Newbie here. Confusing FICO scoring issue...

[Anonymous]

About a year ago, my wife and refinanced our home, and at the time we both received our FICO score via the disclosure from our bank who handled the loan.  At the time, our scores were almost identical---hers was right at 785 while mine was 781.  Fast forward to just a few days ago, and we're going through the mortgage process again with the same bank (we sold that property and now are buying a new one).  Well, her new FICO score jumped up to 794, while mine actually decreased to 763.  Now, I know both scores are still considered excellent, but I'm a bit concerned that I'm going in wrong directon here, especially since our overall credit situation has greatly improved since that time.

I had roughly 12k in credit card debt back then, with a total credit line of around 45k. Over the past year, I had two changes overall---I paid all my credit cards off (my report now shows a combined CC debt accross 4 lines as just under 1k), while my revolving credit limit jumped to 55k.  Also, I took out a new car loan in November, for roughly 30k (I'm guessing this might be my issue.) On my report, it indeed states a "recent account opening is too short" as one of the negative factors going against me. However, another stated factor is "proportion of loan balances to loan amounts is too high." This I don't understand at all, as again my debt to credit limit is literally 1-2%. A final negative factor was that I have "too many accounts with balances," which is confusing since we're talking literally a few hundred dollars on a given line with a 20k limit.

With all that being said, is it simply the car loan that is dragging my score down temporarily, or is there something else to be concerned with? I understand that installment loans don't affect your debt/credit ratio, so I'm still confused about the whole loan amounts too high issue. Finally, should I make sure that I have absolutely no balance on at least 1-2 of my 4 CC's at all times as well? It seems to me that having balances on multiple cards, regardless of amount, can affect your overall score. Thanks in advance for any insights any of you might have.

[Anonymous]

One last thing; as mentioned I have 4 CC's, with one being roughly 10 years old, two others in the 7-8 year range, and finally a forth CC that I've had for about 18 months.  Again the only changes whatsoever over the past 3-4 years is I now have essentially zero CC debt, along with the new car loan.  I've read that new installment loans can lower your score by 10-15 points temporarily, but I would think that the overall improvement in my credit profile in the recent year would have offset that (much like my wife's score). Finally, if indeed the car loan is mostly to blame, how long will it take for that 'ding' to disappear?

[Shogun]

You just took a hit to your AAoA and one for the Inquiries on your car loan.  Also, just so you know, FICO doesn't like to see a $0 balance on your revolving accounts.  For max score boost, it likes to see one card with a balance of 9% or less.  But with your scores, I wouldn't wouldn't worry about that.  

[Anonymous]

Great, thanks for the input.  I guess I'm nervous that I'm slowly creeping toward the 750 mark, in which I wouldn't want to go below that.  But, I'm guessing my current score is the lowest it will get, and should only increase from here on out, correct?  Perhaps a year from now I'll be back in the 780+ range, or will it take longer given the new auto loan affecting my AAoA?

[Shogun]

Within a year I expect you will be creeping back up towards the 800 mark.

[Anonymous]

One final question---I also recently discovered that I had one 30 day late mark on my credit report from Nov 2010, that I never saw previously.  This is the only late penalty that I'm aware of going back at least 7-8 years. Obviously this couldn't have hurt my score too much, as again my score was in the 780 area in late '11. With that being said, any guesses as to exactly the number of points this mark is bringing down my score? How long before this blemish affects my score little to none at all?

I've heard that CC's often will retract a 30 day late mark if you've only had one and if you've been a long time customer of theirs (you obviously have to call and plead with them). I've also heard/read that one 30 day late mark within a 7 year period won't hurt you at all, thanks to new credit reporting rules that went into effect a year or so ago. With that said, I'm not sure if it is even worth the hassle of trying to do so or not, or if its anything to even be bothered by.

[guiness56]

The higher your score the worst impact even a single 30 day late can have.  Since it is over 2 years old it is probably not impacting it much now.

You can try a GW letter asking them to remove it.  Calling or emailing can work just as well.  It also depends on the CCC.

[foofighter74]

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@Anonymous wrote:

One final question---I also recently discovered that I had one 30 day late mark on my credit report from Nov 2010, that I never saw previously.  This is the only late penalty that I'm aware of going back at least 7-8 years. Obviously this couldn't have hurt my score too much, as again my score was in the 780 area in late '11. With that being said, any guesses as to exactly the number of points this mark is bringing down my score? How long before this blemish affects my score little to none at all?

I've heard that CC's often will retract a 30 day late mark if you've only had one and if you've been a long time customer of theirs (you obviously have to call and plead with them). I've also heard/read that one 30 day late mark within a 7 year period won't hurt you at all, thanks to new credit reporting rules that went into effect a year or so ago. With that said, I'm not sure if it is even worth the hassle of trying to do so or not, or if its anything to even be bothered by.

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My wife has a 30 day late payment from a car loan that happened in October 2010.  It's BS since she made the payment over the phone with one of VW's customer service people - as she did regularly back then.  Regardless, we recently sent a letter asking them to remove it.  Who knows if they will or not, but everything is worth a shot. 

[Anonymous]

I called the CCC (Chase) and they said there absolutely is nothing they can do, as financial regulations prohibit them from doing so.  They said that if it was done in error, then they could remove it, but since that wasn't the case, again there's nothing they can do as they'd be breaking some sort of financial rules/regulations.  I figured this was B.S., as I've read various articules discussing ways to go about having such dings removed from your file.  Either way, I'm not going to worry about it too much, as I still have a high score, which hopefully will move higher as I get further established with my recent car loan.

[basballguy]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I called the CCC (Chase) and they said there absolutely is nothing they can do, as financial regulations prohibit them from doing so.  They said that if it was done in error, then they could remove it, but since that wasn't the case, again there's nothing they can do as they'd be breaking some sort of financial rules/regulations.  I figured this was B.S., as I've read various articules discussing ways to go about having such dings removed from your file.  Either way, I'm not going to worry about it too much, as I still have a high score, which hopefully will move higher as I get further established with my recent car loan.

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That's just what they're trained to say.  There's always someone that can remove if you can find the right person to ask.  No guarantees though obviously.  But others would be able to testify to Chase.