Score drop for inactive card?

[yoyo]

Hello, my EQ score dropped 4 points today because of
**New balance on card $90 was 0
**Inactive card for 3 months now active.

My utilization is still around 9-10% what gives?

Starting scores 1/2015 TU 568 EQ 600 EX 600
Current scores 1/2016 TU 662 EQ 662 EX 652

Von Maur $800, Cap1 Plat $2,100, Cap1 Sony $2,500, Cap1 QS1 $1,750, Khols $700, First Savings $750, Overstock $2,200, Avenue $450
9% Util, Advant $2,100 loan, Credit Union Auto $15,00 3.9APR

[Anonymous]

The important information in that alert to focus on is this:

       New balance on card $90 was 0

So the number of accounts that you have reporting a positive balance has gone up.  This is one of the things that FICO dings you for.  FICO likes it best when you have exactly one card showing a balance (with all your other cards at $0).  Like utilization, however, the effect on your score is temporary.  You can always get the maximum number of points possible in this area by bringing your total utilization down to a small number and having exactly one card with a positive balance.

The other part of the alert (inactive card for 3 months now active) is just information that myFICO is supplying to you, just an FYI.  It's not telling you that the inactivity changing to active is harming your score.  It's the $0 changing to positive that can cause a small score drop.

PS.  Your total utilization may be high enough to cause a small score drop too.  A utilization of 9.1% gets rounded up to 10% by FICO, which some people have reported is associated with a small score hit.  Better is to keep it < 8.9% (if you don't want that small hit).  In fact, if you really need to be 100% safe for an important pull, it's easiest just to bring your utilization way down, e.g. 1-4%.

[yoyo]

Thank you...That means I should see a drop with TransUnion and Experian?

[Anonymous]

Possibly, but not necessarily.  Here are two reasons:

All three credit bureas might not contain exactly the same accounts.  The presence or absence of other accounts can change the effect of a card going from $0 to positive.  Here's a fairly extreme example.  Suppose I have 2 cards at EQ and 9 cards at TU.  When a previously $0 card at EQ goes positive that made me go from 50% of my cards reporting a balance to 100% of my cards showing a balance.  But at TU the same event caused me to go from 11% of my cards showing a balance to 22% -- in that case FICO would probably give me no score loss at TU and a big one at EQ.

The FICO 8 model is implemented slightly differently at each bureau.  It's not just that the accounts and the data going into the model could be different -- the actual algorithm itself is slightly different.  So FICO 8 at Experian might spank you for this more than EQ, just because the model is slightly different.

But with those two caveats clear, you are right that what causes a score drop at one burea has a decent chance of causing a similar score drop at at either or both of the others.

[yoyo]

Thank you...i'll let you know what happens...

[satasat360]

All three credit bureas might not contain exactly the same accounts.  The presence or absence of other accounts can change the effect of a card going from $0 to positive.  Here's a fairly extreme example.  Suppose I have 2 cards at EQ and 9 cards at TU.  When a previously $0 card at EQ goes positive that made me go from 50% of my cards reporting a balance to 100% of my cards showing a balance.  But at TU the same event caused me to go from 11% of my cards showing a balance to 22% -- in that case FICO would probably give me no score loss at TU and a big one at EQ.

Is it possible to have different number of cards in EQ and TU?  I have 13 accounts  (7 different banks + auto) and all of them seems to be present in all 3.

[Anonymous]

Anything is possible.  Many people have accounts that are not on all three bureaus.  The example I gave is extreme (and I identfied it as such) so that it is easier to see how if you have some extra $0 balance accounts at one bureau it could cause this factor to have no effect there and a big effect at another.  Once we see that, it's easier to imagine how the scoring effect could be more subtle with subtler differences in the CRA data.

I have a credit card that is on my EQ and EX but not my TU.

[takeshi74]

Additionall,y if you're going ot worry over score changes then set a higher threshold.  4 is way too low.  I'd suggest at least 20.  You're going to see some fluctuation in scores just from normal activity.  That said, I recommend focusing on report data versus specific numbers but that requires a better understanding of how report data tends to be assessed.