alerts with no reasons given

[Anonymous]

Well, Myfico sent me an alert today that my score went up 1 point, but didn't give a reason why.  Don't they usually tell why a score goes up or down?

[haulingthescoreup]

Can you copy/ paste the accompanying message here?

[Anonymous]

Here is the alert statement.  If it is because of a balance going down, then I am really disappointed with only one point as the cards I paid were substainual sums that PIF.  Like over $300 on a $500 to $900 CL. 

Alert: Your FICO® score has exceeded your target score of 677

Score Watch alert/Changes to your FICO® Score  

Your FICO® score has gone up to 678 on February 14, 2008.Target score alert: Your FICO® score has exceeded your target score of 677.

Score Watch Tip: To get alerted whenever your FICO® score changes, turn on the score change setting

Changes to your credit report  

Your FICO® score went up on a day when there were no credit alerts on your Equifax Credit Report™. This can happen if:

• The balances on one or more of your credit accounts decreased. In general, less debt is better for your score.
• The credit limit on one or more of your credit accounts increased. Larger credit limits tend to help your FICO® scores if your balances remain the same.
• Negative information on your credit report, such as a bankruptcy, collection, or record of a late payment, was removed because it was more than 7 years old (or 10 years old in the case of a bankruptcy).
• Negative information on your credit report is not harming your FICO® score as much as before because it is now older. Past negative credit behavior, like missing payments or defaulting on loans, are offset over time by more recent history of credit responsibility.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Negative information on your credit report is not harming your FICO® score as much as before because it is now older. Past negative credit behavior, like missing payments or defaulting on loans, are offset over time by more recent history of credit responsibility.

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This one's my bet. One of your accounts had a "birthday": an inq went over 12 months, a CC or late went over 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months (maybe--not sure about this one), 24 months.

Most of us who have a fair number of accounts on our history have some account hitting some sort of birthday nearly every month. I think they're responsible for a lot of the tiny score hops we see periodically.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the imput!  That makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Can anyone shed some light on my recent alert?

Score went down 7 points. No real reason is given. I figured it might be a new account reporting and dragging down my average age (since it is now saying that I have a short credit history), so I pulled my reports via CreditSecure and there's absolutely no change in any of my accounts, and nothing new reporting. I have my Score Watch settings very 'fine-tuned' (notification of new account reporting, changes in balances, etc) and there's no real reason to accompany the alert. Any revelations regarding this would be great.... haha. I'm guess it is the latter of the 2 possible reasons they are providing:



Your FICO® score decreased to 700 on February 15, 2008.
Target score alert: Your FICO® score has dropped past your target score of 707.

This score decrease may be caused by these 2 new reasons:

You have a short credit history.
You have not established a long revolving credit history.

Changes to your credit report

Your FICO® score went down on a day when there were no credit alerts on your Equifax Credit Report™. This can happen if:

- There was a change on your credit report that lowered your score but did not trigger an alert. For example, the balance on an account might have increased enough to lower your score, but not enough to trigger a balance increase alert.
- You moved from one category of credit users to another as time passed. For example, you may have transitioned from the category "consumers with a new credit history" to the category "consumers with a two- to five-year credit history". As a result, your credit report is evaluated differently, causing a slight change in your score. The good news is that moving between categories like this usually offers you the potential to reach a higher FICO® score in the future.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Your FICO® score decreased to 700 on February 15, 2008.
Target score alert: Your FICO® score has dropped past your target score of 707.

This score decrease may be caused by these 2 new reasons:
You moved from one category of credit users to another as time passed. For example, you may have transitioned from the category "consumers with a new credit history" to the category "consumers with a two- to five-year credit history". As a result, your credit report is evaluated differently, causing a slight change in your score. The good news is that moving between categories like this usually offers you the potential to reach a higher FICO® score in the future.

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You've been re-bucketed!

Something has happened on your histories to move you into a new credit peer group. Did your oldest account or average account age just get a year older, and if so, how old is it now? Did some sort of big-time derogatory fall off, or the last of some little derogatories? There should be some sort of change between your previous Equifax report and this one, and it might be pretty subtle, like the age change.

New buckets aren't triggered by score changes, but by the underlying changes in your reports. And cheer up, your scores do recover and go on. I lost 15 points, from 651 down to 636, on October 15, and my EQ scores is now at 728. (Not for long, though, I'm afraid...)

edit: I should say that it could well be something like a change in balance, although how you would have a change in balance that didn't reflect on your report has me stumped.

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 02-19-2008 01:29 PM

[Anonymous]

thanks for the response! i think you're right - that i've somehow moved into a different scoring group. i don't have any issues or missed payments, so it can't be anything like that falling off. i have a few accounts w/ birthdays in December, but nothing in Jan/Feb. my average age on my revolving accounts is around 3 years, so it could be that (which will change once my new card begins reporting...haha :-/ ). revolving and installment util. went down a bit too, so it's not that.

ah, oh well! it seems that once you move into a different group, you have greater chances of a score increase - once your accounts age with a positive history. i'm mainly trying to pay down what i have and let my accounts age - no mortgages or loans in my near future. so no big deal!

thanks again for your response.

[haulingthescoreup]

Wow, you are without a doubt the calmest member I've ever met who had an unexplained score drop! Congrats for being able to handle random weirdness. There's a lot of it in credit scoring.

[Anonymous]

I have a CC with a 0 balance but, I noticed the credit limit is says N/A and it's an open account.  Do you think this is affecting my score since there is no numerical value in that field?