topic Re: Score drop! Why though... in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Score drop! Why though...

LuckyB338 — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 18:37:47 GMT

My experian dropped from 717 to 701 from June 21st to July 21. The only reason I can think of is putting 1000 on my Amex and 800 on disco over the past month. 16 points though... there are no new inq, no new accs, no derogs, no missed payments. 1 yr 6 month old profile w only 3 acccs. Amex limit is 10k, disco is 1.6k. Please advice. Thank you

Re: Score drop! Why though...

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 19:04:35 GMT

It's probably your individual and/or overall UTI (balance/limit). What was your balance on both cards before and after adding $1k and $800? What was your total balance (before and after) and limits across all accounts?

Re: Score drop! Why though...

LuckyB338 — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 19:06:59 GMT

About 120-160 on Amex and 75 on disco. But is it possible for scores to dip by 16 pts over utilization?

Re: Score drop! Why though...

Zolomon — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 19:07:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
It's probably your individual and/or overall UTI (balance/limit). What was your balance on both cards before and after adding $1k and $800? What was your total balance (before and after) and limits across all accounts?

I agree. Adding $1k on a $10k Amex is just 10%. Adding $800 on a $1.6k Discover is 50% utilization at least.

Re: Score drop! Why though...

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 19:17:04 GMT

@LuckyB338 wrote:
About 120-160 on Amex and 75 on disco. But is it possible for scores to dip by 16 pts over utilization?

Most definitely it is possible. You went from 1% on Amex to 10% breaking the 9% scoring threshold, 1% on Discover to 50% breaking scoring thresholds of 9%, 29% and 49%, that is without looking at your overall UTI.

Re: Score drop! Why though...

SouthJamaica — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 19:42:07 GMT

@LuckyB338 wrote:
My experian dropped from 717 to 701 from June 21st to July 21. The only reason I can think of is putting 1000 on my Amex and 800 on disco over the past month. 16 points though... there are no new inq, no new accs, no derogs, no missed payments. 1 yr 6 month old profile w only 3 acccs. Amex limit is 10k, disco is 1.6k. Please advice. Thank you

That's easy. It's the 50% utilization on the Discover card. Get that down to $448 (28%) on your next statement and you'll get some of those points back.

Re: Score drop! Why though...

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 20:20:20 GMT

@LuckyB338
About 120-160 on Amex and 75 on disco. But is it possible for scores to dip by 16 pts over utilization?

For sure. Scores can be impacted 100 points from utilization, so 16 points is nothing.

If your highest reported card balance went from a small single-digit amount to 50%+, that's a reason right there. I'm not sure what your other cards are, but it's also possible that you crossed an aggregate utilization threshold and that's even more impactful than an individual line.

Re: Score drop! Why though...

LuckyB338 — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 01:36:57 GMT

Thank you everyone for the great advice! I will be paying in full come the due date. Thanks again!