25 Point Drop in FICO 8 TU Score

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

I checked my credit score via American Express earlier this week and the score dropped from 793 to 768 in one month. American Express says that the score is or is based on my FICO Score 8.

Nothing changed on my part so that's why I'm concerned. I know that they have been talking about credit score changes on the news so hopefully that's it but I'm worried that it could be something bad like identity theft.

The score has been steady in the 790s for a very long time now so this is a dramatic change considering that nothing has changed on my part. Should I request my credit report to see if there's anything fraudulent going on?

[Anonymous]

You certainly should.  The bureau is Experian (though double check that with Amex).  Have you ever pulled your EX report before?  When was the last time?

We can suggest free ways to get all three of your reports every month.

[newhis]

Well I assure you that something changed.

Amex uses EX, you should pull your EX report. 

Do you have an EX report from last month to compare?

It is a good idea to have an account with freecreditscore, you can pull an EX report and score each month for free.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies!

The Amex score does indeed come from Experian rather than TU, my fault on that. I have not gotten my credit report from Experian. Is that what you guys suggest? A 25 point drop out of the blue seems very dramatic, like applications or accounts have been opened in my name.

What's the best way to get my Experian credit report? On the Amex site they have a link to "Request a copy of your credit report" so that seems like the obvious way to go.

[Anonymous]

Two questions (answer both please):

1. Did you have bigger balances on credit card statements last month than months before?
2. Did you by chance pay off ALL your credit cards last month but that wasn't the case in months before?

[Anonymous]

Two great questions by ABCD.  I know where he is going with that, so I encourage you to chat with him. 

In the meantime, it doesn't change the fact that you need to get in the habit of pulling all three of your credit reports (EQ, EX, TU).  It sounds like you may have never done this with any bureau.

A good place to start might be the $1 trial offer at Credit Check Total, which will give you a 3B report and three scores.  Moving forward there are many free options for pulling your credit reports.  You were given one such option by Newhis earlier:

https://www.freecreditscore.com/

[Anonymous]

I have a relatively small percentage-wise balance on one card. That balance decreased over the past month. All other cards are paid in full as I use them. That has been the situation for the past 6 months or so (when I received the card that has a balance, before that I had no balances).

I'm taking a look at the Experian report right now. There is nothing new listed under my "Accounts in good standing" and there's nothing under "Potentially negative items." There are some "Credit inquiries" listed but it doesn't make it clear why the inquiry was requested, because credit was applied for in my name or because a company wanted to offer me credit.

For example there is an inquiry from "KOHLS/CAPONE" on 05/21/2017 but there are other inquiries from them under the same listing that go back years. I've never applied for a Kohl's card so I assume that's just them trying to gain me as a customer. 

Other questionable inquiries listed are:

1.  "AMERICAN EXPRESS 2" on 05/15/2017. Amex regularly offers me credit cards and loans so again, that may just be them checking up on me before making an offer. It isn't clear on the credit report.
2.  "CHASE CARD" on 04/21/2017. Again Chase regularly sends me offers but I haven't requested any credit from them in a very long time.
3.  Two inquiries listed separately from "CAPITAL ONE" on 04/17/2017. The contact information for ""CAPITAL ONE" is listed as being different on both inquiries. I didn't apply for any credit from Capital One.

How can I get more information on those inquiries?

[Anonymous]

Did you recently pay off an installment loan to $0?

[Anonymous]

Nope nothing like that. Credit-wise I've been in the same position for the past 6 months when I received that new card. It has had a balance of 20-10% of the credit limit since I received it.

I think I've figured out how they differentiate between inquiries requested by me and inquiries requested by companies making offers to me: In the "Comments" section of the inquiry for the 6 month old credit card that I mentioned above it says "Unspecified. This inquiry is scheduled to continue on record until Jan 2018." It also shows my "Address identification number" which is the same across the board.

If there was another inquiry made using my name I assume that it would have those same markings, the 2 years before it falls off the report comment and the address identification number. None of the other listings under "Credit inquiries" have either of those things.

What do you think?

[newhis]

It will be hard to find what made your score change without a previous report.

It is good that all looks ok. And yes, your report directly from EX should report HP and SP. You should look into any HP that you didn't do.