My regular bank pre-approved me for the WF Active CashSM Card. 0% intro APR for 15 months seemed nice so I pulled the trigger. The CL was much lower than anticipated ($3K while pre-approval stated $10K-$15K). During the application process I've entered a balance transfer data for about $5K. After the approval, I've seen those a bit surprising $3K but not a word about the balance transfer. I assumed it would be dropped given the difference. Fifteen days after the approval, a balance transfer was made. $2,836.99 plus the $85.10 for the transfer fee, a $2,922.09 total.
Now the fun started. I made only a few purchases in the meantime, groceries here and there for $141.20 total which, according to them, put me into an overdraft of $63.29. Immediately, they've reported the card as "overdrafted" with a 104% of the card's limit. I've received every imaginable alert, only the FBI Most Wanted and the Interpol's Red Notice were missing. My credit score has dropped for a shocking 86 points (!?), from 740 to 654. (EX) I've seen in an other thread that "My score dropped 49 points due to a collection appeared 03/18/2022" but here I've gotten 86 for an "overdraft" that even wasn't my mistake. Nothing else changed, one more inquiry (5 total) & that "overdraft" alert. 29% CLU. 0 baddies. No changes in a manner I use my credit / pay my bills.
I immediately called the bank, paid the "overdraft" and disputed the issue. Their policy, per a letter sent to me on March 7, 2022, clearly says: "If your balance transfer was more than the available credit on your credit card account, the balance transfer was lowered to the amount of AVAILABLE CREDIT (emphasis mine) as of the date it was processed." And yet, the drama. (in the meantime they've sent me four generic letters, each per week, stating they're still "investigating" the issue. The $85.00 fee was revoked.)
After a month, the reported "overdraft" is gone. There's a remark in my credit report regarding the card in question: "Dispute resolved; reported by grantor."
Alas, the score went up for only 24 points, to 678. I am confused. That "overdraft," now "resolved," resulted in the 86 points drop but the solution resulted with only 24 points recovery? So I am now at 62 points lower score, at the miserable 678, much lower than it was before I accepted that pre-approval, given that everything else is looking good. Only the Active Cash Card is now "using 94% of your account's limit" which seems bad, but does that really justify 62 points lower score?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
@kah-pas wrote:My regular bank pre-approved me for the WF Active CashSM Card. 0% intro APR for 15 months seemed nice so I pulled the trigger. The CL was much lower than anticipated ($3K while pre-approval stated $10K-$15K). During the application process I've entered a balance transfer data for about $5K. After the approval, I've seen those a bit surprising $3K but not a word about the balance transfer. I assumed it would be dropped given the difference. Fifteen days after the approval, a balance transfer was made. $2,836.99 plus the $85.10 for the transfer fee, a $2,922.09 total.
Now the fun started. I made only a few purchases in the meantime, groceries here and there for $141.20 total which, according to them, put me into an overdraft of $63.29. Immediately, they've reported the card as "overdrafted" with a 104% of the card's limit. I've received every imaginable alert, only the FBI Most Wanted and the Interpol's Red Notice were missing. My credit score has dropped for a shocking 86 points (!?), from 740 to 654. (EX) I've seen in an other thread that "My score dropped 49 points due to a collection appeared 03/18/2022" but here I've gotten 86 for an "overdraft" that even wasn't my mistake. Nothing else changed, one more inquiry (5 total) & that "overdraft" alert. 29% CLU. 0 baddies. No changes in a manner I use my credit / pay my bills.
I immediately called the bank, paid the "overdraft" and disputed the issue. Their policy, per a letter sent to me on March 7, 2022, clearly says: "If your balance transfer was more than the available credit on your credit card account, the balance transfer was lowered to the amount of AVAILABLE CREDIT (emphasis mine) as of the date it was processed." And yet, the drama. (in the meantime they've sent me four generic letters, each per week, stating they're still "investigating" the issue. The $85.00 fee was revoked.)
After a month, the reported "overdraft" is gone. There's a remark in my credit report regarding the card in question: "Dispute resolved; reported by grantor."
Alas, the score went up for only 24 points, to 678. I am confused. That "overdraft," now "resolved," resulted in the 86 points drop but the solution resulted with only 24 points recovery? So I am now at 62 points lower score, at the miserable 678, much lower than it was before I accepted that pre-approval, given that everything else is looking good. Only the Active Cash Card is now "using 94% of your account's limit" which seems bad, but does that really justify 62 points lower score?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
You will likely gain those (missing) points back once the card is paid down under 28.9% utilization. With my profile, the difference between 86% and 96% utilization is 12 points... 68% and 86% is 20 points, 48% and 68% is 20 points and 28% and 48% is another 20 points (when only one card is maxed out... fewer point increases on individual cards when multiple are maxed or nearly maxed).
Utilization has no memory with FICO8 or 9, so once paid down your scores will improve.
@kah-pas wrote:My regular bank pre-approved me for the WF Active CashSM Card. 0% intro APR for 15 months seemed nice so I pulled the trigger. The CL was much lower than anticipated ($3K while pre-approval stated $10K-$15K). During the application process I've entered a balance transfer data for about $5K. After the approval, I've seen those a bit surprising $3K but not a word about the balance transfer. I assumed it would be dropped given the difference. Fifteen days after the approval, a balance transfer was made. $2,836.99 plus the $85.10 for the transfer fee, a $2,922.09 total.
Now the fun started. I made only a few purchases in the meantime, groceries here and there for $141.20 total which, according to them, put me into an overdraft of $63.29. Immediately, they've reported the card as "overdrafted" with a 104% of the card's limit. I've received every imaginable alert, only the FBI Most Wanted and the Interpol's Red Notice were missing. My credit score has dropped for a shocking 86 points (!?), from 740 to 654. (EX) I've seen in an other thread that "My score dropped 49 points due to a collection appeared 03/18/2022" but here I've gotten 86 for an "overdraft" that even wasn't my mistake. Nothing else changed, one more inquiry (5 total) & that "overdraft" alert. 29% CLU. 0 baddies. No changes in a manner I use my credit / pay my bills.
I immediately called the bank, paid the "overdraft" and disputed the issue. Their policy, per a letter sent to me on March 7, 2022, clearly says: "If your balance transfer was more than the available credit on your credit card account, the balance transfer was lowered to the amount of AVAILABLE CREDIT (emphasis mine) as of the date it was processed." And yet, the drama. (in the meantime they've sent me four generic letters, each per week, stating they're still "investigating" the issue. The $85.00 fee was revoked.)
After a month, the reported "overdraft" is gone. There's a remark in my credit report regarding the card in question: "Dispute resolved; reported by grantor."
Alas, the score went up for only 24 points, to 678. I am confused. That "overdraft," now "resolved," resulted in the 86 points drop but the solution resulted with only 24 points recovery? So I am now at 62 points lower score, at the miserable 678, much lower than it was before I accepted that pre-approval, given that everything else is looking good. Only the Active Cash Card is now "using 94% of your account's limit" which seems bad, but does that really justify 62 points lower score?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
A 94% utilization card is considered maxed out and can slam your scores pretty hard.
BTW your story is a good illustration of the reason I never request a balance transfer when applying for a credit card, even if I'm intending to make a balance transfer. I wait until after I have the card, know what the limit is, and know what the statement date is, before applying for a balance transfer.
Thank you guys. A small update:
- I've lowered that new WF card's utilization from 94% to 45%
- the "dispute remark" dropped from the credit reports
- overall CLU is still at the same 29% as two months ago, when the "drama" occured.
And yet, the score stayed at the same 678? So, I've recovered 24 points I mentioned in my OP after I've resolved the "overdraft" (104% to 94%) a month ago but not a single point now? Moreover, those 24+ points were when the CLU was 31%; so from the last month to today, when my score's been updated, my balance decreased $1,439 (2% to the CLU of 29% from 31%), and the 94% to 45% CLU on that one card did not result in a change at all?
I am truly confused. Still, no baddies. No new IQs. I've even lowered one higher score from 69% to 52% while increasing another card wiht a high CL from 9% to 14% and yet, no effect. So when all is said and done, I am at 678 credit score vs. 740 two months ago, with one credit card with a $3K limit more, standing at 45% CLU being the only difference. 62 points lower for that???
@kah-pas wrote:Thank you guys. A small update:
- I've lowered that new WF card's utilization from 94% to 45%
- the "dispute remark" dropped from the credit reports
- overall CLU is still at the same 29% as two months ago, when the "drama" occured.
And yet, the score stayed at the same 678? So, I've recovered 24 points I mentioned in my OP after I've resolved the "overdraft" (104% to 94%) a month ago but not a single point now? Moreover, those 24+ points were when the CLU was 31%; so from the last month to today, when my score's been updated, my balance decreased $1,439 (2% to the CLU of 29% from 31%), and the 94% to 45% CLU on that one card did not result in a change at all?
I am truly confused. Still, no baddies. No new IQs. I've even lowered one higher score from 69% to 52% while increasing another card wiht a high CL from 9% to 14% and yet, no effect. So when all is said and done, I am at 678 credit score vs. 740 two months ago, with one credit card with a $3K limit more, standing at 45% CLU being the only difference. 62 points lower for that???
I would scour my reports carefully to see what's up.
And work hard to get my utilization down even further.