TU score drop 10 points

[Anonymous]

I dont understand why my TU credit score drop 10 points.  I was wondering will it have anything to do with me opening a new account.  My credit score was 600 and now its 590.  I have to have a credit score of 620 to qualify for a mortgage loan.  I don't know what else to do to try and boost my credit score by 20-30 points.  Plz help me I'm so ready to move into my new home.

[lsutigers03]

10% of your total score is based on your new credit.  So your score dropping 10 points for a new account doesn't seem that out of the ordinary.

Message Edited by lsutigers03 on 05-01-2009 11:09 AM

[llecs]

OP, 10 pts isn't all that bad. I've lost on avg. between 20-25 pts per new account added. I've found that most points return within 6 months with the remainder returning by 12 months. There is the possibility that the loss due to the new account is greater than 10 points but the positive effects cancelled some of that out (e.g. utilization or mix of credit), so your point return could be faster than you realize.

Do you have any baddies you could tackle?

[haulingthescoreup]

How far out are you from your mortgage app? Conventional wisdom says not to apply for anything at all within 6 months of a mortgage app, for the very reason you describe, unless the gain from new credit negates the effect of re-aging, etc.

The biggest thing that you can do for a quick score improvement is to pay down any displayed balances. Even if you pay your CC bills in full every month, if a balance due is displayed on your statement, this is reported to the credit bureaus, and it looks as if you're carrying CC balances. Pay off every CC but one several days before the statement is due to drop; let that one remaining card report $10-20, and then pay it off. Please post back if you have AmEx, HSBC, Orchard, or US Bank --they report on different schedules.

At any rate, util (amount owed divided by credit limits extended) is a huge driver of FICO scores, and it's the one area that is somewhat controllable by the consumer, if you have the cash to pay off your cards.