I dont believe this crap!!!

[williamd1972]

I have a sears card 3500 limit, Target Visa 6500, macy 1600. .... I had 1100 on my Target visa, which I made payments of 500 and 600 within the last 2 weeks, pif.  Last month I used my Macy Card for an 90$ purchase, and paid it off.  Two weeks later I use it again for a 247$ purchase.   Before last month, I had not used my Macys card for three months. Now here's the kicker, today I recieve an alert saying that I have an 190% increase on my Macys card, and my score is -5 points. What gives?   

[cobra19]

Remember, your score reflects what is contained in your credit file at the moment you pay for a score. Your score changes whenever a creditor reports new data to the bureaus. You could see different scores in the same day.

FICO doesn't care what happened 3 months ago.  My Macy's reports on the 5th of the month. Whatever my balance is on the 5th of that month gets reported.  

[Anonymous]

There are also other changes that go on too that affect scores. But your UTL is constantly changing from what you posted. To avoid this PIF before the statement closing dates and it will be consistent each month.

[Anonymous]

I have to agree that there is something wrong with the system. I pay my bills on time and Sept 2007 my Fico was 775 and today it is 773. It has been as high as 791 and went up 12 points for a $42 credit card balance increase and recently went up 3 points for a $325 credit balance increase. It has also gone down 12 points for 2 credit balances of $220 and $54 reported. My Score also just jumps with no reporting. There is no rhyme or reason for these fluctuations. The only blemish I have on my credit was caused by my brother making a late payment over 30 days on a piece of property we own together in July 2003 and they occasionally drop my score for that issue. How can it continue to drop my score for a one time indiscretion in a 20 year period? This loan was opened in 1988 and was paid off in July 2007.

 To top all of this off, I have been through hurricane's Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike and have never failed to pay my loans or bills. One of my credit loans did extend a loan and not take payment for 3 months, but I did not request them to stop auto draft of this loan and had to get them to start again.

 It almost looks like Someone or a computer changes my score based on how they feel that day!!!

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

...There is no rhyme or reason for these fluctuations....

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Hi, welcome to the forums!

Actually, for someone with good scores and clean reports, it's pretty well understood what causes these hops. (This is why so many of us live on the forums; we're figuring all this stuff out. )

Since the scoring formula uses the balances that are reported to the credit bureaus each month, and these balances are generally the balances on your statements, you should be able (with practice) to predict these changes, and you can control them if you like. And it's not just the reported balances, it's also the number of accounts reporting balances.

But I'll bet that you're now at the point where two formulas will reward you and the third will punish you for the same action. This isn't rare at your score levels. DH's EQ and EX scores are in the low 800's, and his TU score dropped to 790-something because he had not had a balance report in over 6 months. If he does let $5 report or something next month, TU will be happy, but the other two will probably drop him. Poor dear.

Once you're in the 780's and above, the slightest feather-touch on your reports can do this.

[Anonymous]

Haulingthescoreup is correct. FICO scoring "likes" to see people right around 700 or so. All things considered, actions you take are graded on a curve to "get you" to around that level. The further you go from that level, the more actions you take will tend to regress you to the mean.

This can be good or bad. If your score is really low--say, 460--and you can manage to get a couple accounts in good standing, once you put a few months between you and the last baddie, your score will increase fairly rapidly to 600 or so. On the flip side, if you're at 810, a minor misstep that might cost a person with a 650 maybe 3-5 points will cost you 20.