cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Why does my FICO score keep on dropping???

tag
NRB525
Super Contributor

Re: Why does my FICO score keep on dropping???


@Anonymous wrote:

 The reports don't mention anything about closed accounts.

 

But the thing that kind of worries me is that the reports say that 1) Time since most recent account opening is too short.  2) Too many consumer finance company accounts..

 

The thing is, the only thing that I can remember opening recently (about 9-10 months ago) is a Macy's credit card.  Besides that, I haven't opened any other type of card in literally a decade.

 

Also, it's saying that I have too many consumer finance company accounts open.  I only have a Discover, Visa, Macy's card, and 1 online savings account and 1 checking account.

 

Am I a victim of a Social Security ID fraud?


Possibly, but I doubt it.

The Reasons Codes are something they are required to provide you. They give you 4 of them usually, and they can be headscratchers.

With very little else going on in your file, these are probably just filler. I would not put too much stock in them.

 

If you want to double check on any fraud, request a copy of your credit report from each bureau, and check through all the details of items in there. If anything doesn't match what you know you opened, you might want to investigate, but I'm doubting this is going to be fraud.

High Bal Jan 2009 $116k on $146k limits 80% Util.
Oct 2014 $46k on $127k 36% util EQ 722 TU 727 EX 727
April 2018 $18k on $344k 5% util EQ 806 TU 810 EX 812
Jan 2019 $7.6k on $360k EQ 832 TU 839 EX 831
March 2021 $33k on $312k EQ 796 TU 798 EX 801
May 2021 Paid all Installments and Mortgages, one new Mortgage EQ 761 TY 774 EX 777
April 2022 EQ=811 TU=807 EX=805 - TU VS 3.0 765
Message 11 of 15
jamie123
Valued Contributor

Re: Why does my FICO score keep on dropping???


@Anonymous wrote:

 The reports don't mention anything about closed accounts.

 

But the thing that kind of worries me is that the reports say that 1) Time since most recent account opening is too short.  2) Too many consumer finance company accounts..

 

The thing is, the only thing that I can remember opening recently (about 9-10 months ago) is a Macy's credit card.  Besides that, I haven't opened any other type of card in literally a decade.

 

Also, it's saying that I have too many consumer finance company accounts open.  I only have a Discover, Visa, Macy's card, and 1 online savings account and 1 checking account.

 

Am I a victim of a Social Security ID fraud?


FICO will generate reason codes until you have perfect 850 scores. Sometimes they don't make sense, especially when you have scores north of 800 because you have really good credit and it becomes difficult to find a reason that your scores are not perfect.

 

If you are concerned, sign up for a free account at CreditKarma.com and you will be able to see your EQ and TU reports for free. Look at the reports and make sure that they look okay. That everything on them belongs to you. That all inquiries belong to you.

 

Who is the online savings account with? Doing business with some companies can actually hurt your scores. You are fine with Discover, Visa and Macy's but what's the name of the companies for the savings and checking accounts?

 

And again, you really do need more credit cards. It would really help to keep your scores stable.


Starting Score: EQ 653 6/21/12
Current Score: EQ 817 3/10/20 - EX 820 3/13/20 - TU 825 3/03/20
Message 12 of 15
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Why does my FICO score keep on dropping???


@Anonymous wrote:

If for example, the bill payment due date is on the 12th of the month, I'll pay in full on the 10th of the month.


If you do this your statement posted the balance at 50% utilization which you then paid on time but what shows on the reports is the 50% because it is reporting on statement cut date not on balance due date. If you want to show a lower utilization (which for most people on here increases score) then you need to pay before the statement cuts. 

Message 13 of 15
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Why does my FICO score keep on dropping???

 


@Anonymous wrote:

If for example, the bill payment due date is on the 12th of the month, I'll pay in full on the 10th of the month.


 

That's what you're doing wrong. The due date is the date you need to take care of the balance on the statement by to avoid interest. The balance on the statement date is what is reported to the bureaus. So if you run up 3k on a 6k card and it shows 3k on your statement, the bureaus receive reports of 50 percent credit utilization and that would whack your score hard if it represented a jump from a much lower utilization(which it sounds like you typically have, based on how you've described your regular monthly habits).

 

On a month where you use that much credit, your target payoff date should be before your *statement date*, not the due date. you get that paid down to below 10 percent of your available credit before the statement date and it shouldn't whack your score. Then take care of the remaining balance after the statement date but before the due date so the bureaus have good utilization to feed the FICO calculations, and you don't pay any interest.

Message 14 of 15
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Why does my FICO score keep on dropping???

Thank you everyone for your valuable input.

 

I'm definitely going to request a detailed report from each union.

 

Also, definitely need to change the payment date.

 

Thanks once again!

Message 15 of 15
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.