FICO Spike....then drop within 3 days with no alerts.

[Anonymous]

Wondered if anyone had experienced this before. I have hung out in the 630's for the last couple of months that I've been monitoring my FICO score. On April 4th, I received a Scorewatch alert that my EQ Fico had increased to 670, but I had no alerts. I was, of course, pretty excited. Then, on the 7th, I received another notification...this time a decrease to 609!!! Again...no alerts. I get that it fluctuates, but this jump and then dive seems excessive to me.

Thoughts?  Thanks in advance!

[llecs]

How were you alerted to the ScoreWatch alert? In other words, it showed you had an increase, but when you click on it, does it show anything else? 61 points is a wild swing. Did anything change that could have resulted in a change like that like added accounts, added baddies, changes in util, etc.?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your reply!  I'll paste both alerts and the info included. I do have a few new credit card accounts (Amex, Chase, and Walmart), but I don't show any of those reporting yet. If it's due to the new accounts... I don't know why I would see a swing up and then down.

Your FICO® score has gone up to 670 on April 4, 2012.

Target score alert:

Your FICO® score has exceeded your target score of 640.

Your FICO score may have gone up because the following 2 factors are not hurting your FICO score as much as before:

• You’ve recently missed a payment or the date of your most recent missed payment is unknown.
• You have a short credit history.

Your FICO® score decreased to 609 on April 7, 2012.

Target score alert:

Your FICO® score has dropped past your target score of 640.

This score decrease may be caused by these 4 new reasons:

• You have a public record or collection in addition to a serious delinquency on your credit report.
• You have a recent public record or collection on your credit report.
• You’ve recently missed a payment or the date of your most recent missed payment is unknown.
• You have a short credit history.

I am unaware of anything that could be causing any new baddies on my report. I've not had any past 30 days in 2 years and if there is a new public record or collection... I have no idea what it could be. Grrrr... I hate to buy a full report just to see, but it's going to drive me crazy!!!

[llecs]

If you haven't done so, pull your free EQ report from annualcreditreport.com. That'll show what's happening. If used that, then you can get a free report if you were denied credit recently or if you suffered adverse action (e.g. rate hike, account closure, etc.) recently too. You might benefit from a CMS that pulls all 3, like USAA or EIDT. Ignore their scores and advice, but you can get a rough idea of what's happening and you can pull a new report daily.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice....good idea...I'll do that!

[Anonymous]

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@llecs wrote:

If you haven't done so, pull your free EQ report from annualcreditreport.com. That'll show what's happening. If used that, then you can get a free report if you were denied credit recently or if you suffered adverse action (e.g. rate hike, account closure, etc.) recently too. You might benefit from a CMS that pulls all 3, like USAA or EIDT. Ignore their scores and advice, but you can get a rough idea of what's happening and you can pull a new report daily.

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Update:

Followed your advice and a collection account was on my EQ report! It was from a medical bill that I paid in August of 2011. I had the documentation and called and they are removing from all three reports!!  I'll monitor to make sure that occurs.  Thanks again!!

Wish I understood why the Score Watch only gave me the score drop alert though. It's supposed to alert me of any new collections as well.......