topic Re: I don't understand why my score dropped in Understanding FICO® Scoring

I don't understand why my score dropped

Anonymous — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:26:21 GMT

I had a score of 800 then right before I went on vacation I charged 60 dollars of merchandise. I had the habit of charging something and paying it the next day well this time it was towards the end of the month which ended up with that amount being reported My balance changed from 0 to 60 even though my bill wasn't late. Then on vacation my credit card wasn't working out of the country to I placed my reservation with Hertz on my debit card----little did I know they would run a hard inquiry ---can anyone help me understand why I went form 800 to 771. I am trying to buy a house and this is not good. Also how long before my score goes up.

Re: I don't understand why my score dropped

llecs — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:32:17 GMT

Is the $60 balance reflected on your CRs?

Where did you get your score from?

ETA....what is the CL on that CC?

Re: I don't understand why my score dropped

laz98 — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 20:52:28 GMT

i don't know how much of a difference 771 makes from 800 when buying a house.....anyone know?

Re: I don't understand why my score dropped

vanillabean — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 22:02:03 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I had a score of 800 then right before I went on vacation I charged 60 dollars of merchandise. I had the habit of charging something and paying it the next day well this time it was towards the end of the month which ended up with that amount being reported My balance changed from 0 to 60 even though my bill wasn't late. Then on vacation my credit card wasn't working out of the country to I placed my reservation with Hertz on my debit card----little did I know they would run a hard inquiry ---can anyone help me understand why I went form 800 to 771. I am trying to buy a house and this is not good. Also how long before my score goes up.

In a situation with having just 1 credit card and the reported balance moving up from $0 to $60, I would actually have expected a score increase. I assume your reported credit limit for the card is not less than something like $2000, corresponding to a util of 3%. If on the other hand the card is not used in the util calculation, e.g. the credit limit is not reported, then I would expect the drop that you see.