Possible Rebucket Situation?!?

[Ceewin]

Hello All, 

DH received an alert that the balance on one of his AU accounts decreased by $21 and a credit score decrease of 12 points!  On the same date, the age of DH's oldest account reached 6 years.  Surely the 12 points decrease is the result of being rebucketed, right? Thoughts?

Current Utilization: 1%

Current Bal/CL across all accounts: $19/$21000

Note: $9 bal on indiv acct & $10 bal on an AU account.

Old/New Score: 771/759

Bureau: Experian FICO 8 (No update to TU or EQ, yet)

[dragontears]

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@Ceewin wrote:

Hello All, 

DH received an alert that the balance on one of his AU accounts decreased by $21 and a credit score decrease of 12 points!  On the same date, the age of DH's oldest account reached 6 years.  Surely the 12 points decrease is the result of being rebucketed, right? Thoughts?

Current Utilization: 1%

Current Bal/CL across all accounts: $19/$21000

Note: $9 bal on indiv acct & $10 bal on an AU account.

Old/New Score: 771/759

Bureau: Experian FICO 8 (No update to TU or EQ, yet)

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So this happened on the 1st?

For FICO scoring, aging of tradelines occurs on the first of the month not on the actual opening anniversary day

[Ceewin]

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@dragontears wrote:

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@Ceewin wrote:

Hello All, 

DH received an alert that the balance on one of his AU accounts decreased by $21 and a credit score decrease of 12 points!  On the same date, the age of DH's oldest account reached 6 years.  Surely the 12 points decrease is the result of being rebucketed, right? Thoughts?

Current Utilization: 1%

Current Bal/CL across all accounts: $19/$21000

Note: $9 bal on indiv acct & $10 bal on an AU account.

Old/New Score: 771/759

Bureau: Experian FICO 8 (No update to TU or EQ, yet)

---

So this happened on the 1st?

For FICO scoring, aging of tradelines occurs on the first of the month not on the actual opening anniversary day

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@dragontears

Thanks for responding.  Actually the alert (balance chg & score decrease) was received on 3/9 on MyFico.  Now I think I'm more confused about the score decrease.

[tortoise_credit]

So DH is an AU on two cards, right? Are you the primary on both of those?

Was the one paid down to $0, while the other still has a balance?

It could be the all zero authorized user card penalty if the other AU card is being negated by the FICO algo. If possible try letting that card report a small balance next month and see if it improves his score. I get hit with 9 points when DW pays my sole AU card to zero.

[Ceewin]

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@tortoise_credit wrote:

So DH is an AU on two cards, right? Are you the primary on both of those?

Was the one paid down to $0, while the other still has a balance?

It could be the all zero authorized user card penalty if the other AU card is being negated by the FICO algo. If possible try letting that card report a small balance next month and see if it improves his score. I get hit with 9 points when DW pays my sole AU card to zero.

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@tortoise_credit Thanks for responding.

No.  DH's has a $9 bal reporting for one of his primary card and a $10 balance reporting on a card which he is an AU.  

[dragontears]

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@tortoise_credit wrote:

So DH is an AU on two cards, right? Are you the primary on both of those?

Was the one paid down to $0, while the other still has a balance?

It could be the all zero authorized user card penalty if the other AU card is being negated by the FICO algo. If possible try letting that card report a small balance next month and see if it improves his score. I get hit with 9 points when DW pays my sole AU card to zero.

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Very good point. 

The FICO antiabuse algorithm can discount some AU accounts and not other with the only way to know if it is counted is to play the "how does my score change when going from 1 AU with a balance to 0 and back again" game.

[tortoise_credit]

@Ceewin I think I follow, but to be clear for your DH:

AU 1: $0

AU 2: $10

Individual: $9

I would say next month try letting both AU1 and AU2 report a balance, month after that AU1 reporting a balance and AU2 not (both cases keep individual card reporting a balance).

Or if AU1 is from Discover or another card that will do mid cycle reporting, try getting it to report a balance again and see if he regains the points.

[Ceewin]

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@tortoise_credit wrote:

@Ceewin I think I follow, but to be clear for your DH:

AU 1: $0

AU 2: $10

Individual: $9

I would say next month try letting both AU1 and AU2 report a balance, month after that AU1 reporting a balance and AU2 not (both cases keep individual card reporting a balance).

Or if AU1 is from Discover or another card that will do mid cycle reporting, try getting it to report a balance again and see if he regains the points.

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@tortoise_credit 

I'm trying to understand what you're saying here.  And I'm keeping in mind that FICO scoring can be very quirky at times.  I've always understood in regards to not being penalized is that we should let one primary(indiv) card report a small bal and one AU card report a small balance at all times.

You suggest that we should let one primary(indiv) card report a small bal and 2 AU cards report a small balance to possibly recover the points?  

I apologize for all the questions but I'm stumped at how/why he got a 12 point decrease.  

[tortoise_credit]

@CeewinYou are correct in your understanding, but there's one very tricky point. AU cards can in some cases be disregarded by the anti abuse system as @dragontears mentioned. The only way to figure that out is to see which AU cards prevent the AU AZ penalty. 

Basically what I was mentioning to do was to first return to the baseline (2 AU cards reporting balance) then try just the other AU card reporting a balance. That would give you three possible combinations to see what cards affect his score.

The anti abuse algo is also why I asked if you were the primary on both cards. If the one currently reporting a balance has for example a primary card holder with a different address, I'd bet that one is being disregarded.

edit: typos

[Ceewin]

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@tortoise_credit wrote:

@CeewinYou are correct in your understanding, but there's one very tricky point. AU cards can in some cases be disregarded by the anti abuse system as @dragontears mentioned. The only way to figure that out is to see which AU cards prevent the AU AZ penalty. 

Basically what I was mentioning to do was to first return to the baseline (2 AU cards reporting balance) then try just the other AU card reporting a balance. That would give you three possible combinations to see what cards affect his score.

The anti abuse algo is also why I asked if you were the primary on both cards. If the one currently reporting a balance has for example a primary card holder with a different address, I'd bet that one is being disregarded.

edit: typos

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@tortoise_credit 

Interesting...very interesting

DH's AU card is Discover; I'm the primary ($10 bal)

DH's Primary card is Amex: I'm the AU ($9 bal)

The addresses are the same on both accounts (<---but I totally get where you're coming from when you mentioned different addresses)

Is it possible DH's AU Discover card was disregarded in regards to the anit-abuse algo when it's never happened before?

Since util has no memory, I'm going to make sure both cards (mentioned above) report the same balance for April and see what happens.  I'll post an update.  Thanks!!!!