Equifax balance decrease and a direct massive 29 point Fico drop.

[Anonymous]

Can some one try and explain the mysteries of FICO's crazy algorythms to me. Equifax dropped me suddenly a massive 29 points from a 738 to a 708 following a small balance decrease of $90 on one of my cards. Credit limit is $5,500 .Balance on card is $710. Previous balance was $900. Pulled right away  my 3 bureau report. No lates ever, no missed ever, no derogatories ever, no closed accounts, no credit applications since Aug.2016, no sudden large charges. Credit utilisation on my 6 cards 16% of available $93,000. Monthly balances lowering on all cards. Equifax score gradually raising monthly  2 to 3 points ( like TU and EX ). Then SUDDENLY  this massive drop.  Can't understand. Help

EQ 708, TU 749, EX 748

[Anonymous]

Three questions:

(1)  What tools are you using to get your scores?  (Credit Karma, myFICO, Credit Check Total, etc.)

(2)  Did you receive an "alert" showing the credit card balance decrease along with the score drop?

(3)  You mention that the CC balance was $900, that it is now $710, and that it decreased $90.  Are you sure you don't mean a decrease of $190?

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Can some one try and explain the mysteries of FICO's crazy algorythms to me. Equifax dropped me suddenly a massive 29 points from a 738 to a 708 following a small balance decrease of $90 on one of my cards. Credit limit is $5,500 .Balance on card is $710. Previous balance was $900. Pulled right away  my 3 bureau report. No lates ever, no missed ever, no derogatories ever, no closed accounts, no credit applications since Aug.2016, no sudden large charges. Credit utilisation on my 6 cards 16% of available $93,000. Monthly balances lowering on all cards. Equifax score gradually raising monthly  2 to 3 points ( like TU and EX ). Then SUDDENLY  this massive drop.  Can't understand. Help

EQ 708, TU 749, EX 748

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1. Your $190 balance decrease is unrelated to the score drop.

2. You need to compare your new EQ report to your previous report to see what might have triggered the score drop.

[Anonymous]

1- using My Fico

2- Yes. Alerts with every balance change reported on each card monthly.

Any ideas as to why after 9 months of consistently paying down cards , even though using cards on a monthly rotational basis ( no major single charge over $700), just to show usage, Equifax suddenly went crazy and dinged me 29 points?

[Anonymous]

I did compare previous report with just pulled report after 29 point drop. Absolutely nothing different from prvious months except for gradual pay down of card balances. Credit utilisation went from 19% previous months to 16% just pulled report after point drop. Baffeled.

[Anonymous]

Oops, sorry ,forgot to answer your question #3. The accurate answer is:  April- balance was $910, May $810, June ( just reported and which seemed to trigger drop ) $710

[Anonymous]

Something else definitely changed that you aren't seeing.  The reason you may not be seeing it could be that it's only visible on your real hard copy credit report, not on the myFICO generated version.  You said your EQ score dropped.  Did your EX and TU scores drop also?  If not, chances are whatever changed only changed on your EQ report so I would request that one from them right away and start looking at that report relative to the other 2 to identify what the difference is.

The balances changes have nothing to do with your score drop.  Balance reductions cannot adversely impact score, with the only exception being if you reported ALL zero balances across ALL revolving accounts.  Since you still have reported balances, it's not possible that a score drop would come from paying them down.

[Anonymous]

No, my TU and EX did not change a single point down. Just the 29 points down on EQ. I will def get a full report from EQ on Monday morning and advice you. Thanks for your input on this mystery of mysteries to me. I always found EQ to be the " toughest " of the 3 agencies in scoring always lower than the other 2, even with all things being equal on the credit reports. Has anyone also noticed this as well?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

No, my TU and EX did not change a single point down. Just the 29 points down on EQ. I will def get a full report from EQ on Monday morning and advice you. Thanks for your input on this mystery of mysteries to me. I always found EQ to be the " toughest " of the 3 agencies in scoring always lower than the other 2, even with all things being equal on the credit reports. Has anyone also noticed this as well?

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Well, almost by definition, about 1/3 of the population would agree with you on this.  Conversely, around 2/3 probably disagrees.  Our opinions on certain bureaus being "tougher" are based on what we personally experience.  For me, I've experienced the exact opposite of you where my EQ score has generally been my highest when all profile data is identical.  For the next guy, no doubt it's TU. 

Definitely report back once you have a chance to compare your credit reports.  Slightly off topic here, but do you have any open installment loans?

[Anonymous]

yes. 2 personal loans of $5k and$7k both over a 36 mo. term. Taken out back in Aug 2016 . Always paid on time. Only had a 3 point ding on EQ and 2 point ding on TU , none on EX. Also 1 auto loan taken out in  July  2014 over 60 moonths. Never late.