Holy Moly, did I ever take a hit!

daniki · ‎07-25-2015

I knew my fico score would drop, but not QUITE this bad.I did a balance transfer and it finally posted (pretty much maxed out the BT card). Also, the card with the biggest balance I transfered from is still reporting so it looks like I almost doubled my debt. 46-56 point drop. Booo! I have no late payments,collections, etc. This happened ONLY from doing the BT and looking like I accumilated a lot more debt. I know I'll recover but this hurts!

Anonymous · ‎07-25-2015

Wow!

NRB525 · ‎07-26-2015

Yeah, that's a big drop. Can you list out which cards you have, their CL, and amounts reported as balances for each card, prior to and after this BT.

Also, check back when the BT From card reports, to let us know what your score does after that.

High Bal Jan 2009 $116k on $146k limits 80% Util.
Oct 2014 $46k on $127k 36% util EQ 722 TU 727 EX 727
April 2018 $18k on $344k 5% util EQ 806 TU 810 EX 812
Jan 2019 $7.6k on $360k EQ 832 TU 839 EX 831
March 2021 $33k on $312k EQ 796 TU 798 EX 801
May 2021 Paid all Installments and Mortgages, one new Mortgage EQ 761 TY 774 EX 777
April 2022 EQ=811 TU=807 EX=805 - TU VS 3.0 765

tufa4311 · ‎07-26-2015

@daniki wrote:
I did a balance transfer and it finally posted (pretty much maxed out the BT card).

No surprise here - doesn't matter what the amounts are, with regard to UTIL, you maxing out one of your cards is jump off a cliff bad. While dropping your APR to perhaps 0% is great for your current bottom line it is murder for your score.

796 TU FICO 08 (08/2018)
758 TU FICO 08 (01/12/2016)
753 TU FICO 08 (11/21/2015)
740: EQ Score Power (Beacon 5.0) FICO 04 (01/23/2015)
755 TU FICO 08 (01/21/2015)
652 TU Lender Pull (06/10/2014)
665 TU FICO 08 (05/21/2014)
Goal: 800+

Imperfectfuture · ‎07-26-2015

Which is why I BT 10% or less to card.

Signature needs updating

Anonymous · ‎07-26-2015

@NRB525 wrote:
Yeah, that's a big drop. Can you list out which cards you have, their CL, and amounts reported as balances for each card, prior to and after this BT.
Also, check back when the BT From card reports, to let us know what your score does after that.

I'm curious to know too

daniki · ‎07-27-2015

@NRB525 wrote:
Yeah, that's a big drop. Can you list out which cards you have, their CL, and amounts reported as balances for each card, prior to and after this BT.
Also, check back when the BT From card reports, to let us know what your score does after that.

The BT Card I used = Citi Simplicity $8600. I transferred:

Discover $5000 - Still reporting 33% util. Will show 2% util any day (CL $16,600)

BofA $1320 - still reporting 30% util. Will show 1% util any day(CL $4500)

Chevron $1145 - now reporting 0% (CL $2000)

Capital One $802 - now reporting 1% util (CL $4250)

So now with all the fees, I am at 99% util on the Citi BT card. The Discover and BofA are still reporting on my report which total an additional $6764 that I don't really owe (had made a previous payment so that's why the BT amounts above on those 2 cards don't add up to $6764).

I was planning on paying $1000 next month on the BT card. Then the other cards that are reporting a small amount, I will pay down to $0 except the Discover. I use Discover all the time and it probably will never report at zero. I do have a couple other cards that are reporting at $0 and 1 other that has a small amount on it. I have about $50,000 in credit. I did a lot of moving $$ around, trying to get the $0 interest which I have now succeeded at. I am saving tons of money doing this even though my score took a huge hit.

I will keep you updated when the Discover and BofA report. The statements have cut, but myFico hasn't updated yet.

crunching_numbers · ‎07-28-2015

Your hit is completely temporary. It looks bad, but unless you are applying for new credit, it will go away , and when it does your FICO might be even higher. I was hit the same way from utility, over 50 points. It is totally worth it to save the interest. As FICO score junkies, we tend to be so worried about our scores. Look at it this way, now you get to watch your score climb as you pay it down.

Starting Score: 693 TU FICO, 679 EQ FICO
Current Score: FICO 8 = 844(9/15) EQ, 827 TU, 811 EX (7/15); mortgage FICO= 758 (9/15)EQ5, 797 TU4, 748 EX2 (7/15)
Goal Score: 750+, but shooting for the 800's
Hyatt Visa Sig ($23K), Amex BCP (24.8K), BofA Travel Rew Sig (22.5K), B&N World MC (22.3K), Amex RP Gold (NPSL w/ S&T), Cash+ Sig (20K),United Mil+ExpSig (16.3K), FNBO Visa (13.1K), Hilton Surpass (10K), Freedom Visa Sig (8.6K), Disc It (16.4K), Citi Dia Pref MC (3.7K),Sam's MC (10K), Wally (7.5K), JCP(5.3K), Costco (2K)

Anonymous · ‎07-29-2015

@daniki wrote:
@NRB525 wrote:
Yeah, that's a big drop. Can you list out which cards you have, their CL, and amounts reported as balances for each card, prior to and after this BT.
Also, check back when the BT From card reports, to let us know what your score does after that.
The BT Card I used = Citi Simplicity $8600. I transferred:
Discover $5000 - Still reporting 33% util. Will show 2% util any day (CL $16,600)
BofA $1320 - still reporting 30% util. Will show 1% util any day(CL $4500)
Chevron $1145 - now reporting 0% (CL $2000)
Capital One $802 - now reporting 1% util (CL $4250)

So now with all the fees, I am at 99% util on the Citi BT card. The Discover and BofA are still reporting on my report which total an additional $6764 that I don't really owe (had made a previous payment so that's why the BT amounts above on those 2 cards don't add up to $6764).

I was planning on paying $1000 next month on the BT card. Then the other cards that are reporting a small amount, I will pay down to $0 except the Discover. I use Discover all the time and it probably will never report at zero. I do have a couple other cards that are reporting at $0 and 1 other that has a small amount on it. I have about $50,000 in credit. I did a lot of moving $$ around, trying to get the $0 interest which I have now succeeded at. I am saving tons of money doing this even though my score took a huge hit.

I will keep you updated when the Discover and BofA report. The statements have cut, but myFico hasn't updated yet.

This is almost the reverse effect I saw when I did a BT consolidation of all my revolving debt and my reports temporarily showed clear of all revolving debt for about a week until the BT showed up on the other card. I got the pleasure to seeing my scores go from 740s to just over 800 for that reason alone.

Gave me a glimpse of whats possible once I am credit card debt free, and as you can imagine quite an incentive to keep paying down my debt.

Also, you will see a residual negative effect from your BT card being maxed out (i.e. above 90%) and I would suggest paying it down below 90% asap to get those points back, because your not going to recover your full score until you do.

When I BT, I never do it any higher than 85% of the card limit unless I know I can make a large lump payment shortly after and get it below that magic "maxed out" threshold.

daniki · ‎07-29-2015

I'm seeing some recovery already after the $6000+ debt that I actually don't owe reported back down. 17-25 points up over the 3 bureaus. I have 2 more cards that will update to $0 soon so I'm hoping I'll gain some more points there. I will hopefully be able to get my BT payment under 90% Util but that will not post till later this month then MAYBE my scores will be almost back to where they originally were.