topic Re: Score dropped in Credit Cards

Score dropped

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 21:49:36 GMT

once my freedom hit my report my score dropped 50 points! my new cap1 hasnt hit my report yet but should i expect a big drop from that also? when will my score recover? it brought my AAoA to 11 months. also my auto loan will be hitting 6 months once they report again so will that help? this is EQ and it dropped from 677 (7/24) to 627 (7/25)

Re: Score dropped

webhopper — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 23:33:15 GMT

Unfortunately only time will help. Your former fico was artificially high because you had fewer accounts. You had what is known here as a "thin file"

Your report will be just fine and you'll recover. Be sure to keep your credit card balances low; as macing out your cards makes your fico go.way down.

Good luck!

Re: Score dropped

iMacDrew — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 00:27:38 GMT

prob. dropped due to your inquiries

Re: Score dropped

TiggerDat — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 01:51:00 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
once my freedom hit my report my score dropped 50 points! my new cap1 hasnt hit my report yet but should i expect a big drop from that also? when will my score recover? it brought my AAoA to 11 months. also my auto loan will be hitting 6 months once they report again so will that help? this is EQ and it dropped from 677 (7/24) to 627 (7/25)

Your score will recover. As mentioned earlier the average age of accounts (AAoA) has a large impact on your credit report.

Payments also have a large impact and so does utilization. Inquiries account for about 10% of your credit score. I have high inquiries, so my 686 score is lower than if I had none. My score without inquiries would be about 740 or so.

You utilization rate is a high factor in your score. It should be under 30%. For some it appears to be even lower. For some reason my best utilization rate is about 3% I think this is dependant on your length of history with cards and if you have had problems. So if you have a high utilization rate you might want to bring that down too.

If you don't already have, get Credit Karma and Credit Sesame to track your score and find out what is affecting your score. They are free. CK will explain what factors are helping or hurting your score.

Re: Score dropped

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 01:58:08 GMT

@iMacDrew wrote:
prob. dropped due to your inquiries

once the inquiry hit nothing happened to my score. but when the card started reporting it took a big hit. im looking refinance my auto loan when it hits a year. i hope that my score recovers my then. maybe somebody could tell me if itll be back to normal by then? i would think because the new cards would be 6 months and my auto loan would be a year old then my score should go up but i dont know .

Re: Score dropped

Repo-ed — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 02:32:05 GMT

All my inq have been minimum 15 pts each.

Re: Score dropped

MarineVietVet — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 02:45:01 GMT

@bernhardtra wrote:
Your score will recover. As mentioned earlier the average age of accounts (AAoA) has a large impact on your credit report.
Payments also have a large impact and so does utilization. Inquiries account for about 10% of your credit score. I have high inquiries, so my 686 score is lower than if I had none. My score without inquiries would be about 740 or so.

You utilization rate is a high factor in your score. It should be under 30%. For some it appears to be even lower. For some reason my best utilization rate is about 3% I think this is dependant on your length of history with cards and if you have had problems. So if you have a high utilization rate you might want to bring that down too.

If you don't already have, get Credit Karma and Credit Sesame to track your score and find out what is affecting your score. They are free. CK will explain what factors are helping or hurting your score.

IMO this is not a good idea. You should ignore any and all scores and advice from sites like these that sell non-FICO scores. The advice given is often 180 degrees different than what will actually help your score.

For report monitoring they are fine but ignore the scores and advice.

Re: Score dropped

TiggerDat — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 02:49:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@iMacDrew wrote:
prob. dropped due to your inquiries
once the inquiry hit nothing happened to my score. but when the card started reporting it took a big hit. im looking refinance my auto loan when it hits a year. i hope that my score recovers my then. maybe somebody could tell me if itll be back to normal by then? i would think because the new cards would be 6 months and my auto loan would be a year old then my score should go up but i dont know .

I would imagine that you have many inquiries for that to not affect your score. It might have taken a day or two.... ... .. Or you have none or one in the last 2 years and I think then it doesn't matter also.

Re: Score dropped

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 03:03:26 GMT

@bernhardtra wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@iMacDrew wrote:
prob. dropped due to your inquiries
once the inquiry hit nothing happened to my score. but when the card started reporting it took a big hit. im looking refinance my auto loan when it hits a year. i hope that my score recovers my then. maybe somebody could tell me if itll be back to normal by then? i would think because the new cards would be 6 months and my auto loan would be a year old then my score should go up but i dont know .
I would imagine that you have many inquiries for that to not affect your score. It might have taken a day or two.... ... .. Or you have none or one in the last 2 years and I think then it doesn't matter also.

haha you guessed it! i have alot of inquiries due to my car loan in jan. also 2 more from my chase freedom and cap1 cash rewards. i really just want to know when my score will go back to normal though because before the chase reported my AAoA was only 1.5 years and now its 11 months. so whatever anybody can tell me based on that would be great. Also thank all you guys for the responses this forum is great!

Re: Score dropped

TiggerDat — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 03:32:56 GMT

@MarineVietVet wrote:
@bernhardtra wrote:
Your score will recover. As mentioned earlier the average age of accounts (AAoA) has a large impact on your credit report.
Payments also have a large impact and so does utilization. Inquiries account for about 10% of your credit score. I have high inquiries, so my 686 score is lower than if I had none. My score without inquiries would be about 740 or so.

You utilization rate is a high factor in your score. It should be under 30%. For some it appears to be even lower. For some reason my best utilization rate is about 3% I think this is dependant on your length of history with cards and if you have had problems. So if you have a high utilization rate you might want to bring that down too.

If you don't already have, get Credit Karma and Credit Sesame to track your score and find out what is affecting your score. They are free. CK will explain what factors are helping or hurting your score.
IMO this is not a good idea. You should ignore any and all scores and advice from sites like these that sell non-FICO scores. The advice given is often 180 degrees different than what will actually help your score.

For report monitoring they are fine but ignore the scores and advice.

They give some useful advice and while the score may not be the FICO score, even that doesn't matter. Lenders use scores as part of their determination, they also look for other things such as inquiries, utilization rates, and deliquencies. It is possible for a person with a 780 score to be declined for credit because of deliqencies. Credit Karma may not be the most accurate score, but even some of the sell sites scores are not FICO if you read their fine print. I pay for a score from Credit Expert and have bought scores from other respected sites. They all have disclaimers.

Credit Karma is respected even though it is free. It is a far better to use a free service than none! I have compared the factors from paid sites and free sites. The respected free sites still have great aspects. CK lists the same factors. I have used their service for over a year and looked at the factors affecting my credit score they give. I have only read a few of their advice pages as I understood the factors they mentioned and that alone allowed me to conclude my own advice. If it says one factor affecting your score is deliquencies, then what advice is needed. Either bear with it or challenge the deliquencies. If it says too many hard inquiries, stop doing inquiries. If it says low credit limits, get higher credit limits. If it says good payment history, keep paying.

Quizzle keeps trying to sell me thier 'improve your score by "42" points' service for years. I simply used the factors affecting credit score by CK and my score has increased. Besides that CK has alerts for free. Well anyway, there it is, free and useful.

Re: Score dropped

TiggerDat — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 04:01:22 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
haha you guessed it! i have alot of inquiries due to my car loan in jan. also 2 more from my chase freedom and cap1 cash rewards. i really just want to know when my score will go back to normal though because before the chase reported my AAoA was only 1.5 years and now its 11 months. so whatever anybody can tell me based on that would be great. Also thank all you guys for the responses this forum is great!

My advice, be a little more patient or open some small cards at stores and don't use them! It sounds like you are at the beginning. You need a long term strategy. With all the inquiries you will need to probably a year before getting a new card. You might be able to get a GECMB card or a WFNNB card. (Walmarts, Marathon, etc.) If you get a few more now and do nothing else for the next year you should be in a better position. If you get no more right now you will still be in a good position in a year. (Maybe 6 months if the car loan inquiries are the only inquiries. I thought they were supposed to be grouped and not viewed as one. This is also supposed to be the case for home loans.) Keep your utilization down low if you want others to come to you and certainly for a month before you app again. Keep paying on time.

How getting a few more now could be a benefit is a simple math formula and for some is a good strategy. Number of accounts does play a factor in credit. Having say 4 cards now and waiting will mean the age of them will grow. For a truly long term strategy this can be beneficial. The flipside is that if you simply wait you might get a higher limit card or better card as things age. During this time you would be best getting the limits increased through payment history and insuring that you occassionally charge a large purchase on it. You should not carry this purchase past one month. Creditors will notice if you are always near your limit and for some lenders this can be OK for CLI's but for most it shows that you are not able to properly manage credit. Some just want the interest revenue. More often than not paying off or carrying a small balance on the account after it cycles is the best way to get a high limit.

One factor in giving limits is seeing what other limits are. I have been given small limits because I had small limits. I now have more than one card with a medium limit and it is much easier to get cards. I just recently opened up 4 cards. Two of them had realistically usable limits. (Two were from GECMB - department store cards, so no big worry there.) I only opened them to have a well rounded portfolio. I am in it for the lowest mortgage rate! I won't buy the house for a few years and only plan on adding 1 card. I want a good rewards card with a good limit. I knew my score would increase with the higher limit card. I knew this from CK and their tool that predicts what will happen based on what factors affect your limit. It said it would jump and jump it did.

Their tool is flawed, for that matter any tool I have used so far is always flawed in the same way. If I see how on time payments will affect my score it always says it will fall. Yeah, that is definitely a flaw. On time payments have always increased my score.

Do some more reading and research and then set a plan. That is what I did! I have added cards, not because I need them, but because my report needed them! Remember I am doing this with a long term goal! I want the house.

Re: Score dropped

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 04:24:09 GMT

@bernhardtra wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
haha you guessed it! i have alot of inquiries due to my car loan in jan. also 2 more from my chase freedom and cap1 cash rewards. i really just want to know when my score will go back to normal though because before the chase reported my AAoA was only 1.5 years and now its 11 months. so whatever anybody can tell me based on that would be great. Also thank all you guys for the responses this forum is great!

My advice, be a little more patient or open some small cards at stores and don't use them! It sounds like you are at the beginning. You need a long term strategy. With all the inquiries you will need to probably a year before getting a new card. You might be able to get a GECMB card or a WFNNB card. (Walmarts, Marathon, etc.) If you get a few more now and do nothing else for the next year you should be in a better position. If you get no more right now you will still be in a good position in a year. (Maybe 6 months if the car loan inquiries are the only inquiries. I thought they were supposed to be grouped and not viewed as one. This is also supposed to be the case for home loans.) Keep your utilization down low if you want others to come to you and certainly for a month before you app again. Keep paying on time.

How getting a few more now could be a benefit is a simple math formula and for some is a good strategy. Number of accounts does play a factor in credit. Having say 4 cards now and waiting will mean the age of them will grow. For a truly long term strategy this can be beneficial. The flipside is that if you simply wait you might get a higher limit card or better card as things age. During this time you would be best getting the limits increased through payment history and insuring that you occassionally charge a large purchase on it. You should not carry this purchase past one month. Creditors will notice if you are always near your limit and for some lenders this can be OK for CLI's but for most it shows that you are not able to properly manage credit. Some just want the interest revenue. More often than not paying off or carrying a small balance on the account after it cycles is the best way to get a high limit.

One factor in giving limits is seeing what other limits are. I have been given small limits because I had small limits. I now have more than one card with a medium limit and it is much easier to get cards. I just recently opened up 4 cards. Two of them had realistically usable limits. (Two were from GECMB - department store cards, so no big worry there.) I only opened them to have a well rounded portfolio. I am in it for the lowest mortgage rate! I won't buy the house for a few years and only plan on adding 1 card. I want a good rewards card with a good limit. I knew my score would increase with the higher limit card. I knew this from CK and their tool that predicts what will happen based on what factors affect your limit. It said it would jump and jump it did.

Their tool is flawed, for that matter any tool I have used so far is always flawed in the same way. If I see how on time payments will affect my score it always says it will fall. Yeah, that is definitely a flaw. On time payments have always increased my score.

Do some more reading and research and then set a plan. That is what I did! I have added cards, not because I need them, but because my report needed them! Remember I am doing this with a long term goal! I want the house.

i think right now my credit profile is ok. i really dont want to app for another card until i can get a AMEX revolver.

Right now i have the following :

Chase Freedom - 1000CL

Cap 1 Platinum - 1000CL

Cap 1 Cash Rewards 500CL

Store Card - Daniels Jewelry 700CL

@Anonymous Loan with WFDS balance - 11200 @Anonymous.99% (this is why i need to refi)

im definitely still a work in progress but i think im pretty responsible for my age (20) i currently make about 36k so my DTI is very low. My ultimate goal is also to buy a condo in about 2-3 years.

Re: Score dropped

TiggerDat — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 05:33:40 GMT

My guess is that you will have to wait until the year mark to get a better rate on the refi. Utilization needs to be low then.

Re: Score dropped

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 05:54:55 GMT

@bernhardtra wrote:
My guess is that you will have to wait until the year mark to get a better rate on the refi. Utilization needs to be low then.

yeah i was going to wait till Jan. 2013 i may wait longer to see where my scores are by then we shall see. and Util will be low by then im at like 60% percent at the moment due to making purchases for work and waiting for reimbursements.