topic Re: TransUnion: Huge Drop After Balance Transfers (utlization is 25%) in Understanding FICO® Scoring

TransUnion: Huge Drop After Balance Transfers (utlization is 25%)

chaser7091 — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 20:02:05 GMT

Hello, my TransUnion dropped from 760 to 612. Only change that occured was transferring some of 26k BOA Visa balance as followed...

Transfer 15k to....
- $5000 onto one active citibank card (not a new card) with a 5K limit
- $10000 onto another active citibank card (not a new card) with a 10k limit
BOA Visa Card balance was then 11,000
Experian crashed from 750 to 700
Bank of America then recorded the 15,000 reduction
Experian rose from 700 to 720
Transunion only rose from 612 to 621

Im perplexed at why Transunion tanked when my credit utlization remains as it was before at 25% and I did not apply for any new cards or credit. Experian tanked it too but not as bad, but to go from Very Good to fair almost poor with TransUnion is like WTH?

Appreicate thoughts!

Re: TransUnion: Huge Drop After Balance Transfers (utlization back 25% as it always was)

Horseshoez — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 19:50:36 GMT

@chaser7091 wrote:
Hello, my TransUnion dropped from 760 to 612. Only that changed was transferring some of 26k BOA Visa balance as followed below..

Transfer 15k to....
$5000 onto one active citibank card (not a new card) with a 5K limit
$10000 onto another active citibank card (not a new card) with a 10k limit
BOA Visa Card balance was then 11,000
Experian crashed from 750 to 700
Bank of America then recorded the 15,000 reduction
Experian rose from 700 to 720
Transunion only rose from 612 to 621
Im perplexed at why Transunion tanked when my credit utlization remained as it was before at 25%.

Appreicate thoughts!

My guess would be the high utilization on multiple individual tradelines.

Re: TransUnion: Huge Drop After Balance Transfers (utlization back 25% as it always was)

chaser7091 — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 19:59:07 GMT

Thank you and so your saying its because I maxed out the two citibank cards with those transfers and TransUnion follows a different set of rules then Experian?

Re: TransUnion: Huge Drop After Balance Transfers (utlization is 25%)

Gunnerboy — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 19:58:13 GMT

Probably because the transferred amounts appear as new balances, while the BofA Visa still shows the entire 26k. Once BofA updates, your TU should jump back up, some..

Re: TransUnion: Huge Drop After Balance Transfers (utlization is 25%)

chaser7091 — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 20:03:05 GMT

Thank you and Bank of America did record the reduction and my Experian went from 700 to 720. While my Transunion went from 612 to only 620.

Does TransUnion and Experian have a different set of credit rules Im not aware of?

Re: TransUnion: Huge Drop After Balance Transfers (utlization is 25%)

markbeiser — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 20:10:21 GMT

If you ever play around with credit score simulators, you will see that maxing out a credit card is one of the scenarios that causes a huge score drop.

Re: TransUnion: Huge Drop After Balance Transfers (utlization is 25%)

Horseshoez — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 20:10:46 GMT

@chaser7091 wrote:
Thank you and Bank of America did record the reduction and my Experian went from 700 to 720. While my Transunion went from 612 to only 620.

Does TransUnion and Experian have a different set of credit rules Im not aware of?

All three bureaus use different models to arrive at the scores; that coupled with different data being recorded for each further spreads the score. All three of my credit reports show the different AAoA, Hard Inquiry, and old account information.

Re: TransUnion: Huge Drop After Balance Transfers (utlization is 25%)

GZG — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 20:15:25 GMT

@chaser7091 wrote:
Appreicate thoughts!

where are you getting your scores from?

Re: TransUnion: Huge Drop After Balance Transfers (utlization is 25%)

chaser7091 — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 20:39:43 GMT

I subscribe to both the Experian and TransUnion apps; pay their monthly subscriptions. I check Experian few times a week and Transunion few times a month.

Re: TransUnion: Huge Drop After Balance Transfers (utlization is 25%)

CYBERSAM — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 22:15:11 GMT

@chaser7091 wrote:
Hello, my TransUnion dropped from 760 to 612. Only change that occured was transferring some of 26k BOA Visa balance as followed...

Transfer 15k to....
$5000 onto one active citibank card (not a new card) with a 5K limit
$10000 onto another active citibank card (not a new card) with a 10k limit
BOA Visa Card balance was then 11,000
Experian crashed from 750 to 700
Bank of America then recorded the 15,000 reduction
Experian rose from 700 to 720
Transunion only rose from 612 to 621
Im perplexed at why Transunion tanked when my credit utlization remains as it was before at 25% and I did not apply for any new cards or credit. Experian tanked it too but not as bad, but to go from Very Good to fair almost poor with TransUnion is like WTH?

Appreicate thoughts!

@chaser7091 Are you saying you actually maxed out your total CL on those two cards? If so that is a huge NO, NO...

I would move the balance out ASAP before you see more adverse action taking against your existing cards.

Re: TransUnion: Huge Drop After Balance Transfers (utlization is 25%)

Horseshoez — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 22:24:11 GMT

@chaser7091 wrote:
I subscribe to both the Experian and TransUnion apps; pay their monthly subscriptions. I check Experian few times a week and Transunion few times a month.

Your TransUnion scores are essentially worthless; they are not FICO scores, they are Vantage 3.0 scores which are ignored by basically 95% of the credit world out there.

Re: TransUnion: Huge Drop After Balance Transfers (utlization is 25%)

Thomas_Thumb — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 22:37:34 GMT

@CYBERSAM wrote:
@chaser7091 wrote:
Hello, my TransUnion dropped from 760 to 612. Only change that occured was transferring some of 26k BOA Visa balance as followed...

Transfer 15k to....
$5000 onto one active citibank card (not a new card) with a 5K limit
$10000 onto another active citibank card (not a new card) with a 10k limit
BOA Visa Card balance was then 11,000
Experian crashed from 750 to 700
Bank of America then recorded the 15,000 reduction
Experian rose from 700 to 720
Transunion only rose from 612 to 621
Im perplexed at why Transunion tanked when my credit utlization remains as it was before at 25% and I did not apply for any new cards or credit. Experian tanked it too but not as bad, but to go from Very Good to fair almost poor with TransUnion is like WTH?

Appreicate thoughts!
@chaser7091 Are you saying you actually maxed out your total CL on those two cards? If so that is a huge NO, NO...
I would move the balance out ASAP before you see more adverse action taking against your existing cards.

^ Agree with the above.

Instantly maxing out 2 credit cards is a huge red flag. That is why your score dropped like a rock. You did exactly the opposite of what one should do to improve credit score. A 100% utilization level is bad to the bone. Try to get the card UTs below 80% soon.

VantageScore and Fico algorithms look at individual credit card utilizations in addition to aggregate. For individual cards Fico specifically scores based on the one with the highest % utilization. Not sure how VS looks at multiple high UT cards but, it penalizes more heavily than Fico.

Re: TransUnion: Huge Drop After Balance Transfers (utlization is 25%)

NYC_Fella — Mon, 15 Jan 2024 00:26:52 GMT

Yet another DP. I accidentaly forgot to PIF a card with a $24K balance on a $25K CL and my scores dropped an average of 70 points even though my overall utilization was just around 17%.

Re: TransUnion: Huge Drop After Balance Transfers (utlization is 25%)

Shooting-For-800 — Mon, 15 Jan 2024 04:58:28 GMT

Your scores are based on your total utilization AND your utilization on each card.

They don't have to all be the same ratio, but I would not ever go over 68% on any card for more than a month.

JMO.

GL!

Re: TransUnion: Huge Drop After Balance Transfers (utlization is 25%)

titancylinder — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 23:50:24 GMT

Hello,

Welcome to the forums!

Honestly, with that kind of displacement, you should have just got a personal loan. Installment loans are treated differently from revolving debt, and so long as you keep the debt off the cards, you will likely see an additional improvement in your credit score overall.

My rule of thumb is never max out a credit card. Even on zero percent interest balance transfer offers, I never recommend maxing out a card. In fact, I wouldn't go over 29% on any card and aggregate. Ideally, aim to be below 10% across the board.

I would wait for everything to update, then try to get a personal loan, preferably through a CU.

Just my two cents!

Re: TransUnion: Huge Drop After Balance Transfers (utlization is 25%)

Thomas_Thumb — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 01:06:17 GMT

Cards at a utilization of 80% and above are considered maxed out. That increases the risk of adverse action.

For those wanting to take advantage of 0% APR promo rates, with minimal risk of AA, stay under 79% UT. Stay under 49% UT if a substantial score drop is a concern. That being said, many high aggregate CL profiles won't experience a significant score drop if a card jumps to the 50% to 79% UT range. Why? Because the high aggregate CL can keep the aggregate UT% relatively low.

Re: TransUnion: Huge Drop After Balance Transfers (utlization is 25%)

SouthJamaica — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 16:22:35 GMT

@chaser7091 wrote:
I subscribe to both the Experian and TransUnion apps; pay their monthly subscriptions. I check Experian few times a week and Transunion few times a month.

Welcome to the forum.

That TU score is not a FICO score, it is a Vantage 3.0 score. Those are (a) susceptible to large swings and (b) meaningless in the greater scheme of things.