topic Re: Not sure why score has dropped... Should be going up. Any guidance is appreciated in Rebuilding Your Credit

Not sure why score has dropped... Should be going up. Any guidance is appreciated

Anonymous — Sun, 23 Aug 2015 21:33:04 GMT

Hi! I'm in a bit of a crazy place right now credit wise. I HAVE to be at 700 on 2 of 3 scores in the next 30-45 days to qualify for a specific loan product. I'm set to sell my home and if I can't close on our new purchase, I'll have made a bad gamble.,.,,but I should be fine. I've been at 700 or more on TU and EXP in the last 60 days, just not at the same time.

Here's a run down of whats transpired (yes, I've bought a lot of reports from FICO)

6/15 EQ 681 TU 709 EXP 693

At this point I have the following collections:

Medical 1 year olf, unpaid for $700 on all 3 reports

Asset Acceptance for $600, 6 years 7 months old on all 3 reports

Mortgage paid on time

1 installnment from 10 years back showing on Experian.

No credit of my own

AUthorized user on my wifes Best Buy, Discover.

Had a closed 1st premier CC from 6 years back and a CC from 1st premier than went to charge off. Billing still shows $291 balance.

6/26 EQ 681 TU 710 EXP 693

- had 7 year judgement come off of Transunion for 1 pt increase

6/29 EQ 646 TU 692 EXP 693

-Asset Acceptance collection removed from EXP

-Opened a Barclays Card with $800 limit

-Had 1st Premier unpaid removed from Transunion

Wasn't expecting to lose 18 pts on TU after getting a AA collection deleted and the 1st premier charge-off deleted as well, while adding a CC. Equifax gets hammered whiled Experian doesn't budge. Barclays card appears on all 3 accounts.

7/1 EQ 664 TU 969 EXP 693

- Had a new tradeline appear from an authorized user account of my wifes. It now shows relationshsip terminated. Never appeared while the relationship was "intact". Appears like it was a primary acct. Onl;y appears on EQ and TU, hence the increase I think.

-Asset Acceptance deleted from Experian.

Again, Experian doesnt budge despite the deletion.

7/7 EQ 658 TU 969 EXP 703

-Medical balance is paid in full, but only reporting as $0 on EXP

-2 Year old lowes card with zero balance added as authorized user. Appears on EQ and EX

7/10 EQ 649 TU 696 EXP 703

-Lowes authorized user added to TU.

No changes to Equifax since 7/7, yet am down 9 points.

7/13 EQ 643 TY 696 EXP 703

No changes to tradelines, Equifax down 3 more points!!!

7/14 and 7/15 NO CHANGES TO SCORE OR TRADELINES

7/19 EQ 651 TU 964 EXP 697

- Added a 10 year old BOA CC as authorized user. Zero balance. EQ goes up, other 2 go down.

8/21 EQ 690 TU 694 EXP 684

-Added to wifes CC as authorized user on 10 year old Capital One. Low limit, no balance

8/23 EQ 690 TU 679 EXP 689

-No change....TU drops!!!!

Ok, so that's the specific activity. Lots of movemement, especially 3-5 days after the tradeline is updated, generally for no reason. Couple of basic things on my reports.

I have no balance on any of the authorized users accounts and haven't other than $29 on Discover. It's now paid. NO balances.

- One of the 1st premier that is in collection/charge-off mode has a $291 balance. It's due to come off in Oct. but I can't wait that long. Will it improve my score by paying? Money isn't an issue, I was just so close to 7 years that I wanted to avoid it.

- Most of the accounts I've been added as an authorized user are fairly old. I've been good about adding aged, high limit cards.

- A few of these (lowes, etc) are 2-3 years old. Since balance utilization isn't an issue, should I consider deleting auhtoirzed users that have an aging lower than my average age (which is about 5.5 years)

- Some of these cards haven't been used in 1-2 years. Should I use them for a $1 coffee and let the balance roll to next month? Better to carry a small balance or no balance?

- Some of these cards have been near maxed out in the last 2-5 years. EX: $8000 limit, $7400 high balance, $0 current balance. Is high balance taken into consideration?

In 2 months, I've removed a collection from TU and EXP, paid off a medical collection, had a charge off removed from TU, had a paid judgement removed from TU, Opened a card (my only active revolving pc of credit in my name), Have added 3 authorized users accounts, all fairly aged with zero balance.

As it stands today, Equifax is up 9 to 690, Transunion is down 30 to 679 and Experian is down 4 to 689.

What did I do wrong???? What can I pay, have removed (authorized user accounts) or add to get a few of these back on track?

If I'm missing any aspect, please advise and I'll provide what I can.

Re: Not sure why score has dropped... Should be going up. Any guidance is appreciated

CH-7-Mission-Accomplished — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 04:18:27 GMT

This is way TMI for most people here to try to work with. It's your first post, so you wouldn't know, but you need to simplify this if you want help.

Re: Not sure why score has dropped... Should be going up. Any guidance is appreciated

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 04:35:51 GMT

I hope someone can answer this one. Would really be interested in getting some expert info on this story.

Re: Not sure why score has dropped... Should be going up. Any guidance is appreciated

ORllyNao — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 06:40:43 GMT

Is there a balance on any of the cards at all? I've read that you'll get dinged for having all no-balance CCs on your file, so maybe that's the problem?

Re: Not sure why score has dropped... Should be going up. Any guidance is appreciated

bestchoiceglobal — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 07:28:06 GMT

Why do you have so many AU accounts? I think I counted 6 or more and 1 that's yours. You definitely have the scores to support building your own positive history. When you're done reaching your 30-45 day goal, that is something I'd focus on establishing.

Re: Not sure why score has dropped... Should be going up. Any guidance is appreciated

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 11:43:34 GMT

1. Any drop less than 10 points is statistical noise, ignore it.

2. Drop myfico. Get creditchecktotal.com Free experian every day and three 3bureau reports a month on demand for 14.99 (Search here on how to get that price)

3. If your score dropped 30 points, there is probably something you're missing (Something updating appearing as new, balance/utilization change somewhere). If you don't see a new tradeline don't worry about it. Your scores are pretty good for having baddies, let your new accounts age then start adding your own unsecured credit.

Re: Not sure why score has dropped... Should be going up. Any guidance is appreciated

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 18:50:10 GMT

At this point, 10 points is not statistical noise... It's the difference between loan pre-qualification and not.... so It's a huge deal. Only seems to occur with Equifax, is fairly random. Now that it's a Equifax is a 690, it's back in play as an option for a 700.

Rather than all of the stuff in my 1st post, here's a few more specific questions that might help me if I can get answers:

1. Is there a limit and/or ratio of AU to primary account I need to abide by. Currently at 6-to-1. The last 2 I had added should have increase average aging but did not.

2. All AU accounts added show a complete history from my wife on my history now (no lates, 10+ years). Do these get weighted at all by FICO for when they appear on my account?

3. if I need to have a few deleted, should I pick the 1-2 with the least amount of history (opened 2013), or the 1-2 most recently that added me as an AU?

4. I have zero balance on my card (as reported) and zero balance on all of my wifes cards (DEBT FREE!). Would it be wise to leave a $10 balance on everything?

5. I will be selling my home (and closing the mortgage) in 21 days. When this updates as closed, paid, no lates ever, what should I expect it will do to my score?

Again, any guidance is appreciated!

Re: Not sure why score has dropped... Should be going up. Any guidance is appreciated

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 19:22:45 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
At this point, 10 points is not statistical noise... It's the difference between loan pre-qualification and not.... so It's a huge deal. Only seems to occur with Equifax, is fairly random. Now that it's a Equifax is a 690, it's back in play as an option for a 700.

Rather than all of the stuff in my 1st post, here's a few more specific questions that might help me if I can get answers:

1. Is there a limit and/or ratio of AU to primary account I need to abide by. Currently at 6-to-1. The last 2 I had added should have increase average aging but did not.
2. All AU accounts added show a complete history from my wife on my history now (no lates, 10+ years). Do these get weighted at all by FICO for when they appear on my account?
3. if I need to have a few deleted, should I pick the 1-2 with the least amount of history (opened 2013), or the 1-2 most recently that added me as an AU?
4. I have zero balance on my card (as reported) and zero balance on all of my wifes cards (DEBT FREE!). Would it be wise to leave a $10 balance on everything?
5. I will be selling my home (and closing the mortgage) in 21 days. When this updates as closed, paid, no lates ever, what should I expect it will do to my score?

Again, any guidance is appreciated!

Based on my understanding:

1) I don't know about limits or ideal ratios, but I've been informed that authorized user trade lines don't count in mortgage underwriting. Might be some other loan types they don't count for and/or have less weight with in underwriting/internal scoring as well. Lenders know the difference between an AU and an account you are personally responsible for. You should check with the loan officer/rep with the instititution for the product you're applying for to find out how they view it, because that can vary.

2) My experience is you get some juice if the histories are good and they help your AAOA with FICO and your CR, but remember, FICO is only part of the story(very important part, but only part).

3) I'd keep the oldest ones as long as they show good payment history, personally. But that's going by the assumption that aged good trade lines are better than newer good trade lines. It seems a safe assumption, but, Fico is a black box.

4) One card should report something. The golden rule is less than 10 percent, but recently I've been getting even better juice with one card reporting under 1 percent. I think. It's hard to say for certain if that's the reason for the bumps, but it seems to be.

5) I've never closed out a mortgage, but my experience with installment loans is you may see one or more reports drop when it closes. For me it's almost always Equifax. EQ Fico is like a drama queen when it comes to changes on my report, it over reacts to everything good and bad compared to TU and EX Ficos. Perhaps someone with experience closing out a mortgage will comment, maybe it's different.

Re: Not sure why score has dropped... Should be going up. Any guidance is appreciated

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 19:22:46 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
At this point, 10 points is not statistical noise... It's the difference between loan pre-qualification and not.... so It's a huge deal. Only seems to occur with Equifax, is fairly random. Now that it's a Equifax is a 690, it's back in play as an option for a 700.

Rather than all of the stuff in my 1st post, here's a few more specific questions that might help me if I can get answers:

1. Is there a limit and/or ratio of AU to primary account I need to abide by. Currently at 6-to-1. The last 2 I had added should have increase average aging but did not. This is unknown.
2. All AU accounts added show a complete history from my wife on my history now (no lates, 10+ years). Do these get weighted at all by FICO for when they appear on my account? Again, the details of how FICO scores AU is unknown.
3. if I need to have a few deleted, should I pick the 1-2 with the least amount of history (opened 2013), or the 1-2 most recently that added me as an AU? Least history would make sense, but FICO does not always react the way we expect it to.
4. I have zero balance on my card (as reported) and zero balance on all of my wifes cards (DEBT FREE!). Would it be wise to leave a $10 balance on everything? No, only on one card.
5. I will be selling my home (and closing the mortgage) in 21 days. When this updates as closed, paid, no lates ever, what should I expect it will do to my score? I would expect a minor score drop when there is no longer a mortgage reporting as open. Do you have any other installment credit reporting?

Again, any guidance is appreciated!

Honestly, I don't think you are going to find any more points by trying to increase AAoA with AU accounts. The problem is that with major derogs you are in a scoring bucket that tops out around 700 or so. Combine that with the fact that AAoA is a very small part of scoring and I just don't think there are any points to be had there. So adding all those AU accounts is just bouncing your scores around (the *noise* factor mentioned earlier).

As far as UTI goes, the general rule is only one card reports a balance of less than 10% of its limit. All others report $0.

IMO, you best chance at getting over 700 with any consistency is going to be removal of derogs.

Re: Not sure why score has dropped... Should be going up. Any guidance is appreciated

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 10:43:48 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
EQ Fico is like a drama queen when it comes to changes on my report, it over reacts to everything good and bad compared to TU and EX Ficos.

Re: Not sure why score has dropped... Should be going up. Any guidance is appreciated

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 12:27:02 GMT

Are your purchasing your mortgage scores or just going by the FICO8 that automatically updates with myfico? The reason I ask is because FICO8 specifically disregards AU Accts so consumers can't take advantage of being an AU. But the old mortgage scoring models that are still in use DO give you credit for those AU accts. also the old scoring models ding you for having all your revolving credit paid to $0. Carry a balance on at least one acct that's <10%. Do you have any installment loans? It sounds like you guys don't use a lot of credit but you're not struggling for cash. If you have an installment loan, try to pay it down another 10% of the Max value. This will bump your EXPERIAN score (won't likely do much for the other 2). And again if you are only looking at the fico8 sxore, and not your mortgage scores, you aren't looking at what the lenders are looking at.

Re: Not sure why score has dropped... Should be going up. Any guidance is appreciated

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 12:46:52 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Are your purchasing your mortgage scores or just going by the FICO8 that automatically updates with myfico? The reason I ask is because FICO8 specifically disregards AU Accts so consumers can't take advantage of being an AU. But the old mortgage scoring models that are still in use DO give you credit for those AU accts. also the old scoring models ding you for having all your revolving credit paid to $0. Carry a balance on at least one acct that's <10%. Do you have any installment loans? It sounds like you guys don't use a lot of credit but you're not struggling for cash. If you have an installment loan, try to pay it down another 10% of the Max value. This will bump your EXPERIAN score (won't likely do much for the other 2). And again if you are only looking at the fico8 sxore, and not your mortgage scores, you aren't looking at what the lenders are looking at.

This is inaccurate. They wanted to eliminate AU but they did not.

Re: Not sure why score has dropped... Should be going up. Any guidance is appreciated

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 16:19:57 GMT

So fico 8 does count AU? Someone awhile back told me they did and when I was reading the post above saying they dont, I got panicked. My wife just added me as an AU on 3 of here cards that are from 2001 with no balances to help my score. I hope this is right.

Re: Not sure why score has dropped... Should be going up. Any guidance is appreciated

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Aug 2015 20:02:20 GMT

Excited about paying off a HELOC on my mortgage, I failed to consider how it would impact my score. My score dropped 30 points as a result.

Re: Not sure why score has dropped... Should be going up. Any guidance is appreciated

StartingOver10 — Sat, 29 Aug 2015 21:30:48 GMT

OP, pull your mortgage scores here to see where you are now. FICO 8 scores are NOT used for mortgages so ignore those scores. Your currently paid, long term mortgage will be weighted more heavily in the FICO mortgage score formula from what I see. http://www.myfico.com/Products/FICO-Score-3B-Report/

At least start with looking at the right scores - the lenders use the mid score of all three.

The others are right about letting a small balance between 1% to 9% report on one of the cc's.