topic Re: 21 Points Gone 😢 in Understanding FICO® Scoring

21 Points Gone 😢 - UPDATE!!

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 03:10:06 GMT

My EQ score took a 21 point hit once my Discover card balance reported as $0. My other accounts still have a balance so it's not like I'm at 0% UTL. Whhyyyyy???? I could cry. Every time I take a step forward (my EX score increased by 20 this morning), I get knocked back.

Edited to add- Reading a post in Rebuilding about UOP, I realized that the 21 point drop was NOT due to my card reporting at $0, but it was due to UOP reporting a charge-off from 2008. MyFico just did not catch it and they tacked the 21 point loss on the balance change and I did not get an alert about the charge-off.

Re: 21 Points Gone 😢

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 18:04:26 GMT

Don't feel bad. It will rebound. What is your overall uti?

Re: 21 Points Gone 😢

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 18:10:49 GMT

It was at 82% for all of my revolving accounts.

Re: 21 Points Gone 😢

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 18:13:49 GMT

I paid it and my Cap1 card off, but that was the only one that reported so far. I'm going to make a purchase on my Cap1 and let it report because I can't handle another 20pt loss when that card reports $0 on the 9th. Is that much of a drop normal when decreasing utl?

Re: 21 Points Gone 😢

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 18:25:05 GMT

It was a shock to me when this first happened but as some said it will rebound but it may take a couple of months. Now I have a low balance on my card with the highest credit line all the time and scores slowly going up...but it very frustrating when you are trying so hard to do the right thing and reduce debt. I am seriously worried about my student loans paying off very soon 😜 But you do the best for your situation and remember this is a game of sorts and what matters in the end is YOU not this number...it will be fine.

Re: 21 Points Gone 😢

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 18:32:21 GMT

Thanks! You're right DrT. I was just super shocked when I got that notification. This is pushing back my hopes of buying a house w/ down payment assistance. I guess I'll have to wait until next year.

Re: 21 Points Gone 😢

NRB525 — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 03:39:59 GMT

@MsNique wrote:
It was at 82% for all of my revolving accounts.

The score changes can be wide like that.

What are the limits on the cards you have, and the balances on each card that leads to the 82% utilization? I'm not against someone having that high of utilization on low limit cards, I think it is a necessary, and good, practice to do so, so that's not the point of the question. Rather, it leads to some discussions about prepping for a mortgage app, depending on what those reported balances are and how they can be managed to report lower amounts as you get closer to a mortgage app.

Also, what are the negatives in your file that is keeping the score down in general?

Re: 21 Points Gone 😢 - UPDATE!!

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 03:12:30 GMT

After reading a post in Rebuilding about UOP and looking at my EQ report in detail, I realized that the 21 point drop was NOT due to my card reporting at $0, but it was due to UOP reporting a charge-off from 2008 that same day. MyFico just did not catch it and they tacked the 21 point loss on the balance change and I did not get an alert about the charge-off.

That goes to show that while MyFico offers a great service, it does not catch every change and report it to us in the form of alerts.

Re: 21 Points Gone 😢 - UPDATE!!

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 02:32:32 GMT

What it is I think is it real time reports some things but not all and that stinks