Huge drop in scores when nothing has changed

[mtones]

Hi 
Yesterday I got a notice from FICO that my scores updated.  I was expecting to see another bump up since I have been slowly nearing 800 last several months.  Today I see thee was a -64 drop on TransUnion and a -24 drop on Equifax.  Experian is for now the same.  I have done absoultely nothing differenlty.  Have 0% utilization at the moment, no balances on 2 cc cards, no open loans, no credit crecks, nothing paid off, etc.  Nothing at all changed on my end, so I don't understand how on earth this drops so much?  Suggestions would be appreciated.

[JoeRockhead]

Scores don't just drop for no reason.  For starters, you're experiencing the "All Zero" penalty for having all your revolving accounts reporting zero balances.  You're also being penalized for "no open loan" if you have no open installment loans. 

The all zero you can fix by letting a small (1%) balance report on one of your cards (not both cards, that would be another penalty), then pay it off by the due date.  

[mtones]

So according to you, I am getting penalized NOW, out of the blue, for carrying zero balances? My score has been going up for the last three reports, so that makes zero sense to me.

[Vinjints]

What messages are you seeing under the "Alerts" tab? I had a drop recently and didn't know why, until I saw in the Alerts tab (MyFico) or the What Changed section (Experian) that an old car loan has now fallen off, dropping my AAoA.

[mtones]

The only message in the Alerts tab are the notifications of the score drops.  There is no other detail as to why.   The section that says "what is hurting your score" has always been the same since forever as I am under 850, so that information is not pointing to why now the nose dive out of nowhere.  My last full report was done literally a month ago and all was well, so this has been in the last few days when again I have had no change.  If this is a sudden penalization for zero balances, seems there should be disclosure of that somewhere.  Moving on to contacting TransUnion and Equifax directly to see if they can tell me what is the issue.

[FicoMike0]

All zero is a thing. 

[Patient957]

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@mtones wrote:

If this is a sudden penalization for zero balances, seems there should be disclosure of that somewhere. 

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Fico doesn't disclose how its models work.  The reason folks like @JoeRockhead know about the all zero penalty is becase of the work many people here have done over years to deconstruct the Fico models.

If your cards suddenly went from reporting a balance monthly to reporting both zeros, then you will get slapped with the all zeros penalty equally suddenly.  It's just how it works.

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@mtones wrote:

 Moving on to contacting TransUnion and Equifax directly to see if they can tell me what is the issue.

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They're unlikely going to be able to explain anything to you about Fico scoring.  I suggest you take @JoeRockhead's advice and let a small balance report on one of your credit cards.  See if that fixes some or all of your score drop.

[mtones]

As I stated: "nothing has changed."   I have been carrying two cc with zero balances for over a year, so this is not a situation of my carrying a monthly balance and then suddenly bringing them to zero.  As is, dinging over 60 points seems excessive.  It's not like I have a file so thin that there is zero payment history whatsoever and no proof of responsible payment management.  

There is also the reality of identity theft, or am i just supposed to ignore that possibility?  Checking with the bureau directly for any suspicious activity that may have just happened to cause this, seems at  minimum simple necessary due diligence to assure that this "zero penalty" is actually then only reason for the drop.

As is, setting up now an autopay of a tiny recurring charge on one of them for the future to hopefully avoid this nonesense, as suggested.

[JoeRockhead]

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@mtones wrote:

So according to you, I am getting penalized NOW, out of the blue, for carrying zero balances? My score has been going up for the last three reports, so that makes zero sense to me.

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A few questions  

• Have you been paying them in full before the statements generate... or, do you allow a balance to post, then pay in full?
• What is your AAoA, and AoOA (average age of accounts, age of oldest account)
• How long have you been loan free

[Patient957]

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@mtones wrote:

  Nothing at all changed on my end, so I don't understand how on earth this drops so much?  Suggestions would be appreciated.

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So maybe I misunderstood you when you said nothing changed on your end.  I thought you meant nothing changed on your reports, but it's obviously not what you said.

Have you scoured your reports for ANY changes?

If not,  go immediately to annualcreditreport.com and download at least TU and EQ.  You have to identity any changes in your report before you do anything else.

There is also the reality of identity theft, or am i just supposed to ignore that possibility? 

If there's anything new and suspicious on your credit reports, then you can worry about identity theft.  Otherwise, no need to worry about that.

But this starts with examining your reports for changes or something you didn't do, like inquiries or new accounts.