When can I expect a credit score to change

[Anonymous]

I recently (June/July) removed over $600K of home loans from my debt level and as yet have not seen any tangible change to my credit score (611). When is this likely to happen and is it likely to be significant enough to raise the score above 640?

[Anonymous]

I am going to guess that this debt was related to a mortgage. It can take up to 60 days to report to the CRAs to affect your credit scores.

But I don't think mortgage debt is counted in your score that much. Paying off revolving debt like credit cards or LOCs will raise your score more if you have any. Even a small credit card debt can lower your score a lot.

It seems silly how a $500 debt on a credit card could lower your score more than $600k of mortgage debt but it can.

Message Edited by ilovepizza on 08-12-2008 06:08 PM

[Anonymous]

Ilovepizza is right: the FICO scoring formula is rather insensitive to changes in the balances on installment loans like mortgages. And yes, astonishing as it might seem, if you're carrying $900 worth of credit card debt on three cards with a combined limit of $1000, paying $800 would likely raise your score 50 to 70 points or so.

Paying $600 thousand on two jumbo mortgages totaling one million dollars might get you 5 to 10 points. Bizarre? Illogical? Perhaps. But that's how the system works...