topic Re: Fico score fell below 800 :( in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Fico score fell below 800 :(

DU556 — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 04:53:55 GMT

My journey in the 800 fico score range only last about 2 weeks with Transunion. I applied for a Marriott Chase card and was approved for $13.5k. Today I get an alert from the Fico android app that transunion has detected a new account with balance of $237 and my points dropped by 27!!

This sucks, I wonder how long it will be until i get back up there.

Any tips for me?

no other changes

old score 810

Re: Fico score fell below 800 :(

NRB525 — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 05:44:49 GMT

If the TU went to 810 and was only there for 2 weeks, that implies a fairly volatile score. What was the trigger to jump 11 or more points to get to the 810?

How consistently do your cards report balances? Did you go from 4 of 4 reporting anything to 1 of 4 reporting anything?

Oldest card age?

AAoA? How was AAoA affected by this new card, since it looks like you have only 4 prior?

Utilization and consistency of utilization percentage?

Re: Fico score fell below 800 :(

DU556 — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 06:09:38 GMT

I have 6 cards in total now. My oldest is a discover card at 10 years as well as a JCP card that has been upgraded to a MasterCard recently. JCP upgraded me without me asking but in my CR it doesn't show as being 10yr old because of being purchased by other lenders.
On Nov 30 my score jumped 14 points avoiding to the app and under reasons i get 4 red circles saying "You have too few credit cards, too many accounts showing balances, you've recently looked for new credit, and you haven't established credit long enough."
This trigger was 2 days after i got approved for the chase card so i thought my points had increased because of the recent inquiry. This 14 point jump got me to 803 and a few days later got an additional 7 point jump.

This is the reason why I'm a little confused, i thought TransUnion had already detected the chase account but today's alert says a new account has been added to your report. I took a smaller hit with experian as they only took away 12 points.

I think my AAoA is 6 years, how do i know for sure?
Utilization... Not even 1% on a single card & overall.

Re: Fico score fell below 800 :(

Thomas_Thumb — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 06:51:42 GMT

@DU556 wrote:
I have 6 cards in total now. My oldest is a discover card at 10 years as well as a JCP card that has been upgraded to a MasterCard recently. JCP upgraded me without me asking but in my CR it doesn't show as being 10yr old because of being purchased by other lenders.
On Nov 30 my score jumped 14 points avoiding to the app and under reasons i get 4 red circles saying "You have too few credit cards, too many accounts showing balances, you've recently looked for new credit, and you haven't established credit long enough."
This trigger was 2 days after i got approved for the chase card so i thought my points had increased because of the recent inquiry. This 14 point jump got me to 803 and a few days later got an additional 7 point jump.

This is the reason why I'm a little confused, i thought TransUnion had already detected the chase account but today's alert says a new account has been added to your report. I took a smaller hit with experian as they only took away 12 points.

I think my AAoA is 6 years, how do i know for sure?
Utilization... Not even 1% on a single card & overall.

I had a Best Buy card purchased by another lender. Net effect was a closed account with the original lender including associated payment history + a new account with the new lender - as a result, no payment history on this open account [no established credit and could be tagged as "recently looking for credit"]. The end result:

1) Total # accounts on file increased by one (new open replaced established open creating an open account with no payment history.+ established closed account.

2) Drop in AAoA due to the new open account.

You may have experienced a similar situation and that could have been a notification trigger. Now you added another new open account which drops your AAoA. I suspect the latest score shift is associated with the Chase card + inquiry.

Re: Fico score fell below 800 :(

DU556 — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 09:31:36 GMT

I should have added more information about the JCP card. It was earlier this year or may be even late last year so i didn't mean recent like a few weeks ago or something. I also had my best buy card change lender like ^^^^^^^ you mentioned. I just hope I'm able get back up to 800 within 4 months. This really is a roller coastal game, isn't it?

Re: Fico score fell below 800 :(

lg8302ch — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 11:21:50 GMT

tja... the dropp in AAoA is an enemy for 800+ scores.. same for me ...800 score possible with AAoA of 6+ years on my profile but no longer in reach with less than 4 years so keep gardening and it will get you back up ... on the bright side 760+ Fico scores will not make any difference in real life ..lol.. rather have nice new cards than 800+ Fico if I have to choose !

Re: Fico score fell below 800 :(

DU556 — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 18:03:32 GMT

Just got another alert this morning, Equifax dropped my points by 6 points because "A new account has been added to your credit report".

I guess some CB don't mind new accounts like others.

Also, on Nov 29, Experian dropped my points by 7 because "An account listed on your report has been updated". The update was Discover doubling the limit to a little over $10k, I had no idea a CLI would drop my points even though the balance did not increase at all.

These past 2-3 weeks have been to harsh on my scores. Time. To. Enter. The. Garden!!

Re: Fico score fell below 800 :(

DU556 — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 18:05:14 GMT

How do you get your sig cards to show info when hovering over them?

Re: Fico score fell below 800 :(

Gunnar419 — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 19:09:32 GMT

@DU556 wrote:
My journey in the 800 fico score range only last about 2 weeks with Transunion. I applied for a Marriott Chase card and was approved for $13.5k. Today I get an alert from the Fico android app that transunion has detected a new account with balance of $237 and my points dropped by 27!!
This sucks, I wonder how long it will be until i get back up there.
Any tips for me?

no other changes

old score 810

DU -- I'm sorry that happened to you! But since it's just a new account thing, you'll get back up there soon. I don't know when of course, but at least it's not something awful like a collection or even an accidental late payment!

My scores are also just a little above 800 and I'd feel ridiculously bad if even one of them dropped into the 790s. People who are still struggling up the FICO ladder would think we're worrying over nothing, but wait until they get here. They'll want to preserve those 800s, too, no matter how many times somebody around here says, "Once you reach 760, nothing above that really matters."

Re: Fico score fell below 800 :(

NRB525 — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 19:28:43 GMT

@DU556 wrote:
Just got another alert this morning, Equifax dropped my points by 6 points because "A new account has been added to your credit report".
I guess some CB don't mind new accounts like others.

Also, on Nov 29, Experian dropped my points by 7 because "An account listed on your report has been updated". The update was Discover doubling the limit to a little over $10k, I had no idea a CLI would drop my points even though the balance did not increase at all.

These past 2-3 weeks have been to harsh on my scores. Time. To. Enter. The. Garden!!

The FICO 850 score is representative of "No Risk of Default". In order to get to 850, one must pay off nearly all debt, keep accounts stable, and do as little as possible to raise the risk of default.

From the comments here, it seems that once you go over 800, getting closer to that "no risk of default" score of 850, and if the file is marginally getting 800 due to AAoA and such, that any new shocks to the calculation, such as taking on two new credit cards in a year (even if one is not really new to you), looks like Risk Of Default indicators to the score.

So you can either be happy at being above 760 and go for the cards that you want, or stop apping and let the cards age to keep inching up to and then beyond 800. For the next XX number of years it takes to get to 800. Utilization is already under control for the OP, so at this point, no apps and age are the ONLY things that will allow the score to continue to rise.

For me, I'd rather just have a high 700's score and get the bonus earnings from new card apps, strategically applied for.

Re: Fico score fell below 800 :(

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 19:50:03 GMT

Getting to a 800+ score takes a lot of time and managing each and every aspect of payments, accounts, and bills perfectly. Maintaining a 800+ score is difficult too. One missed bill and your score can tank by over 100 points. New accounts are likely to tank your score as well. Single inquiries might only cost 5-10 points, but new accounts are more severe. Also whoever you're getting advice that says you have too few cards is taking advantage of you. You can have a 800+ score with only 1 or 2 credit cards. Also store brand cards are not ideal if you want a perfect score because they change lender too often. My advice is don't app anymore and stop your credit monitoring. The credit monitoring will keep giving you advice to app for new cards, loans, etc, when you really should apply for nothing if possible.

Re: Fico score fell below 800 :(

SouthJamaica — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 22:42:00 GMT

@DU556 wrote:
How do you get your sig cards to show info when hovering over them?

In the code for the image, you insert a title. E.g. title="Barclay LL Bean Visa 3300". Whatever you have within the parentheses will show up when one hovers.

Re: Fico score fell below 800 :(

DU556 — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 23:30:37 GMT

"@BentTable...the Fico app is the one saying I have too few credit cards. I don't believe i do because I've already reached 800 with what i have. I didn't know new accounts dropped your score so much. I thought the inquiry was the 'bad' part of getting a credit card. I would like to get a really good cash back card but if it means dropping 24 points again, i don't think so.
Since store cards change lenders often, does that mean it doesn't help with AAoA since they are always being closed and reporting with another lender?
I've had my JCP card for 10 years but it shows it was barely opened 1.5yrs ago.

Re: Fico score fell below 800 :(

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 07:00:16 GMT

That's strange DU556. If they changed accounts on your JCP card, I would expect to see the old account and new account on your credit report. Because a closed account should still report for 7 years. Yes, I would stay away from getting any more store cards. I checked my spouse's Chase card, which was changed from mastercard to visa this year. Her report still shows the account having been open many years ago, so apparently Chase account number change didn't cause any new accounts in her credit report.

About the cash back card, you have an old Discover card. What kind of rewards are you earning? I'm pretty sure you can ask them to product change to Discover IT or Discover IT chrome without pulling your credit report. How about your AMEX card? I can't tell from your signature which one you have, but you might want to think about product changing to a blue cash everyday card (I don't know if AMEX does product changes) for the rewards.

Re: Fico score fell below 800 :(

DU556 — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 09:15:11 GMT

@BentTable my JCP card does show under the closed accounts with the old lender. Does this help my score at all? With aging I mean.
My miles discover card gives me 1% miles on every purchase and 2% on restaurants. Their new discover IT miles cards gives you 1.5% on everyday purchases but they won't do a product change. The weird thing is they'll switch me to the old cash back card they have with no problem but require hard inquiry if i want the new IT miles card. To me it seems moving me from a miles to miles card should be easier but it isn't.

As for Amex, I have the everyday points card but they don't allow me to switch to the blue everyday cash card because it's a different rewards program. Hard inquiry required again. The points i get on this card are only worth 0.70 for every dollar i spend. My discover miles are worth 1.0 for every $1 on amazon. For this reason, i have chosen to make my discover card my primary card.
I chatted with Amex online and they told me to call on the 24th to see if they can make an exception and switch me to the cash card. If they do, I'll make this my primary card.

Re: Fico score fell below 800 :(

JagerBombs89 — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 09:19:17 GMT

@lg8302ch wrote:
tja... the dropp in AAoA is an enemy for 800+ scores.. same for me ...800 score possible with AAoA of 6+ years on my profile but no longer in reach with less than 4 years so keep gardening and it will get you back up ... on the bright side 760+ Fico scores will not make any difference in real life ..lol.. rather have nice new cards than 800+ Fico if I have to choose !

Having an 800+ FICO is very doable with 4 year AAoA. Mine was at 825 on TU with 4 years AAoA and oldest account being 6 years old.

Re: Fico score fell below 800 :(

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Dec 2015 17:46:55 GMT

My thought on this is, yes, you can have a 800+ with four years AAoA with probably three or slightly more cards, one installment loan with low utilization on all, no baddies.

Once you are in the 800 range, your score is more volatile, to new trade lines, inquiries, balances ect.

Suggest just sitting tight without adding inquiries or new trade lines if OPs goal is 800+, manage reasonable <1 to <4 UTI if possible. Sometimes the best plan of action is inaction :-)

Re: Fico score fell below 800 :(

NRB525 — Thu, 24 Dec 2015 22:04:26 GMT

@DU556 wrote:
@Anonymous my JCP card does show under the closed accounts with the old lender. Does this help my score at all? With aging I mean.
My miles discover card gives me 1% miles on every purchase and 2% on restaurants. Their new discover IT miles cards gives you 1.5% on everyday purchases but they won't do a product change. The weird thing is they'll switch me to the old cash back card they have with no problem but require hard inquiry if i want the new IT miles card. To me it seems moving me from a miles to miles card should be easier but it isn't.

As for Amex, I have the everyday points card but they don't allow me to switch to the blue everyday cash card because it's a different rewards program. Hard inquiry required again. The points i get on this card are only worth 0.70 for every dollar i spend. My discover miles are worth 1.0 for every $1 on amazon. For this reason, i have chosen to make my discover card my primary card.
I chatted with Amex online and they told me to call on the 24th to see if they can make an exception and switch me to the cash card. If they do, I'll make this my primary card.

If you are redeeming MR points for cash, yes, only .7c is likely. Gather them up and transfer to an airline like Flying Blue / Air France, and the value goes to more like 2c. Of course, you will need 50,000 points to make that happen, for a trip to europe for example, but it is possible.

And honestly, speaking with all due respect, if you are letting your FICO score dictate how you look at trying to work your existing cards into rewards they aren't going for, just go ahead and app the new card. App the AMEX Blue Cash Everyday and get it over with. You'll get a nice new larger CL, and get the rewards you want. If you want the newer Discover IT Miles or whatever card that is, app it and be done.

Will your score go down some? Yes, but no one writes a check to you each month your score is at 800 or above. Earning the bonus you want on spend, and sign up bonus however, that's some real money there.

Re: Fico score fell below 800 :(

Imperfectfuture — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 06:19:44 GMT

Agree. Went for the AARP card and 200 bonus (pay off iPhone). Scores dropped between 9 and 13 puts for inquiries, and rise in util on one card. Now, I just garden, until I plan to apply for Chase Ink Cash. Still above 730, but cash is King. Saving my Discover and Freedom points for big cash disbursement (since Discover is 0 right now, though gets usage throughout month).