12 point drop for a $48 charge!!!!!

halojd · ‎08-09-2010

Today I got a score alert saying my score dropped 12 points for a $48 charge on my Talbots credit card. I last used the care in October 2009 - here it is less than a year later and I charge $48 and paid it TODAY NO LESS and my score dropped 12 points. THIS DOES NOT SEEM FAIR AT ALL! When I called FICO they said it was because the account was inactive - INACTIVE - It's been less than a year that I had not used it and FICO says if I don't use it for 3 months it can be considered inactive - this seems arbitrary and capricious. So now the government has the banks reigned in on credit cards but not the credit reporting agencies are screwing us - THIS IS A BUNCH OF CRAP!

My Congressman and Senators are getting letters.

MarineVietVet · ‎08-09-2010

@halojd wrote:
Today I got a score alert saying my score dropped 12 points for a $48 charge on my Talbots credit card. I last used the care in October 2009 - here it is less than a year later and I charge $48 and paid it TODAY NO LESS and my score dropped 12 points. THIS DOES NOT SEEM FAIR AT ALL! When I called FICO they said it was because the account was inactive - INACTIVE - It's been less than a year that I had not used it and FICO says if I don't use it for 3 months it can be considered inactive - this seems arbitrary and capricious. So now the government has the banks reigned in on credit cards but not the credit reporting agencies are screwing us - THIS IS A BUNCH OF CRAP!

My Congressman and Senators are getting letters.

I'm sorry this happened to you but in today's credit climate whether it seems fair or not CC's need to be used regularly.

I know it's probably not much comfort right now but you should recover those 12 points fairly quickly.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802
EQ - 7/06-663, 3/10-800
TU - 8/10-772

You can do the same thing with hard work

llecs · ‎08-09-2010

You mentioned you got a score alert so I'm assuming this alert came via ScoreWatch and EQ. SW can be funny (and not so funny) in that whenever an alert occurs, it will, as part of the service, announce to you any score change that occured on your EQ FICO score. However, many tend (myself certainly included) that if the score changed, it had to have changed as a result of that credit alert. In your example, an assumption is made that the inactive card resulted in a twelve point drop. However, this may not be the case at all. Something else could have resulted in the score change around the time Talbots updated. For example, I once got a SW alert that I had a 20 point increase because I added an inquiry. The inquiry didn't result in the score change, but rather a dropped baddie resulted in the increase and SW wasn't set to pick up on it.

There are other reasons why your score could have dropped:

1) Maybe your utilization increased. $48 is nothing, I'm sure, but if your utilization changed from 9% to 10%, for example, you can see some significant score changes.

2) Maybe the number of TLs carrying balances increased. This applies more for TU, but you can see some significant dings as you add more TLs carrying balances (e.g. going from less than half to more than half carrying balances can result in some scoring hits).

3) I took a quick peek in one of your prior posts and noticed you had a CCs report as closed due to inactivity. That can be a big score killer if it hurt your mix of credit (closed $0 balance TLs are removed from your mix of credit). It can also hurt, as it updates around your statement date, if that CC helped your over all utilization. Closed CCs w/ a zero balance are removed from utilization calculations. Once its CL is removed, your overall util could have increased and resulted in a score drop.

MarineVietVet · ‎08-09-2010

Or you can ignore me altogether and go with the the much better answer llecs gave.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802
EQ - 7/06-663, 3/10-800
TU - 8/10-772

You can do the same thing with hard work

Anonymous · ‎08-09-2010

I'm guessing that was an EQ-SW alert,,

As far as credit cards and credit scoring go,, I've had SW for two years now and I've lost and gained points for reasons that go contrair to popular opinion,,,

I've gained 10-points for using a previously un-used card, My scored stayed the same when I put a $6,300charge on a card with a 6800 limit (a 0% for 12-mo purchase back last fall) ,, I gained 9-points back in June after making a 2800 payment on that balance ...It's now at 2600..

Last week I lost 9-points after my PenFed card reported a 100% balance DECREASE (I PIF the amount due on the month;y statement, but I usually let the card report a balance) ... One would think paying off a revolving balance would be a good thing ..EQ doesn't think so ..

Good luck ...