This to me is unfair business practices

[Varsity_Lu]

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@Abby4 wrote:

That is exactly what I do, I just do not think a minus 15 pts is justified, I have all three bureaus frozen, but that does not seem to matter either.

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I really don't think you fully understand how your score is calculated. Keep learning. It sounds like you were penalized for having all accounts report zero. But you have to remember that the score is not about how good you are with money or budgeting. It's about how good you are with debt. You are penalized if you don't have any debt. I didn't even have a credit score for 20 years because I paid cash for everything, had no mortgage or loans of any kind. My score went up when I got a credit card and started using it. 🤷🏽‍♂️

[Abby4]

Being penalized for not having debt is bs

[AndySoCal]

@Abby4  Can you please post  the four factors (there may be less than four) that are affecting your score. I would like the factors from before and after the score change. I am not asking for this to be nosy or anything of that sort. Here the four factors are in order of the impact on the score. This might help shed some light on why the score changed. I presume with your total credit availibility you have more than one credit card. If so do those cards get regular use? I will use myself to illustrate what I mean. I have a JC Penney credit card. I do not use it every month. I usually need something from them a couple of times a year.  So I use it when I do I pay in full after the statment cuts. I have a couple of other credit cards that are used when needed. The balances on my credit cards that report each month is a debt I owe. I pay that debt in full. I do not have a mortgage or any installment loans either. The FICO scoring system is not asking you to carry credit card debt month over month. My other philosophy is that bucks beats points. I will take the dings for not having certain loan types and have that money would to pay for loans in the bank.

[SilentTraveler]

What has changed?  This is the same topic and complaint for the last 6 years.  What has changed this time?

[Varsity_Lu]

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@SilentTraveler wrote:

What has changed?  This is the same topic and complaint for the last 6 years.  What has changed this time?

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Just clicked on their profile and saw that. The info is out there if they really want to know the reasons.

[Abby4]

Nothing has changed, the credit reporting system is irregular, unfair and designed to punish a person if for example you do not continue to apply for new credit or have a mix of loan types, look up to see who owns the credit reporting agencies.....

[Thomas_Thumb]

Periodically applying for cards is not required to achieve or maintain a high score nor is having a mix of loans. A 850 score can be achieved with only a few active cards and a single loan on file. The score can be maintained indefinitely without opening any new cards. The loan typically needs to be open.

[FicoMike0]

So, the mystery is solved, the op hit the all zero penalty.

My score fell a few points too, I think it was due to a couple of hps. I feel that's unfair too. I take personal offense.

I fell down once, causing me to believe that gravity is unfair as well. I even developed an alternative theory, there is no gravity, the Earth sucks. Either way, my knee still hurt, lol.

[Realist]

Scores can change routinely both up and down, for transunion to drop that many points isn't unheard of.  The best thing you can do is to continue to build a credit profile, pay on time without a single missed payment, keep your utilization in check,  and age your accounts.  Not one person will share the exact same credit profile makeup, and yet, they may arrive towards very similar healthy FICO scores.

As mentioned prior, grab one, two, or three cards, keep a very low utilization on that card, and you may find yourself arriving towards a score of 850 over time.  

On the other hand, perhaps someone has dozens of installment loans for specific purposes, paid off, and also holds many dozens of credit cards in which offered many SUB offers valued in the tens of thousands of dollars.  This is a very thick credit profile.  The FICO score will unlikely hit a perfect 850, but it will achieve a very thick profile at 800-840 without an issue.  Additionally, with all the financial benefit to boot that you can not achieve, with a perfect score.

There is no one single path up the mountain.  Give it time, keep playing it right with your credit.  As it ages and solidifies, the score will increase.  At some point in life, you will have more credit than you know what to do with, and a high FICO score more than you know what you can do with.   If you have to worry about an adjustment of a dozen or two points, then you aren't there yet.  It doesn't mean you won't get there.  Eventually you may reach the point you simply won't care, because you have more than enough - even if your FICO score simply disappeared.   Forever home.  Can pay cash for vehicles.  Available credit up the butt should you need it.   

Choices.  Options.  It offers a very large safety net.

[DebbsSeattle]

Well you do have choices. #1 Your score is high enough to get you most everything you need to make it through modern life and maintain your lifestyle by just keeping it all good...so ignore the scores altogether and just keep being a good credit citizen. It is what it is...relax. #2 Say adios to the whole game...close your credit cards, payoff your mortgage and never do anything ever again that requires credit. Simply pay cash and enjoy lower blood pressure. #3 Actually immerse yourself in the game like so many of the gurus here on myFico and gather a full understanding of how your scores are affected by every little move until you finally achieve an 850 then just maintain being a great credit citizen. #4 Just take the informed opinions from all these credit gurus, say thank you and trust that the score will come back to its previous level. Regardless, you are not an isolated case, this happens to all of us.