How could this have happened?

[Anonymous]

I had a FICO of 700 last week.   I have been current on everything up until now.  I lost my job 8 months ago and am down to the the end of my savings.   I am currently separated and have been paying for everything with no help or child support from him. 

For the first time in my life I can't afford to pay my cc minimums.  I have spoken to all of my creditors and BANK OF AMERICA refuses to help at all.

So, I got a thirty day late pay on my credit yesterdayand my score dropped 97 points!  I now have a 603.

My husband has several late car payments, a cc that is in collections that he hasn't paid in over a year and six medical bills in collections. His score is a 602

He has just as much joint credit card debt as me plus the other debts. How and why did this happen????

[Anonymous]

A recent late really destroys your credit score if you have no other recent negative info.

One of my TLs inaccurately reported a recent CO and my score dropped 93 points.

[llecs]

If I had to guess, your late is more recent than his (as evidenced by the recent change) and your payment history was much better than his. If you were to get another late on the same report, the damage would be much less than 97 points.