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I don’t get it!!

tag
Sitori
Frequent Contributor

I don’t get it!!

Why would I get a 17 point hit when “one of your accounts has decreased by $129”. !!!???

What????
Aren’t you supposed to pay down cards?

This is crazy. I have been waiting months to apply for my auto loan to have my score come up and now I won’t even get approved bc of this. How does this make any sense


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EQ 701, TU 685, EX ?
Wallet:
Amazon store $2500(10/12), Cap1 $1500 (10/12), Discover $1700 (11/1/12).
Message 1 of 12
11 REPLIES 11
Jnbmom
Credit Mentor

Re: I don’t get it!!

Is this with credit karma ? If so I would not pay any mind to it
EXP 780 EQ 791TU 795
Message 2 of 12
Trudy
Valued Contributor

Re: I don’t get it!!


@Sitori wrote:
Why would I get a 17 point hit when “one of your accounts has decreased by $129”. !!!???

What????
Aren’t you supposed to pay down cards?

This is crazy. I have been waiting months to apply for my auto loan to have my score come up and now I won’t even get approved bc of this. How does this make any sense


Paying your credit card down would not be the reason for a decrease in score unless all revolvers are at $0, then there's the no revolving balance penalty.

 

If this is based on a MyFICO alert remember that the alerts are based on alertable events and may not be/seldom is the reason for a change in score.

 

Another thread today addressed this misunderstanding about alert with myFICO.  Disregard the subject and see post #4 from South Jamaica.  There are many threads that address this.

 

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Deleted-collections-causing-score-decrea...

 

And as Jnbmom inquired, if you're referencing a non FICO score like the one Credit Karma provides, then they have a completely different algorithm/formula to calculate your Vantage score and these scores are seldom used for credit decisions.

FICO - 8: 05/05/23
Message 3 of 12
Sitori
Frequent Contributor

Re: I don’t get it!!

It’s from the monitoring on this website. Yes it’s the alerts from the myFICO reports.

I know there is no possible way for it to drop like that from me making a payment right? There was another one that said -20 points from a “24$ decrease on care credit”
The very next alert was an increase in balance on PayPal by 180$.

Both EQ and EX hit for -20 and -17.

That still sounds crazy to me! There’s been multiple times I’ve used a card for much more than 185$ and never had a drop like that. But those are the only alerts I have. All with the -20 or -17 next to them.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EQ 701, TU 685, EX ?
Wallet:
Amazon store $2500(10/12), Cap1 $1500 (10/12), Discover $1700 (11/1/12).
Message 4 of 12
thornback
Senior Contributor

Re: I don’t get it!!


@Sitori wrote:
It’s from the monitoring on this website. Yes it’s the alerts from the myFICO reports.

I know there is no possible way for it to drop like that from me making a payment right? There was another one that said -20 points from a “24$ decrease on care credit”
The very next alert was an increase in balance on PayPal by 180$.

Both EQ and EX hit for -20 and -17.

That still sounds crazy to me! There’s been multiple times I’ve used a card for much more than 185$ and never had a drop like that. But those are the only alerts I have. All with the -20 or -17 next to them.

 

On myFICO,  a balance change is considered an Alertable Event.   An Alertable Event will result in a new pull of your report and score for the bureau in which the event occurred.    A change in the updated score is not necessarily caused by, or related to, the event noted in the alert.  The score change could have occurred at any time between the last time your score was pulled and now.   You are only being made aware of score change now because an event that warranted an alert occurred, resulting in an updated pull of your reports.   

 

A change in balance would only affect your score if it caused your aggregate or individual utilization to cross over one of the percentage thresholds.  For example, if your util increased from below 8.9% to above 8.9% you would likely lose a couple of points, more if it increased from below 8.9% to above 28.9%.

If your utilization change was insignificant, then you need to thoroughly review your reports to see what else may have occurred between the two score pulls to determine the cause of the decrease. 

 

 

Personal Aphorism:"Forget What You Feel, Remember What You Deserve"
Starting FICO 8s | 09/2017: EX 641 ✦ EQ 634 ✦ TU 647
Current FICO 8s | 04/2022: EX 796 ✦ EQ 793 ✦ TU 790
Current FICO 9s | 04/2022: EX 790 ✦ EQ 788 ✦ TU 782
2022 Goal Score | 800s

My AAoA:
4.6 years not incl. AU / 4.9 years incl. AU
My AoOA: 9.2 years not incl. AU / 11.2 years incl. AU
Inquiries: EX 0/12 ✦ EQ 0/12 ✦ TU 0/12
Report Status: Clean
Garden Status:  


Without patience, we will learn less in life. We will see less. We will feel less. We will hear less. Ironically, rush and more usually mean less.
Message 5 of 12
Sitori
Frequent Contributor

Re: I don’t get it!!

Well it was 20 points not a couple. Only thing that changed was using my PayPal card which had a zero balance. Charged 189$.

It would take that big of a hit?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EQ 701, TU 685, EX ?
Wallet:
Amazon store $2500(10/12), Cap1 $1500 (10/12), Discover $1700 (11/1/12).
Message 6 of 12
Trudy
Valued Contributor

Re: I don’t get it!!


@Sitori wrote:
Well it was 20 points not a couple. Only thing that changed was using my PayPal card which had a zero balance. Charged 189$.

It would take that big of a hit?

Hope you don't take offense but there are a plethora of these posts stating "no other changes" and many come back after reviewing a before and after and realize a change that explains the drop. (if they have the access/option).  Did you review a before report and after report?  Already stated here the alerts are not often connected to the reason for a score change, so reducing a balance is not the reason if that's what the alert was for.  If you don't have access to a report before (within a reasonable time) and report after I'd suggest trying the Credit Karma route if you already have an account since it reports every 7 days.  Looking at each account and details before and after to ensure no accounts dropped off reducing age of accounts, no added lates that may be retroactive, no collections that could show up any time, upwardly crossing a known threshold as noted above, etc.  If you did this already then I don't know what to tell you other than what also has been stated...no way a decrease in paying down a balance would cause a score decrease on FICO scores unless all revolvers are $0.  An increase in number of accounts reporting a balance can impact your score but I've not  heard it being to the tune of 20 pts.

FICO - 8: 05/05/23
Message 7 of 12
mikesonthemend
Valued Contributor

Re: I don’t get it!!

# of accounts reporting a balance is also a factor.

https://www.printfriendly.com/p/g/XvYisD 




Living through Darwinism is so much worse than learning about about it in school.
Message 8 of 12
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: I don’t get it!!

Number of accounts with a balance is going to be more of a factor on the mortgage scores than version eight or nine. Even if all accounts had a balance, I don’t think it would take 20 points from version eight, assuming utilization is in check.
Message 9 of 12
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: I don’t get it!!

By the way Mike do you know where the chart came from? If you read the comments the guy said he read this forum for a couple years and summarized it, IIRC. If it’s the same one and it looks like it is. If it is it has a few errors.
Message 10 of 12
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