topic Re: Score drop - unsure why? in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Score drop - unsure why?

Anonymous — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:33:33 GMT

Hi all -

It's been awhile since I've been on here - and my score dropped! So guess I should come around more often! :-)

But yeah - my scores went from 799 TU, 785 EQ to 769 TU and 775 EQ since I last checked in Nov./Jan. - reasons given are that the "non-mortgage accounts are too high". I have 1 student loan in deferment and less than $80 on CC (because there's some on there when I pulled just now - it always gets PIF). My CC total limit (Across all cards) is over $62,000 - with a few cards being AU. One card has $26/$15,5000 reporting and the other has around $46/$9,500 reporting - both WAY below 1%! I have 18 accounts - 4 with balances (mortgage, 2 CC, SL) and I have 4 CC + 1-2 AU CC so it's less than half reporting a balance.

My TU has two inq - one from Jan. 2011 and one from Mar. 2011 and my EQ has one from Jan. 2011 - could those be pulling it down?

Or could it be the reason given - that my student loan account is "high" (at $10,719 deferred until at least June of 2012, maybe June 2013)? I can't do much about that right now - I'm a student and it's deferred so would be stupid to pay on it.

But the loan was on the report last time I pulled - and I haven't opened any new accounts - so why the 30 pt drop on TU - is that just from the inq?? And then why the 10 pt drop on EQ - from the 1 inq??

If that's the case, why didn't it list that as a "baddie"? Once those fall off in Mar, will my score rise? I really was hoping for 800 this year.

Thanks y'all for any tips! (And no, I don't NEED it to be higher, not planning on doing much with a CS since I can't refi due to "unstable income" (aka student stipend) it's just a matter of principle)...

Re: Score drop - unsure why?

Anonymous — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 17:55:05 GMT

bump - please anyone? thoughts? I want to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong...

Re: Score drop - unsure why?

llecs — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:05:17 GMT

Were the before and after scores both pulled from myFICO? Or was one or more pulled or obtained from a lender?

Were more TLs reporting a balance in the latter reports than the former?

For the inquiries, are there new TLs reporting as a result of them showing now vs. last year's report (Jan? Nov?)? Did the new TL(s) show on the new and not the old?

Re: Score drop - unsure why?

Anonymous — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 19:20:32 GMT

Both pulled from myfico (my birthday present to myself).

In 2010, my EQ had $746 reporting on revolving, as well as a slightly higher amount on the mortgage. I had 1 inq on there at that point. I have 1 more year of credit history now (duh), 1 more new account (PenFed had to reissue CC for their fraud error - they backdated it though) and 4 versus 5 accounts with balances.

So I don't know why it's lower now than it was then??

For TU it's similar. A higher balance reported in Nov. 2010 than it did this year, I have 1 more year of history this year, a lower mortgage this year...I do have 2 inq on TU this year that I didn't last year.

So any ideas on EQ? I guess that the two inq are what dropped TU from 799 to 762?? It's just a far drop!

I didn't open anything new - I applied for refinance from PenFed, denied (Jan 2011) and the stupid dealer ran my credit when I said no (Mar 2011) and someone else did a hard inq in Jan 2011 on EQ - but nothing new for TL, no CLI, etc.

Re: Score drop - unsure why?

marty56 — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 22:59:15 GMT

TU is very sensitive to the number of accounts reporting a balance. Are you sure that you don't have more accounts reporting a balance. At 799 I doubt it was a rebucketing effect.

Re: Score drop - unsure why?

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 17:21:58 GMT

Marty - I had 4 reporting on this pull (2011) and 5 reporting on the last pull (2010). Honestly, the only thing I can see is that I have 2 inq this pull (2011). It says the bad thing is that my non-mortgage accounts are too high - but the value hasn't changed since last year (it's a SL, been in deferment the whole time).

Maybe it'll go back up after the inq are off? Do they go off on that month (ie March 2011 to March 2012) or should I wait till April?

I'm just confused??

Re: Score drop - unsure why?

RobertEG — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 22:50:16 GMT

You are in a high FICO scoring bracket, and thus subject to affects that normally have little impact on scoring.

I would expect that any of the items reflecting changed information may have caused a "rebucketing" of your scoring categorization, causing you to be scored under an entirely different scoring algorithm than was used to produce your prior score.

It then becomes difficult to compare apples with oranges.

Re: Score drop - unsure why?

Booner72 — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:23:37 GMT

My student loan was reporting a very large balance, but DirectLoans is going through some sort of reconfiguration, and my balance is now ZERO. I didn't see any score changes from that - so I'm assuming that the balance on your loan isn't the culprit here.

Re: Score drop - unsure why?

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 04:54:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

I have 4 CC + 1-2 AU CC so it's less than half reporting a balance.

You said that you have one more year's worth of history on your CCs than last year -- maybe that's why less than half of your CCs reporting a balance is STILL TOO MUCH. As was previously said, when you have achieved a higher score, A LOT more is expected of you. Especially, when you may have been rebucketed as well. And, no doubt, the inquiries are a factor too.

What I don't understand is WHY PenFed declined your request for refinancing? Your scores are higher than most, and yet, there's plenty of people being refinanced with scores that are less than yours. I know that PenFed is very strict but, Good Lord, scores above 760 are not good enough???

Re: Score drop - unsure why?

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:23:22 GMT

This has happened to me in the past, I have wondered why this happens myself. I didnt know if they do something different with the scoring method or what.

Re: Score drop - unsure why?

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:33:48 GMT

Thanks everyone, guess I didn't realize how subtle some of this can be!! At least they didn't slip below 760, and hopefully they will go back up again.

@ discernment: PenFed said the issue was my income, not my scores ;-) As a student, my income isn't guarenteed for 3-5 more years so they couldn't take the "chance" (and in this economy, who's income IS guarenteed?!) so yeah - they also used different scores, so those values weren't regular FICO scores.