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What are the signs of having been bucketed or rebucketed? I know what bucketing is, but I don't know what the signs are.
I would watch your yearly AAOA. as it rolls over and starts a new year. And alot is your History
Do you have any negatives Dropping off?
Some say example 2 years AAOA can put you in a different bucket. Bottom line wouldn't worry about it since it usually will climb back up soon. Only If applying for Mortage would I spend more time watching.
If all other indicators remain unchanged, but you see a noticable move in score(s), rebucketing might responsible.
My experience has been that scores can go up or down depending upon who your scores are being compared to in the same bucket.
My score jumped when the last negative fell off but not drastically.
What's funny is that we're taught to "garden" our credit to get better scores. But what if you're thrown into a bad bucket when the AAoA switches to a higher number, and your score drops? Now that would be a Catch 22....
AAoA isn't a bad bucket. Bad buckets would be if you have major derogatories on your CR.
The thing with rebucketing is your score will recover faster than before.
I was rebucketed last year when the age of my credit report (ie. the age of my oldest account being reported) went from 18 years to 19 years. All of a sudden, the positive "You have a long credit history" turned into "You have a short credit history" because compared to all others with a credit report 19 years or older (which is a specific bucket), my credit report was young. I didn't see any negative effect (ie. no drop in score) from the rebucketing due to aging but if I had, I knew that time would've repaired the score drop.
Now, next year when that same oldest account has been closed for 10 years and I'm rebucketed again I may want to cry (next oldest account will be 11 years at that point) but I can't worry about that right now.
Long story short, what important about rebucketing is the reason for it. If you've been rebucketed because you have a new collection or were 30 days late and previously your report was pristine then you have a problem. If you were rebucketed because a pesky collection or late payment has fallen off your report then that's a whole different ball of wax.
I check my reports at least once a month. No accounts have dropped and I am reporting the same dollar amounts and number of cards with a balance per month. Been doing this for over 6 years now and am aware of ANY changes to my reports and what effect they would have on my scores. My AAofA has not changed but i have seen my EX go from 816 to 787 and my TU go from 805 to 794. Good scores still but you never want to see lower scores.
Changes in your credit profile/characteristics will change the bucket you are in. Here are a couple of examples haveing derog information on your credit report to having no no derog information on you report.. Heavy credit utilization to some credit utilization (> 10%) The FICO score has several score cards. Another possible sign is a change in the score reasons shown on your report IE a new one(s).