Scores drop for no reason

[Anonymous]

Hi all. I'm really new to this. Back story, ex-husband refused to work and got myself in huge financial debt. Worst thing, I allowed my student loans to default which I'm now in rehabilitation for. As far as all the other debt and collections, 2 that are paid remain on my report as zero balance and 2 remain that have a balance of $285 and $2k. I have paid off about $12k in old debt that has been deleted. I have a car payment that is 2 years old with NEVER a late payment. CC x2 with zero balance that has been that way since  

september. Yet, my scores keep decreasing. There's nothing new. No new collections or charge offs. No new lines of credit. No new inquiries. I started out a year ago with a score of about 560. Yet, my new scores are only around 600.  I'm lost at what to do to raise them. 

[AllZero]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi all. I'm really new to this. Back story, ex-husband refused to work and got myself in huge financial debt. Worst thing, I allowed my student loans to default which I'm now in rehabilitation for. As far as all the other debt and collections, 2 that are paid remain on my report as zero balance and 2 remain that have a balance of $285 and $2k. I have paid off about $12k in old debt that has been deleted. I have a car payment that is 2 years old with NEVER a late payment. CC x2 with zero balance that has been that way since  

september. Yet, my scores keep decreasing. There's nothing new. No new collections or charge offs. No new lines of credit. No new inquiries. I started out a year ago with a score of about 560. Yet, my new scores are only around 600.  I'm lost at what to do to raise them. 

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What CMS Credit Monitoring Service are you using?

[AllZero]

$1 you can obtain your 3 bureau FICO 8 reports at Experian.com or creditchecktotal.com. Cancel in 7 day or less to avoid the re-occurring monthly charge. Wash, Rinse, and Repeat as needed.

Free credit reports (disregard the VantageScore 3.0 score) at:
creditkarma.com for weekly TU and EQ
wallethub.com for daily TU

[Anonymous]

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@AllZero wrote:

$1 you can obtain your 3 bureau FICO 8 reports at Experian.com or creditchecktotal.com. Cancel in 7 day or less to avoid the re-occurring monthly charge. Wash, Rinse, and Repeat as needed.

Free credit reports (disregard the VantageScore 3.0 score) at:
creditkarma.com for weekly TU and EQ
wallethub.com for daily TU

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+1 
Exactly. Majority of lenders use Fico scores anyway, so don't pay mind to VantageScores when using free tools such as CK or WH as AllZero mentioned. However, these tools are great for monitoring the information on your reports.

[Anonymous]

"CC x2 with zero balance that has been that way since  

september."

I hesitiate to point this out becaue its is probably only having a minor affect on your scores but; All zero penalty probably. Having all cards report zero lowers your score. Having one card report a small balance will give you a boost. The increase will be small because negative information has a disproportionate impact on your scores versus positive information. Once your last late payment is a year old you will see another small increase and a bigger increase at two years old.

[Jnbmom]

What score are you referring to? Where did you obtain it from ?

[Anonymous]

Hi Morpho,

Thank you so much for your help. I'm at a loss. I have allowed a VERY small balance to report. And that dropped my scores. However, after paying it off, the score didn't rebound.  This is what confuses me. I hear such conflicting advice in regards to utilization. To show a balance or not show a balance.  I'm trying to get the paid collections off as well. But the companies won't budge. All of the others agreed to delete, and they did. In total, I've paid $10k in student loan (original balance of $80k) and about $12k in old debt. Along with my car payment. These credit scores are 

from TU/Exp/Equifax. I only use CK to keep an eye of what's on the report and not necessarily the scores.  

[Anonymous]

The scores directly come from TU/exp/Equifax sites. 

[Anonymous]

I primarily use CK just to follow the reports. TU/Exp/my FICO for scores. 

[Remedios]

I might have read it wrong, but it seems you mentioned still having two unpaid accounts in collections? 

If that's the case, and they are updating, it actively being sold from time to time, it can lower or suppress your scores.

That's applicable only if those are negative accounts. 

If they are not negative, what are the limits on them. High utilization will also suppress scores.