FICO drops by 39pts in 2 days

[Anonymous]

Maybe I don't understand the "algorithms" for scoring, but my FICO has dropped from 757 to 743 to 717 in a matter of 3 days.  The first drop was not unexpected as I've had inquiries due to a move (rental property making an inquiry) and I've been shopping around for credit (loans and credit cards).  However I was shocked at the second one.  I was under the impression that inquiries occurring over a two week period would be lumped together sort of speak so that each inquiry by itself did not hit your score.

Anybody have a similar experience?  Did I misunderstand the "lumping" of multiple inquiries?

Luis

[laz98]

only car & mortgage inquiries are lumped together.  i think for house-shopping the window is longer, like a month?  but i've never bought a house, so i'm not positive.  but that window does not apply to credit cards or personal loans.  i don't think inquiries alone should have cost you that many points though!

[Anonymous]

So the story gets a little wierder.  The score only dropped on EQ and not TU or EX even though the same inquiries show up.

Eariler today, when I called to get the the electricity turned up at a new apt (I'm leasing out my house and I've had the same utility provider as the apt rental for over 8 years), they check the credit with equifax to see if I need a deposit.  Lady puts me on hold.  5 minutes later she tells me if I would like to get the electricity connected at the new place, I need to show my identity and social security card at their office.  Huh?  So I did that.  Called Equifax asking what is going on...that was pointless, the nice lady from the philippines "reviewed" my credit report verbatim from her screen, providing me with information that I already knew.  Still scratching my head on this one.  40 points gone in one whiff.

[GregB]

What scores are you checking? Sounds like some of the scores are not FICO scores. Are they all coming from the same source? What kind of scores are they providing?

[llecs]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So the story gets a little wierder.  The score only dropped on EQ and not TU or EX even though the same inquiries show up.

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Are you certain you are looking at a FICO score? EX blocked consumer access to EX FICO scores a couple of years ago. There's no service anywhere that sells your EX FICO whenever you'd like to see it, though your lender can give it to you and some banks and CUs will offer it to you as part of a benefit for free, like PSECU in PA. In other words, if these scores came from a paid service, and they came from the same source, then they aren't FICO scores, but a non-FICO we call a FAKO. These scores have no relationship to the real thing and can go down while your FICO could actually stay the same or go up for the same event.

ETA.....GregB is a much faster typer than I am.

[Anonymous]

I buy my scores from the  Equifax site (www.equifax.com) (the fico score that dropped), Transunion (www.transunion.com), and Experian (www.experian.com).  I thought these were the real deal.

[llecs]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I buy my scores from the  Equifax site (www.equifax.com) (the fico score that dropped), Transunion (www.transunion.com), and Experian (www.experian.com).  I thought these were the real deal.

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Unfortunately not. TU and EX, at the least, offer non-FICO scores we call FAKOs and have zero relationship to FICO. Specifically, transunion.com offers a FAKO called a Vantage score that runs on a scale of 501-990. Experian.com either sells a Vantage score or offers a FAKO called a PLUS score of 350-850ish. FICO goes off of 300-850 and factors in stuff that these scores do not and vice-versa. I'd ignore them.

Equifax.com does offer FICO scores, but the links are hidden. If it isn't from one of these three products, then it is a FAKO called "Equifax Credit Score". Again, totally different score.

If it does not say "FICO" next to the score, then it isn't a FICO score.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your feedback.  I see what you mean on TU and EX, but it looks like the one from EQ is the real deal.  It does say FICO(R) with the registered trademark beside it.  This score is from from the scorewatch(TM) monitoring service.  The EX fico score is the one that dropped apparently because of my credit card (2) and loan (2) apps.

Did not realize the score would drop so much with just applications.  If I had taken the credit I would understand, but I haven't even signed up for the credit.

Still looking into this.  Will post an update when I figure out what is driving it

[llecs]

You meant "EQ (Equifax)" FICO, right as being the one that dropped? Now you have to figure out why your EQ FICO dropped.

Inquiries won't do that (yes, duplicate auto and mortgage inquiries only are ignored in a given time frame), though we can eliminate that as a cause. New accounts reporting can drop your score. You might want to check on that. Changes in utilization can drop your score quite a bit too.

[haulingthescoreup]

+1

OP, if you received a report along with the Scorewatch scores, look at screen 2 for the first score and for the second, especially at the negative factors over on the left.

What has changed? --new factor, change in order, new percentage util, etc.