topic Re: Equifax score plummeted 31 point in a week! in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Rebucketing? EQ Dropped 30 points in a day!

poldies4 — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:31:45 GMT

I put this in another board, mistakenly - 1st time poster - sorry!

I have a clean history - no negatives, nothing. The only bad thing on my report is that my credit card balances are high. They're reporting at about 56% usage (although I've made payments that haven't reported, so it's more like 40% now). I've been paying those down quickly - about $8000 in the last few months alone.

My EQ score went from 734 to 703 today. I am so upset. Something triggered it because it wasn't a score watch report day. But I compared my reports from 3/26 and today and they are identical. 7 years average age of credit, 16 years 5 months and then 16 years 6 months credit history.

The crazy thing is that I pulled my TU report and that score went UP 10 points - 721 to 731.

Anyone have any ideas about this? How long is it going to take me to get my score back up now? My utilisation should be under 30% by the end of the month - I don't have any other negatives to work on. I'm really bummed!

Equifax score plummeted 31 point in a week!

poldies4 — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 15:47:28 GMT

Ok, First time poster - I've been working very hard on paying off debt - in fact, I've paid off close to $8,000 in credit card debt just this year. It still leaves me with $11,000 in credit card debt, which is about 40% of my capacity (too high, I know!)

My credit score was 734 yesterday. Today it's 703!!!! WHAT!?!? Excuse my mild freak out!

For some reason I can't get a new score (the link won't open) right now. Anyone have any ideas?

Re: Equifax score plummeted 31 point in a week!

poldies4 — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 15:52:54 GMT

I should also add - I have no negatives, no late payments - nothing - as far as I know (last report pulled 1 week ago)

Re: Equifax score plummeted 31 point in a week!

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:09:06 GMT

Any CC limit lowered? From what you put down all i could think of.

Re: Equifax score plummeted 31 point in a week!

poldies4 — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:18:37 GMT

So, I finally was able to purchase my report - not a single thing is different from the last one when my score was 734. But I'm thinking that may be part of the problem. There's been about $3300 in payments made that haven't reported yet.

The really strange thing is that I've been waiting for my score to go up after they report, so I was so excited when I had a Score Watch Alert, lol! Only to see that low 703 - ugh!

The alert was triggered by something, but I can't figure out what it is - all my accounts are the same, credit limits unchaged, etc. Hopefully it's just temporary and the score will go back up when those cc report the pay downs...

Re: Equifax score plummeted 31 point in a week!

poldies4 — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:30:37 GMT

I went from 16 years 5 months credit history with 7 years average age of accounts to 16 years 6 months credit history with 7 years average age of accounts but this is the reasoning behind the 31 point landslide I had today:

Your FICO® score went down on a day when there were no credit alerts on your Equifax Credit Report™. This can happen if:

You moved from one category of credit users to another as time passed. For example, you may have transitioned from the category "consumers with a new credit history" to the category "consumers with a two- to five-year credit history". As a result, your credit report is evaluated differently, causing a slight change in your score. The good news is that moving between categories like this usually offers you the potential to reach a higher FICO® score in the future.

Man, I thought I was pretty good at this game, but I'm really at a loss about why my score took such a huge hit! It seems like the better my credit report gets, the worse my credit score - anyone have anything similar happen? Will it bounce back?

Re: Equifax score plummeted 31 point in a week!

poldies4 — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:37:22 GMT

THIS IS MADNESS!

I just pulled my Transunion report for today - it still shows the exact info as the Equifax report (still not reporting that $3300 I've paid) but get this - my TU score went UP 10 POINTS! WTH?

So with both reports having identical info, my TU score went from 721 to 731 and my Equifax went from 734 to 703... does this make sense to anyone?

Re: Equifax score plummeted 31 point in a week!

llecs — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 19:00:41 GMT

OP, for clarity, you pulled new EQ FICO reports from myFICO.com, right? Just making sure you didn't get the score from another website.

If you pulled a new EQ report look for changes that could trigger a drop:

1) Look for a CLD (well mentioned).

2) Look for dropped TLs.

3) Look for added accounts

4) Look for added baddies.

5) Look for stati changes or disputed accounts (even a phone call to a creditor can trigger a dispute comment by some).

6) Look for any balance changes.

7) Study the 2nd and 3rd page of your FICO report. Look for any changes to the order of the pos/neg items that hurt. If there's a change you can lose/gain pts.

8) Look at the Credit At-A-Glance page. Changes within that can impact your score in a big way. Also look for any added red flags that were not there before.

9) Look at the Accounts page. Look for any changes to balances as that can cause a drop. Also look for any red flags in the red flag column.

10) I know you said no baddies, but look again as evidenced by a red flag. If any of those updated then that can cause a score drop.

"Rebucketing" is always thrown out as a fast explanation. IMO, it's offered too frequently and mostly incorrectly. However, if you cycle through the above, and there are absolutely no other changes other than the oldest increasing in age, then rebucketing is a possibility. The change would have occurred on 4/1 as your oldest hit a month older. That 4/1 date would also coincide with a SW score alert which I'm assuming you have based on your statements. However with rebucketing the pos/neg items listed on #7 above would have switched up. Some of the positive might turn negative and vice-versa. IME, I went through the exact same thing when my oldest turned a month older at a half-year mark (13.5 for me). I pulled the FICO report the day prior. With zero other changes except for the pos/neg items, there were no other changes. If it turns out to be rebucketing then it just means that you'll recover sooner and items like util will count more. Expect more dramatic changes as your report changes (e.g. util, age, AAoA, etc.).

Re: Equifax score plummeted 31 point in a week!

cashnocredit — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 19:35:26 GMT

Could be worse. I was rebucketed in Jan when my oldest account reached exactly 4 years of age. EQ FICO dropped from 757 to 703 with no chnages in CLs, accounts, Inqs, or anything except a small balance decrease on one CC. Util remained unchanged at 11%.

In the new bucket the number of CC accounts with balances became the largest factor in the decrease. Since I use all my CCs there were smallish balances reporting on all the cards. It was a score killer in the new, 4y/o bucket.

It's never clear if changes are a result of new bucketing unless you look at all the variables in a CR before and after. Oddly, the new bucket really liked adding a new CC which I did and got a fairly big increase when the new card reported since it initially reported with a 0 balance.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Extreme-Rebucketing-Effects-757-to-690-on-Yr-4/td-p/1975901

Depending on how you set up allerts the following will show up with a score change as it will cause an alert. Clicking on the alert will give you details.

From llecs list

1) Look for a CLD (well mentioned). <-- This is most likely because there would not be an alert, you have to pull a new CR to see it.

2) Look for dropped TLs.

3) Look for added accounts *

4) Look for added baddies. *

5) Look for stati changes or disputed accounts (even a phone call to a creditor can trigger a dispute comment by some).

6) Look for any balance changes. *

* These items will nearly always generate an alert if you setup alerts for them.

Re: Equifax score plummeted 31 point in a week!

poldies4 — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 21:40:20 GMT

Thanks!

I did pull my EQ & TU reports from myFICO. And everything on the reports is literally unchanged from last week's report where my score was 734. I have no negatives at all (no lates/collections/inquiries, etc.) on my reports. My credit limits are all the same (and are reported properly on the reports), I haven't added or closed any accounts.

I have about $3300 in payments that have been made but not reported yet - most of my cards don't report this early in the month.

The other reason I think it was rebucketing was because myFICO had the explanation that basically stated that this was the case: "you may have been moved from a group of people with newer credit to a group with older credit." I've just never had it happen before and I'm bummed my number went SO low. Hoping once that $3300 posts & I get my utilization below 30% this month, that my number will rebound even higher!

Re: Equifax score plummeted 31 point in a week!

cashnocredit — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 22:28:51 GMT

@poldies4 wrote:
Thanks!

I did pull my EQ & TU reports from myFICO. And everything on the reports is literally unchanged from last week's report where my score was 734. I have no negatives at all (no lates/collections/inquiries, etc.) on my reports. My credit limits are all the same (and are reported properly on the reports), I haven't added or closed any accounts.

I have about $3300 in payments that have been made but not reported yet - most of my cards don't report this early in the month.

The other reason I think it was rebucketing was because myFICO had the explanation that basically stated that this was the case: "you may have been moved from a group of people with newer credit to a group with older credit." I've just never had it happen before and I'm bummed my number went SO low. Hoping once that $3300 posts & I get my utilization below 30% this month, that my number will rebound even higher!

Unfortunately, except for things like having a PR or CAs, FICO keeps secret where each scorecard (or bucket) changes.

Re: Equifax score plummeted 31 point in a week!

poldies4 — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:26:09 GMT

Uuuugggghhh!!! So I got another Score Watch update - I went from 734 allll the way down to 703 (I think because of rebucketing - no changes other than quickly paying down credit cards, no negatives on my report otherwise). When it was 703 my CC utilization was 56% - it's now 49% (babysteps!) but my score only went up to 706.

I'm so frustrated that it seems the longer my credit history gets, the lower my CC utilization, the LOWER my credit score! WTH!?

I should have my utilization down to 40% by next month - hopefully lower - will I see any increase? Or do I have to wait until I get under 30% to see a bump?

Re: Equifax score plummeted 31 point in a week!

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 21:33:36 GMT

I just posted about a totally unexplained 27 point drop in my EQ FICO...from 726 to 699. The ONLY thing that is different now is that I'm aggressively paying down a credit line balance. I went from 75% utilization to 55%--which was improving my other scores! And one other thing--I now have a single hard pull on my credit. I didn't think only one inquiry could do that...

My oldest account is 6 years 9 months--average age is 3 years. is this rebucketing?

Re: Equifax score plummeted 31 point in a week!

llecs — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 22:42:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I just posted about a totally unexplained 27 point drop in my EQ FICO...from 726 to 699. The ONLY thing that is different now is that I'm aggressively paying down a credit line balance. I went from 75% utilization to 55%--which was improving my other scores! And one other thing--I now have a single hard pull on my credit. I didn't think only one inquiry could do that...

My oldest account is 6 years 9 months--average age is 3 years. is this rebucketing?

Did you purchases 2 EQ FICO reports for the comparison?

Re: Equifax score plummeted 31 point in a week!

poldies4 — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 23:27:17 GMT

Yes, I did purchase 2 reports. I basically purchase a report any time my score changes, lol - I have quite a collection!

ETA - oops, thought you were talking to me

Re: Equifax score plummeted 31 point in a week!

llecs — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 23:28:15 GMT

Is there anything different on the 2nd and 3rd pages (the pos/neg items the help/hurt your FICO)? Look to see if they scrambled up.

Util the same?

Look on the accts page. Make sure nothing dropped or was added.

Look on the Credit At-A-Glance page. Changes there can lead to a FICO change.

Re: Equifax score plummeted 31 point in a week!

llecs — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 23:29:18 GMT

Yea, I got confused too....but the above applies to you OP.

Re: Equifax score plummeted 31 point in a week!

poldies4 — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 23:30:03 GMT

@rina_b - I dont' know if you were rebucketed - I got an explanation from myFICO as to why my score went down to the effect of, "You may have moved from one category of users to another which will enable you to reach a higher score in the long run." That was paraphrased, but essentially described rebucketing in my case.

Did you have something like that?

Re: Equifax score plummeted 31 point in a week!

poldies4 — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 23:35:05 GMT

Between my score being 731 & 703, the reports are absolutely identical, except for my Credit History went from 16 years 5 months to 16 years 6 months. The score was reported on a non-reporting day.

My CC utilization was exactly the same - everything is in the same order, exact number of accounts, no inquiries, I have no baddies. All of that taken with the explanation on the alert from myFICO leads me to rebucketing.

Re: Equifax score plummeted 31 point in a week!

llecs — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 23:47:31 GMT

@poldies4 wrote:
Between my score being 731 & 703, the reports are absolutely identical, except for my Credit History went from 16 years 5 months to 16 years 6 months. The score was reported on a non-reporting day.

My CC utilization was exactly the same - everything is in the same order, exact number of accounts, no inquiries, I have no baddies. All of that taken with the explanation on the alert from myFICO leads me to rebucketing.

Ignore the SW comment from the alert. It's generic.

However, based on everything else there's a strong possibility of rebucketing.