SW Alert - 29 point decrease

[Anonymous]

my score went from 592 to 563.

According to the SW alert:

Your FICO® score went down on a day when there were no credit alerts on your Equifax Credit Report

and

This score decrease may be caused by this new reason: You have a short credit history.

I bought a new equifax report and the only change from then and now is a 60 day late is over 2 years old now. No change in utilization or anything else.

What else could be the reason for this?

Message Edited by kjkhkhi on 11-05-2008 10:57 AM

[llecs]

Welcome to the forums!

There are times where you need to ignore the reasons for the SW alert drop, and this is one of those. I recommend pulling your EQ to look for any changes that could have triggered the drop that SW didn't catch. Also, alerts are often delayed by a couple days. Look for a second alert that could provide more info.

Really, anything could have happened. I once got an alert for increased CC balances. My score went up 20+ points. The increase wasn't because of the increased utilization, but rather a removal of a baddie that SW didn't catch. In another example, someone here had a couple new inquiries and received an alert for it and their score increased. The only reason given was for the inquiries, but it was improved utilization that did it.

[Anonymous]

SW?

[llecs]

SW = ScoreWatch

http://www.myfico.com/Products/ScoreWatch/Description.aspx

[Anonymous]

I pulled my EQ report and compared it carefully to an old one. There where no changes whatsoever except for a late payment becoming over 2 years old.

I am just not seeing any reason why this would of happened.

[llecs]

Then you'd have to dig a little deeper.

Were there any new accounts reporting? Are the balances reporting higher? A 20% increase in util can very well lead to a score decrease. Look at the "Credit-At-A-Glance" page. Look for changes in the numbers. Look on pg. 2 and 3. Look to see if there were any changes to the things that are helping or hurting you. Then dig into each account. Make sure the dates are the same, late count, if any, balances, etc. Make sure none of the comments changed.

[Anonymous]

I thoroughly reviewed both of my reports again and the only other difference I am seeing is on page 2 (understanding you fico score). Under "hurting your score", "serious delinquency" was replaced with "Short account history". And under "helping your score", "many accts. paid on time" replaced with "no serious delinquency".

I checked every date, comment, CL, balance and everything. It seems like this should help my score instead of hurt it.

[Anonymous]

How severe was your late? If it was a 60 day it is possible that you were moved from a baddie bucket to a clean history bucket and you are now compared with a populace with a longer and cleaner history than you.

[Anonymous]

It was a 60 day late, I guess that must be the reason then.

Kind of frustrating.

[llecs]

---

kjkhkhi wrote:

It was a 60 day late, I guess that must be the reason then.

Kind of frustrating.

---

If recent, it could have easily dropped your score 100 points if your report was relatively clean.