Paying off all but 3k of debt dropped my TU mortgage score from 708 to 664 - why?

[Anonymous]

I paid $20k in debt and my FICO 8 went up ranging from 25-45 points. I did a screenshot of my mortgage numbers before all was reported and FICO 4 took a nosedive after paying the debt. The mortgage we just paid off hasn't been reported yet. Nothing else happened. So, why am I being penalized for paying debt?

[Anonymous]

Did you pay down or pay off?

If you paid down debt (but not off) I don't see how that could possibly lower your scores.  If your score dropped, it's due to a different factor IMO.

[Anonymous]

I paid down, leaving 3k on 2 cards. I paid out 20k. That's how I feel too, but there was absolutely nothing else. I have 2 installment loans that I paid at the same time, but they aren't showing yet, so they can't factor in, right?

BeforeAfter

[AndySoCal]

What are the score factor codes ? They wiil be in order of impact and upto four of them.  If you have them for either one or both of the TUC4 FICO scores it would help.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I paid down, leaving 3k on 2 cards. I paid out 20k. That's how I feel too, but there was absolutely nothing else. I have 2 installment loans that I paid at the same time, but they aren't showing yet, so they can't factor in, right?

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Right, only the data on your report is considered when your score is generated.

If you paid down $20k in debt but left $3k on 2 cards there is no way that you would have seen a score drop (from that).  If your score dropped it was due to a different reason.  If you are 100% sure that there is nothing else that changed on your report then I would chalk it up to an algorithm glitch or something, because paying down $20k in debt isn't going to drop your F4 some 40+ points. 

I agree with the other reply that taking a look at your negative reason statements before and after would be beneficial in your investigation.

[Anonymous]

OP Please provide all your aging Metrics. When did the change occur? Yes great idea before and after negative Reason Codes. And Installment utilization affects version 8 more than it does the mortgage Scores.

Also yes I believe that a account can be reported and affect score before the data is dropped into the interface where you can see it, occasionally. I don’t believe this is widespread, but I’ve experienced this on occasion. there’s also a link in the Primer regarding it, post 7.

For example, US Bank reported my balance on the 30th, but it didn’t appear on EX till the fourth. Does that mean the CRA didn’t get it until the fourth? No, they had it since 30th, but the interstitial time (the time between when the CRA receives it and when its inserted into their live dataset) varies.

Typically it is inserted in the primary and secondary datasets pretty close together, I believe, but as I said, I have experienced times when it was obviously counting the report, but the data was not accessible to me from the interface until the following day.

And as mentioned EX has had some scoring irregularities lately.

Maybe we can figure out which one it is.

[Anonymous]

I guess I had to do a new report to see it. They are now 708/715/765, so it's correct now. Thanks all.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I guess I had to do a new report to see it. They are now 708/715/765, so it's correct now. Thanks all.

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Mystery solved