topic Re: SCORE DROP 17 PTS???? in Understanding FICO® Scoring

SCORE DROP 17 PTS????

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 18:38:28 GMT

Feb 21 score was 704. March 4 score was 687. I went through both reports. Nothing changed. UTIL % actually went down. No new inquiries. No new accounts. NOTHING changed.

Any ideas?

Re: SCORE DROP 17 PTS????

llecs — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:05:25 GMT

Where did the report come from and which CRA was it?

Re: SCORE DROP 17 PTS????

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:26:06 GMT

Myfico.com and TU. I just spoke with a myfico rep and she mentioned that before inquiries were hurting my score, but once a few fell off it took a bigger deduction due to many accounts. I have MANY closed accounts with 0 balance from years ago. Wonder if I should dispute and have em removed.

Re: SCORE DROP 17 PTS????

MarineVietVet — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:30:46 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Myfico.com and TU. I just spoke with a myfico rep and she mentioned that before inquiries were hurting my score, but once a few fell off it took a bigger deduction due to many accounts. I have MANY closed accounts with 0 balance from years ago. Wonder if I should dispute and have em removed.

and NO!!!

Closed accounts generally stay for up to 10 years after closing but on rare ocaasions they remain longer and your AAoA and credit length history continue to be helped as long as they report.

Did I mention not to remove these?

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

Re: SCORE DROP 17 PTS????

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:57:00 GMT

Ill get a bit more specific.

Also insead of the too many inquires being the 3rd factor to keep my score down....now its too many accounts(and it lists 50)

There are a few credit card accounts that I used for transfer purposes that only stayed open a few months. (I got into CC debt..those are reasons)

On Feb 21st,2011 my TU score was 704. Today(March 4) it was 687. UTIL went down 1% and 2 inquiries dropped off. I only have about 12 open at this time, as the rest are positive accounts, but very old with 0 balance. Ill just be picky about which ones so I dont drive my average length down.

Still no?

Re: SCORE DROP 17 PTS????

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:59:49 GMT

So I never figured the closed positive accounts affected my scores in a negative way, but maybe they do or are in this case?

17 points is a big drop....

Re: SCORE DROP 17 PTS????

MarineVietVet — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 20:03:17 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Ill get a bit more specific.

Also insead of the too many inquires being the 3rd factor to keep my score down....now its too many accounts(and it lists 50)
There are a few credit card accounts that I used for transfer purposes that only stayed open a few months. (I got into CC debt..those are reasons)
On Feb 21st,2011 my TU score was 704. Today(March 4) it was 687. UTIL went down 1% and 2 inquiries dropped off. I only have about 12 open at this time, as the rest are positive accounts, but very old with 0 balance. Ill just be picky about which ones so I dont drive my average length down.

Still no?

Any closed account in good standing I would leave alone but that's up to you.

The notation of "too many accounts" is IMO a very small ding (If any at all. Sometimes I think at a certain point the nitpicking begins on reasons your score might be affected) and not worth worrying about.

But others might have different opinions.

Re: SCORE DROP 17 PTS????

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 20:13:53 GMT

I would much rather stay out of the realm of disputing, but this drop has also kicked me into a lower tier loan % rate wise. Seems like two positive things happened and it dropped by a large portion. Not real sure what to do here.

Re: SCORE DROP 17 PTS????

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 21:21:51 GMT

Disputing ANY accurate info on your CR is one of the things we don't advocate on these boards.

And practically speaking, you can cause a big mess if you dispute accurate accounts. You don't want that.

If these accounts are reporting closed, leave them be. Sometimes old accounts still report as open even though they haven't been used in eons.

It looks like you've reviewed your accounts to see if any of the old ones are still reporting open?

DH has a very old furniture store account that hasn't been used in ages and is still open on TU and EQ.......we had to really read the fine print to figure that out.

Interestingly enough, the furniture store can't find him in their records and he can't use the account!

Re: SCORE DROP 17 PTS????

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 21:25:06 GMT

I do have several that report open, but I have requested them be closed and they were closed. Should I dispute these? Or leave it be? How could this drop my account 17 points or am I looking in the wrong direction. If my score can drop 17 points for now reason. I will lose faith in this system.

Re: SCORE DROP 17 PTS????

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 23:32:38 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I do have several that report open, but I have requested them be closed and they were closed. Should I dispute these? Or leave it be?

How could this drop my account 17 points or am I looking in the wrong direction. If my score can drop 17 points for now reason. I will lose faith in this system.

If the accounts are closed and they are reporting as open on your CreditReports, you can dispute the status of the accounts.

Just keep one eyeball peeled on your AAofA as well as length of credit history as you do so. DH's closed account that is reporting open is giving him a huge bump in AAofA. We like it!

FICO never drops 17 points for no reason. Sometimes we can read it and see, sometimes we can't.

Rebucketing can cause score fluctuations - but some folks believe that rebinning within the bucket can cause even greater fluctuations.

Just keep doing the right stuff and you'll be in good shape. Breathe in, breathe out.

Re: SCORE DROP 17 PTS????

CreditAble — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 21:36:53 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I do have several that report open, but I have requested them be closed and they were closed. Should I dispute these? Or leave it be? How could this drop my account 17 points or am I looking in the wrong direction. If my score can drop 17 points for no reason. I will lose faith in this system.

Are you saying that after you had the bureau change the status of some accounts to "closed" your scores went down? If so your score didn't drop for no reason. In any event further action on your part could cause further reductions.

It is often repeated to never dispute (or remove) positive tradelines.Even discussing accounts in good standing with bureaus could get them entirely deleted. Once deleted you might never be able to get them reinserted.

I don't believe everything people at the bureaus tell me. If you try to remove positive tradelines just because you were told you have too many accounts in file; you may regret it after you see your new scores. If your scores didn't drop as a result of your request to change the accounts status (to closed) then I think you should look elsewhere for reasons for the lower scores. I personally do not believe that your high number of accounts in good standing is the reason for your lower scores.

Sorry for your lost points. I do believe that they will return in time without any more tweaking necessary on your part. Do you absolutely need the higher score for an immediate loan application in the near future? If not you should be in fine shape.

Re: SCORE DROP 17 PTS????

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 21:54:11 GMT

Sorry, I should have been more clear. I didnt request anything to any bureau or anything. I just requested at diff times throughout the years that a cc be closed here or an account there. I just meant that the accounts were closed by me and they are showing open on my CR after years. All is in good standing so I wont mess with it, but it makes me wonder why a 17 pt drop even happened.

Rebucketing I guess...

Re: SCORE DROP 17 PTS????

CreditAble — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 21:55:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Feb 21 score was 704. March 4 score was 687. I went through both reports. Nothing changed. UTIL % actually went down. No new inquiries. No new accounts. NOTHING changed.

Any ideas?

Are you positive that the UTIL% did in fact go down. You may have paid down balances but the UTIL overall might have gone up if available credit from formerly open accounts is no longer being factored into overall credit limits.

You don't mention your actual UTIL. If your % is substantially high enough, it won't take many additional variables to cause score drops. If you do absolutely need the higher FICO score right now, lowering your utility as much as possible might be the best way to achieve your goals.

Re: SCORE DROP 17 PTS????

CreditAble — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 22:04:13 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Sorry, I should have been more clear. I didnt request anything to any bureau or anything. I just requested at diff times throughout the years that a cc be closed here or an account there. I just meant that the accounts were closed by me and they are showing open on my CR after years. All is in good standing so I wont mess with it, but it makes me wonder why a 17 pt drop even happened.

Rebucketing I guess...

I posted a reply to your "utiliity post" before I saw your reply to my first reply.

In reply to your reply to my first reply to your other post......

I think you are making the decission.

Re: SCORE DROP 17 PTS????

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 22:17:36 GMT

LOL. To be more specific. I went from 76% UTIL to 75% UTIL.