Unexplained Score Drop

[Anonymous]

After four months of no movement in my FICO score it dropped 69 points.  The alert did not give me a specific reason why.  I have small balances on my three existing credit cards and car loan but have not missed any payments.  I have not applied for new credit.  There are no new inquiries.  I don't understand it.  I am making my payments on time, I am not maxing out my credit cards so why does my score drop instead of go up?  Any ideas. 

[MarineVietVet]

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@Anonymous wrote:

After four months of no movement in my FICO score it dropped 69 points.  The alert did not give me a specific reason why.  I have small balances on my three existing credit cards and car loan but have not missed any payments.  I have not applied for new credit.  There are no new inquiries.  I don't understand it.  I am making my payments on time, I am not maxing out my credit cards so why does my score drop instead of go up?  Any ideas. 

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Did you go from balances on one or two of your cards to balances on all three?

What is the individual card utilization and overall utilization? Has any of that increased recently?

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802
EQ - 7/06-663, 3/10-800
TU - 8/10-772

You can do the same thing with hard work

Credit Scoring 101
Common Abbreviations
Frequently Requested Threads
Whats In Your FICO Score

[Anonymous]

The balance due on all three cards combined is $75 (gas/oil change, minor stuff) and no recent significant purchases.   This is the average monthly amount I put on the cards.  I try to keep the balance under $100 for all three.

[MarineVietVet]

And no negatives either added or dropped off?

[Anonymous]

I just pulled my equifax CR and there no new negatives, no inquiries, no liens, no lates.  But on the brightside, my score is 21 points higher than the FICO alert I received on Saturday.  So that is good news.

[MarineVietVet]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I just pulled my equifax CR and there no new negatives, no inquiries, no liens, no lates.  But on the brightside, my score is 21 points higher than the FICO alert I received on Saturday.  So that is good news.

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That's a good thing. 

Has your AAoA passed any kind of anniversary date? Sometimes that will put you in a different scoring "bucket" and temporarily lower your score.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802
EQ - 7/06-663, 3/10-800
TU - 8/10-772

You can do the same thing with hard work

Credit Scoring 101
Common Abbreviations
Frequently Requested Threads
Whats In Your FICO Score

[Anonymous]

That might be it.  I just reached the two year mark with one of my credit cards with no late or missed payments since opening it. 

[haulingthescoreup]

I don't know how often you pull your reports, but it's possible (not likely, but possible) that your Equifax file has split. Part is in one location, and part in another. Depending on which fragment is checked, your score will be higher or lower.

If you start getting SW alerts that your score is varying between the same two (or close) figures, back and forth, you might have a split.

Check to make sure that the same number of accounts show on every report. If even one falls off, it can really affect your score, by changing your length of history, available credit, etc.

As I said, I doubt that's it in your case, but it's good to be aware of the split file phenomenon.

Split files are frequently caused by having lots of soft inquiries, as can happen if you access your reports frequently. It's a good idea for frequent pullers to have an older printed-out report listing all accounts, in case you have to get Equifax to rebuild your file one day.

[Anonymous]

I routinely pull my CR once a year and then will pull it again if something strange appears like this huge drop.  But usually no more than twice a year.  In comparing the recent CR to the CR from earlier this year, I noticed that an old credit account had dropped off.  This might further explain the score drop as well.

Thank you both for your help.