Understanding FICO® Scoring

[MrShush]

Got a ScoreWatch this morning telling me my score has entered a new band. I check it and sure enough it certainly entered a new band--772 down to 733! REALLY??? I quick pulled a new report and NOTHING has changed! My utilization is holding at 18%, I've got 2 inquiries, no new accounts in the last 6 months, all the limits have remained the same except for Discover and a small CLI which has yet to report and Macy's where my last statement shows a credit limit but hasn't reported.

My fiancee is disturbed at my obsession and micromanagement of my credit, but damnit, I've worked extremely hard for those scores! About 6 years ago, I was not much above 600. I think it'd be fairly obvious why I'd be upset right now.

That's it for my rant, anyone have any ideas?

[Duncanrr]

Sounds like you were rebucketed.

[Fresh101]

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Duncanrr wrote:
Sounds like you were rebucketed.

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What does that mean? Sorry for the question. Thanks in advance

[MrShush]

How? Why?

[Duncanrr]

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Fresh101 wrote:

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Duncanrr wrote:
Sounds like you were rebucketed.

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What does that mean? Sorry for the question. Thanks in advance

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My understanding is that as you increase (or hopefully not decrease) your scores you are bracketed/bucketed into a population of people with similar scores.  For example you may be in the subprime group with people who have bad credit.  As your score improves, you are removed from this population and normalized into another group of people you typically have higher scores than your last group.  (think of it as going from JV to Varisty).  As a result, your scores tend to take a hit as you are now compared to people that will typically have higher scores than you.  The benefit is that in the new bucket your scores are supposed to normalize with the rest of the group in a quicker fashion.  This results in quicker gains (and/or loses) to your scores.

[payingoffdebt001]

Check the names and addresses of your creditors.  One of mine had an address change and I lost some points and that was the only significant change.  But got the points back about 30days later.  I also had an account hit 1 year anniversary so I'm not sure if that is why I ended up gaining points back.  But something to check for.

[Revelate]

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Duncanrr wrote:

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Fresh101 wrote:

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Duncanrr wrote:
Sounds like you were rebucketed.

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What does that mean? Sorry for the question. Thanks in advance

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My understanding is that as you increase (or hopefully not decrease) your scores you are bracketed/bucketed into a population of people with similar scores.  For example you may be in the subprime group with people who have bad credit.  As your score improves, you are removed from this population and normalized into another group of people you typically have higher scores than your last group.  (think of it as going from JV to Varisty).  As a result, your scores tend to take a hit as you are now compared to people that will typically have higher scores than you.  The benefit is that in the new bucket your scores are supposed to normalize with the rest of the group in a quicker fashion.  This results in quicker gains (and/or loses) to your scores.

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It's not so much similar scores, but similar tradelines or outstanding derogatories.  Such as going from 1 collection -> 0, rebucket.  0 mortgage -> 1 mortgage, rebucket.

The scores do vary inside that range for normalization purposes, and a change of buckets can cause a temporary decrease in score as you're moving up as it moves up the max score cap you can achieve with your current profile.  It's not a straight linear range from 350->850.

Anyway MrShush: if you had a negative drop off (which I sort of doubt at a 770+ FICO you had to be pretty clean anyway) that could've caused it, or more likely as a prior poster suggested it could've just been some temporary reporting snafu.  I'd wait for a month and see; for all that we worship at the altar of FICO on these forums, it isn't infallible and small issues do come up in reporting.

[llecs]

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payingoffdebt001 wrote:

Check the names and addresses of your creditors.  One of mine had an address change and I lost some points and that was the only significant change.  But got the points back about 30days later.  I also had an account hit 1 year anniversary so I'm not sure if that is why I ended up gaining points back.  But something to check for.

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Address changes can't change a FICO since FICO doesn't read your and their address. IIRC, creditor addresses aren't even showing [on FICO reports]. However, if an address changed, it could indicate that a statement updated. And if a statement updated, then a TL balance and/or CL updated and that can cause a decrease if util changed. Even util changing on one card can drop a score in some situations. Accounts hitting  a year can lead to an increase.

[llecs]

OP, which rebucketing can lead to an increase or decrease, narrow everything out first. Since you have SW pull your EQ report from somewhere. Something as simple as a dropped TL or CLD can lead to a decrease without alerting you. In fact, IME, most of my TLs dropped on the first of each month.

[MrShush]

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llecs wrote:

OP, which rebucketing can lead to an increase or decrease, narrow everything out first. Since you have SW pull your EQ report from somewhere. Something as simple as a dropped TL or CLD can lead to a decrease without alerting you. In fact, IME, most of my TLs dropped on the first of each month.

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No TL have been removed from my EQ as of this morning when the SW alerted or after when I pull the report. I checked all my reporting lines and none as of the SW were (God forbid!!!) CLD'ed or otherwise.