Balance decrease dropped my score?

[axxy]

Anyone who really cares about their scores, and wants to be sure they're calculated correctly, should ask their representatives in Congress to improve the credit reporting and/or credit scoring laws, for more open disclosure to consumers of what's really happening with their scores.  If the score calculation software has bugs in it, we shouldn't allow those bugs to be hidden by secrecy.  In any kind of widely-used complicated software, for any purpose from any company, there are usually a lot of bugs, and the bugs that are most obvious to the general public often get fixed years sooner than the ones that are hidden behind a wall of secrecy.  The law should require the credit scoring companies to disclose the exact reasons for each change in score.  Like some elementary school math quizzes, the company that calculates the score should be required to "show their work" and not just give a number as the answer.  Even if the consumer is considered too ignorant to be able to understand them "showing their work", that consumer can post that work on a forum and ask experts if it's calculated correctly.  Experts who aren't involved with the company that does the calculation but are neutral 3rd party experts who like to point out bugs in calculations.

[CrankyDave]

Sadly, it will never, ever happen. Open-sourcing the formulas as is done with encryption software would be best for the consumer, but the CRAs will claim they're proprietary and vital to their business (ie, they don't want anyone to realize that they're just throwing darts at a dartboard). When enough bribes -- er, campaign contributions -- are thrown at congress, a law (written by a CRA lobbyist, coincidentally, I'm sure) will be passed that extends copyright, patent, national secrecy, and anti-terrorism protections to shield those calculation formulas from prying eyes in perpetuity on pain of death. Followed by certain key lawmakers announcing their retirement (coincidentally, I'm sure) and getting absurdly high-paying lobbying jobs in the credit rating industry (coincidentally, I'm sure). Same as with everything else these days.

[skigirl916]

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@axxy wrote:

Anyone who really cares about their scores, and wants to be sure they're calculated correctly, should ask their representatives in Congress to improve the credit reporting and/or credit scoring laws, for more open disclosure to consumers of what's really happening with their scores.  If the score calculation software has bugs in it, we shouldn't allow those bugs to be hidden by secrecy.  In any kind of widely-used complicated software, for any purpose from any company, there are usually a lot of bugs, and the bugs that are most obvious to the general public often get fixed years sooner than the ones that are hidden behind a wall of secrecy.  The law should require the credit scoring companies to disclose the exact reasons for each change in score.  Like some elementary school math quizzes, the company that calculates the score should be required to "show their work" and not just give a number as the answer.  Even if the consumer is considered too ignorant to be able to understand them "showing their work", that consumer can post that work on a forum and ask experts if it's calculated correctly.  Experts who aren't involved with the company that does the calculation but are neutral 3rd party experts who like to point out bugs in calculations.

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Welp, I just fired off a letter to my Congresswoman.  We'll see!

[Barneygirl]

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@Revelate wrote:

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@mmcolorado wrote:

It is not my only card. Reported a balance decrease  -8.     Then when i click on the report for details it simply says you have a balance decrease of 62%  

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First question is what service is being used to track it?

That said, none of the services including Scorewatch track every change to one's credit report and issue a corresponding score for each update as a result; honestly need a before and after picture of one's credit report as things often get lumped into one update and there may be something else going on.

Paying down a credit card is never ever a bad thing or a negative (as we understand it) unless you wind up paying all of your credit cards such that they report $0 which FICO will ding you on.

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I had the exact same thing happen to me this past month.  And I watch my credit like a hawk!!  Decreased the balance on all three credit cards to just under 10%.... when the first hit it gave me a 3pt bump.  When the 2nd one reported it gave me another 3pt bump up.... but... when the third one hit (the biggest decrease) it DROPPED my score by 2 pts!!!

makes no sense... but then again, such is the wonderful world of FICO scoring!!

[Anonymous]

Mine just dropped 6 points for PAYING DOWN my electric bill !! This is absurd.

[Anonymous]

this is a BIG problem! I have the same problem and I'm a little irritated- I got an alert well I got 2 , one says "your cc balance decreased" and the other says "your score decreased" I did not pay it to a 0 balance (I hear how that hurts) I called CS at MYFICO and all they could say was "it's a fluctuation"  !? how is doing a good thing result is a BAD "fluctuation"

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@Anonymous wrote:

Mine just dropped 6 points for PAYING DOWN my electric bill !! This is absurd.

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[CrankyDave]

To be fair, did you sneeze? Because that can drop your score. Unless you sneeze while facing south. Then it's a plus. But only if you hop on one foot while chanting "Ooga ooga ooga!" And only if you turn clockwise while hopping. Never ever turn counter-clockwise unless it's a day ending in Y. If it is, whatever you do, do don't not do it or it will tank your score.

[Anonymous]

Then why do we even bother paying for a service to monitor a point value that seems about as arbitrary as the scoring on "Whose Line is it Anyway"? Worse, at least on that show they didnt lose points for doing well.

[fused]

My EQ 08 score dropped 6 points for a balance changing from $192 to $176 dollars on my CC with a CL of 40K. I had never seen or heard of this happening with the older FICO formulas.

[MarineVietVet]

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@fused wrote:

My EQ 08 score dropped 6 points for a balance changing from $192 to $176 dollars on my CC with a CL of 40K. I had never seen or heard of this happening with the older FICO formulas.

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Hey stranger!! Good to see you again.

From your signature: All three scores were 850. Lost points for not having an open installment TL. So, BE WARNED!!!!!

It seems that FICO 08 gives in some areas and takes away in others. More confusion for the masses!