Fico Frustration

Anonymous · ‎12-19-2008

Hello Forum World:

I am new to the community here. The wife and I have been working diligently to pay down our debts. I have about 5800 in cc debt (out of 6800 avail- 85% util). I have two lines of credit, one at about 95% util, the other we just paid off. Question:

Because I just paid it off, my score dropped! I must sound like a total noob for my disbelief, but I'm wondering why. This has a two year payment history on it, mostly with a mid to high balance. Now that its gone, my EX score shot up 18 points, but my EF dropped 6 and my TU dropped 9.

Whats next? I'm trying to get a car loan next month and I wanted my score to be as high as possible!

Thanks for the help.

haulingthescoreup · ‎12-19-2008

Hi, welcome to the forums!

Sorry, I have to ask: these are FICO scores, from here, right? Not from TrueCredit, etc.

Did you just pay it off, as in within the last few days? Does the payoff show on all three reports? EX usually updates first, and EQ and TU can lag behind by several days.

Otherwise, perhaps this particular LOC reported as installment do (some do, especially high-CL LOC's), and if it was the only one, by paying it off you lost that bit of credit mix.

Your best bet is to print out all three reports and compare them item by item, focusing especially on dates and balances.

Congrats on the pay-off though. Very important in these crazy times we're in now.

* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007

Anonymous · ‎12-23-2008

Don't you think by paying one off they put the one with balance to greater util. I think it's usually better to spread them out between accounts.

MODS--correct me if i'm wrong.

PS: I once paid everything off and my score went DOWN!!!!!!!

Message Edited by casinoannie97 on 12-23-2008 07:13 AM