchase.  There is no other data or changes in the last 11 days.

My AAoA is 10 months, so I did not think that I hit some sort of rebucket issue... what in the world happened?

[mitchblue]

There is no random drop..has to be something.

[Anonymous]

I fully agree, but I see no other activity anywhere near it that would explain this..  The other two scores, and those on CK and Mint are unaffected.. just EQ on myFICO.

[HiLine]

Did your credit history length cross a full-year threshold?

[Anonymous]

Actually, that is a good point.. my oldest account will hit 3 years old in 3 days..  

[HiLine]

I took an approximately 30 point hit when my oldest account turned 3 years old as well. I bet your score will recover when your AAoA reaches 1 year. Low AAoA coupled with much longer credit history implies you have lots of new credit which will be penalized.

[Imhotrodcrazy]

EQ is a PITA!

[calangelo]

We're trying to get my husband's credit score back up.  He has fewer accounts than me and they are newer, oldest about 3 years.  My average account age is much higher. If I make him an authorized user on my older cards, will that help increase his average age of account?

[gdale6]

---

@calangelo wrote:

We're trying to get my husband's credit score back up.  He has fewer accounts than me and they are newer, oldest about 3 years.  My average account age is much higher. If I make him an authorized user on my older cards, will that help increase his average age of account?

---

Yes