topic Re: Finally Used My MACY'S CARD and now FICO Plumetted 28 PTS....WTH!!!! in Credit Cards

Finally Used My MACY'S CARD and now FICO Plumetted 28 PTS....WTH!!!!

Red22 — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 21:34:40 GMT

Okay I have a Macy's store card and haven't used it in about 9 months. I noticed they game me a real generous CLI of +1500 bringing me to a total CL of $1800. So I go on a shopping spree of $213. My plan was to let it post to my account and then PIF before the next statement, just to show some usage. So I let it post and statement cut on 9/18. I get a score watch alert that says my fico score has decreased! So I immediateley pull my EQ report, but it just shows my balance of $213, minimum payment of $7, and everything else says "Not Reported". So I'm thinking that since my CL is not being reported, this may be the reason for my score decrease. I have already PIF the balance today thru Bill Pay, but it won't post till tomorrow! Then I get to wait until October for it to update just to see if my speculation is right!!! GRrrrrrrrrrr!

Re: Finally Used My MACY'S CARD and now FICO Plumetted 28 PTS....WTH!!!!

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 21:53:31 GMT

Hi Red,

Congrats on the CLI! One thing to keep in mind is that for optimal scoring, keep reported balances under 9% of your limit, with fewer than half of your revolving tradelines reporting a balance. The utilization reporting on the Macy's card is currently 12%. For an $1800 CL try to keep the reported balance under $162.

I also believe that using a card after an extended period of non-use may also cause an initial ding (someone with more experience could chime in on that one, though).

Once the balance is paid down to below 9%, you should recoup points, although I'm not sure if there is an issue with Macy's not reporting CLs. Again, someone with more experience may have the answer to that one.

Good luck!

Re: Finally Used My MACY'S CARD and now FICO Plumetted 28 PTS....WTH!!!!

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 21:58:02 GMT

The percentage of use doesn't matter in the case of the Macy card, as the card doesn't report CL. If CL is left blank and doesn't show 0, this should be score neutral.

But yes, using a card that has been dormant for more than 6 months will give a score ding. This shouldn't be much, though. How many points did you lose?

Re: Finally Used My MACY'S CARD and now FICO Plumetted 28 PTS....WTH!!!!

Red22 — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 22:10:27 GMT

@honeybunnygal....Thanks for the Info.

@ Ulan.....I lost 28 pts. and My Credit Limit is not showing a "0", and its not "blank", It Just Says "NOT REPORTED", You think I should call and ask them if they could report my credit limit as "blank" instead of "Not Reported"?!!!

Re: Finally Used My MACY'S CARD and now FICO Plumetted 28 PTS....WTH!!!!

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 22:12:59 GMT

No, "Not reported" is what I meant with "blank". 28 points is a lot. What is your total CL on all open credit card accounts (excluding signature cards or charge cards), if you don't mind that I ask?

Re: Finally Used My MACY'S CARD and now FICO Plumetted 28 PTS....WTH!!!!

Red22 — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 22:23:30 GMT

@ulan

This is my Ratio...

Ratio of your revolving balances to your credit limits
22%

For FICO High Achievers [?], this ratio is 7%, on average.

Your FICO score evaluates your total revolving credit [?] balances in relation to your total credit limits on those accounts. In your case, this ratio of balances to credit limits is too high.

Re: Finally Used My MACY'S CARD and now FICO Plumetted 28 PTS....WTH!!!!

haulingthescoreup — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 22:34:37 GMT

Does it show a highest balance, since it doesn't show a CL?

Re: Finally Used My MACY'S CARD and now FICO Plumetted 28 PTS....WTH!!!!

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 02:25:14 GMT

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
Does it show a highest balance, since it doesn't show a CL?

This is the key point.

I don't believe Macys accounts are being coded as Visa Signature-type accounts; instead, they are probably being treated in the same way CapOne no-CL accounts were treated a few years ago. The High Balance will be used as a surrogate CL when Fico computes utilization.

According to OP's original post, before Macys converted its accounts to no-CL, the CL was $300. So, best-case scenario is that OP previously maxed the card, creating a high balance of $300, and the current statement balance of $213 creates an individual account utilization of 70%. Worst-case scenario is that OP did not previously have a balance of more than $213, or that Macys reset all High Balance amounts when it converted, and the current balance and the High Balance are both $213, creating an individual account utilization of 100%.

My guess is the worst-case scenario is in effect here.

A 28-point penalty seems a little bit excessive for just the individual account utilization; other factors (increase in number of accounts with balances, increase in overall utilization, etc.) may have also contributed to the score decrease ...

Re: Finally Used My MACY'S CARD and now FICO Plumetted 28 PTS....WTH!!!!

haulingthescoreup — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 04:06:21 GMT

yep, that's my guess, too.

I'd love to see a screenshot of how Macy's store accounts look on a full report, from any of the bureaus, not just a myFICO or TrueCredit or CCM report.

hint, hint

Re: Finally Used My MACY'S CARD and now FICO Plumetted 28 PTS....WTH!!!!

AndySoCal — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 04:52:48 GMT

I would suspect that your that speculation will be correct. I had another card through Citi that did not report the high balnce or the credit limit. I closed the account.

Re: Finally Used My MACY'S CARD and now FICO Plumetted 28 PTS....WTH!!!!

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 06:05:53 GMT

@haulingthescoreup wrote:

I'd love to see a screenshot of how Macy's store accounts look on a full report, from any of the bureaus, not just a myFICO or TrueCredit or CCM report.

Re: Finally Used My MACY'S CARD and now FICO Plumetted 28 PTS....WTH!!!!

llecs — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 14:07:59 GMT

OP, I suspect something else happened to your CRs that resulted in a score change. My CR and DW's CR looks like psychic's EQ screenshot above (well, ahem, there is a balance), but it still doesn't factor into utilization as of our last TU & EQ FICO report pull (9/15). I'd look for other events, like new accounts, util change due to a CLD somewhere, updated baddie, etc.

Per reporting of the CL, I tried in June, again, to try to convince them to reverse their decision to remove the CL. They wouldn't do it. I carry low balances on both our Macys CCs (store) and plan to nurse that until the end. At least I know I can max it out if I wanted to without taking a score hit.

Re: Finally Used My MACY'S CARD and now FICO Plumetted 28 PTS....WTH!!!!

Red22 — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 18:01:29 GMT

Okay, I got a letter in the mail yesterday from Midland. They were responding to a letter that I sent 2 months ago asking them to remove the comments "disputed by consumer" from my credit reports. (These were conditions on mortgage approval.) Comments were removed by CRA via phone request but then reinserted three weeks later(by Midland), thus how I wrote the letter in the first place. Anyhow, the letter received yesterday, states they will be removing "disputed by consumer" a second time. So low and behold, Midland removed the comments and also updated my credit reports with 120 day late! I checked my reports today and it says it was updated September 2010. This is why my score plummeted, not because of Macy's purchase as I originally thought! Ugh, I hate Midland!

Luckliy I closed on my Mortgage August 6 and before they reinserted the disputed comments!! But this still sucks!

Re: Finally Used My MACY'S CARD and now FICO Plumetted 28 PTS....WTH!!!!

llecs — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 18:03:57 GMT

They're scum.