10 Point Drop

[Anonymous]

This month showed a 10 point drop on Ex. The only difference? 0% util instead of 1%. #TheMoreYouKnow

[Anonymous]

When you say 0%, do you mean $0?  Are you getting your score from MF, or some other source?  The penalty you may be observing is from the algorithm seeing "no revolving credit use" which is what happens when you go from at least one accounts with a non-zero reported balance to all of your revolvers with $0 reported balances.  I mention $0 (not 0%) because often summary software will round in either direction.  So, perhaps your 1% was really (say) .672% and your 0% may really be .149%.  I just look for this clarification from you because whether or not you mean $0 has complete bearing here on whether or not that balance change resulted in your score drop or not.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

When you say 0%, do you mean $0?  Are you getting your score from MF, or some other source?  The penalty you may be observing is from the algorithm seeing "no revolving credit use" which is what happens when you go from at least one accounts with a non-zero reported balance to all of your revolvers with $0 reported balances.  I mention $0 (not 0%) because often summary software will round in either direction.  So, perhaps your 1% was really (say) .672% and your 0% may really be .149%.  I just look for this clarification from you because whether or not you mean $0 has complete bearing here on whether or not that balance change resulted in your score drop or not.

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Yes, instead of AZEO it's just AZ. Score is my Disco Ex FICO 08. I got "No recent revolving balances" on the letter from an app this weekend.

[Anonymous]

I'd be interested in hearing more about your profile, especially the following:

(1)  Is your profile completely clean?  No derogs of any kind?  If so what are they?

(2)  What is your Age of Oldest Account?

(3)  What is your Age of Youngest Account?

(4)  How many closed accounts do you have and how many open?

I ask all this in an effort to suss out what "scorecard" you have been assigned to in the FICO 8 model.  Your 10 point drop is less than we'd expect: many people experience a 15-20 point drop in your position.  It's possible that your scorecard might explain that.

The other possible explanation is that some other "good" event happened around the same time, e.g. an inquiry going from 362 days old to 367 days old.  Thus 5 point bonus (one less inquiry) - 15 point penalty (all cards at zero) = 10 point penalty.  The inquiry is just one example of many things that might have happened.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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Yes, instead of AZEO it's just AZ. Score is my Disco Ex FICO 08. I got "No recent revolving balances" on the letter from an app this weekend.

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Good scorecard assignment-related questions from CGID above.  I agree that the AZ penalty in most cases would be > 10 points.  On my profile, EX was always the hardest hit with the AZ penalty, typically 50% more points lost there compared to TU/EQ.  Maybe that is EX's way of making up for not penalizing number/percentage of accounts with balances where TU/EQ do.

OP, while it is what it is at this point, something to make sure you and anyone does in the future going forward is to ensure you're NOT at AZ prior to submitting an application.  You mentioned finding out about this from an app letter, something I'm sure you wish wasn't the case.  While in many cases a 10 point difference or even the 15-20 point average typically lost when going to AZ isn't going to impact an app decision greatly, it certainly can;  It's always a best practice to position your profile in the best possible light (AZEO) prior to an app just to have peace of mind that you didn't leave anything on the table.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'd be interested in hearing more about your profile, especially the following:

(1)  Is your profile completely clean?  No derogs of any kind?  If so what are they?

(2)  What is your Age of Oldest Account?

(3)  What is your Age of Youngest Account?

(4)  How many closed accounts do you have and how many open?

I ask all this in an effort to suss out what "scorecard" you have been assigned to in the FICO 8 model.  Your 10 point drop is less than we'd expect: many people experience a 15-20 point drop in your position.  It's possible that your scorecard might explain that.

The other possible explanation is that some other "good" event happened around the same time, e.g. an inquiry going from 362 days old to 367 days old.  Thus 5 point bonus (one less inquiry) - 15 point penalty (all cards at zero) = 10 point penalty.  The inquiry is just one example of many things that might have happened.

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No derogs, the rest of my profile is in my siggy. I just checked my Ex and you're spot on about the HP aging past the year mark!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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Yes, instead of AZEO it's just AZ. Score is my Disco Ex FICO 08. I got "No recent revolving balances" on the letter from an app this weekend.

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Good scorecard assignment-related questions from CGID above.  I agree that the AZ penalty in most cases would be > 10 points.  On my profile, EX was always the hardest hit with the AZ penalty, typically 50% more points lost there compared to TU/EQ.  Maybe that is EX's way of making up for not penalizing number/percentage of accounts with balances where TU/EQ do.

OP, while it is what it is at this point, something to make sure you and anyone does in the future going forward is to ensure you're NOT at AZ prior to submitting an application.  You mentioned finding out about this from an app letter, something I'm sure you wish wasn't the case.  While in many cases a 10 point difference or even the 15-20 point average typically lost when going to AZ isn't going to impact an app decision greatly, it certainly can;  It's always a best practice to position your profile in the best possible light (AZEO) prior to an app just to have peace of mind that you didn't leave anything on the table.

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Fortunately I know from recon that this didn't affect the outcome, but it's certainly a lesson learned for the future!