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Unexplained FICO Score Drop

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Unexplained FICO Score Drop

I had slowly worked my score up over 750.  No late payments or anything bad.  I always look at my free credit reports to make sure there is no illegal stuff going on too. My score would be higher, but my utilization got a bit up there at one time; it's down to 25% now.   Lately, I've been killing it at work and I've been paying my CC's down religiously (but keeping the accounts open).  Two weeks ago, I paid $1,000 on my Capital One Visa....and my FICO dropped 35 points on the next update.  This makes no sense to me.  I even used their online credit score estimator to see what would happen if I charged $1000, and the estimated score went right back up 35 points.  Anyone know why the heck this is happening?  I want to refi my mortgage soon, and this throws a wrench into that plan. 

Message 1 of 26
25 REPLIES 25
dragontears
Senior Contributor

Re: Unexplained FICO Score Drop


@Anonymous wrote:

I had slowly worked my score up over 750.  No late payments or anything bad.  I always look at my free credit reports to make sure there is no illegal stuff going on too. My score would be higher, but my utilization got a bit up there at one time; it's down to 25% now.   Lately, I've been killing it at work and I've been paying my CC's down religiously (but keeping the accounts open).  Two weeks ago, I paid $1,000 on my Capital One Visa....and my FICO dropped 35 points on the next update.  This makes no sense to me.  I even used their online credit score estimator to see what would happen if I charged $1000, and the estimated score went right back up 35 points.  Anyone know why the heck this is happening?  I want to refi my mortgage soon, and this throws a wrench into that plan. 


Are all of your cards reporting a $0 balance? 

Message 2 of 26
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Unexplained FICO Score Drop

Most.  I am down to the last couple. I keep them all open with occasional small purchases.

Message 3 of 26
FireMedic1
Community Leader
Mega Contributor

Re: Unexplained FICO Score Drop


@Anonymous wrote:

I had slowly worked my score up over 750.  No late payments or anything bad.  I always look at my free credit reports to make sure there is no illegal stuff going on too. My score would be higher, but my utilization got a bit up there at one time; it's down to 25% now.   Lately, I've been killing it at work and I've been paying my CC's down religiously (but keeping the accounts open).  Two weeks ago, I paid $1,000 on my Capital One Visa....and my FICO dropped 35 points on the next update.  This makes no sense to me.  I even used their online credit score estimator to see what would happen if I charged $1000, and the estimated score went right back up 35 points.  Anyone know why the heck this is happening?  I want to refi my mortgage soon, and this throws a wrench into that plan. 


Welcome @Anonymous 

Please never go by simulators. They are for entertainment. And 99.9% inaccurate. Dont know what you mean by keeping the accounts open. You dont have to use a card every month to keep it open. Once every 6 months is fine. Getting your aggregate or overall util % down below 8% and then less than 50% of your cards reporting and if you want to go all out. Only have 1 card report less than 8% or AZEO as we say here.


Message 4 of 26
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Unexplained FICO Score Drop

I use the cards whenever they threaten to close the accounts for inactivity.  Seems to be about once a year.  Most of my balances are zero.  I have a couple that are getting close to paid off now.  The 750 to 715 drop was real.  I only looked at a simulator just out of curiosity because paying a card from 4,000 down to 3,000 shouldn't cause a drop in score.

Message 5 of 26
FireMedic1
Community Leader
Mega Contributor

Re: Unexplained FICO Score Drop


@Anonymous wrote:

I use the cards whenever they threaten to close the accounts for inactivity.  Seems to be about once a year.  Most of my balances are zero.  I have a couple that are getting close to paid off now.  The 750 to 715 drop was real.  I only looked at a simulator just out of curiosity because paying a card from 4,000 down to 3,000 shouldn't cause a drop in score.


Ah ok. That explains it. Yeah thats about right on the 1 yr thing. Paying down shouldnt have caused the drop. Theres something hiding that caused that. You can pull your free annual credit reports and take a peek and see whats up. Good luck on your paydown venture.


Message 6 of 26
CreditPacMan
Established Contributor

Re: Unexplained FICO Score Drop


@Anonymous wrote:

I use the cards whenever they threaten to close the accounts for inactivity.  Seems to be about once a year.  Most of my balances are zero.  I have a couple that are getting close to paid off now.  The 750 to 715 drop was real.  I only looked at a simulator just out of curiosity because paying a card from 4,000 down to 3,000 shouldn't cause a drop in score.


When I sold my car and it was later paid off, my score dropped 45 points. My guess is that if your overall utilization goes below 8% you score will drop before going back up. I would keep a few cards with balances below 10% for an overall utilization below 8%-10%.

Just curious, why do you care about the score being exactly 750? 

Current Cards:
Message 7 of 26
FireMedic1
Community Leader
Mega Contributor

Re: Unexplained FICO Score Drop


@CreditPacMan wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

I use the cards whenever they threaten to close the accounts for inactivity.  Seems to be about once a year.  Most of my balances are zero.  I have a couple that are getting close to paid off now.  The 750 to 715 drop was real.  I only looked at a simulator just out of curiosity because paying a card from 4,000 down to 3,000 shouldn't cause a drop in score.


When I sold my car and it was later paid off, my score dropped 45 points. My guess is that if your overall utilization goes below 8% you score will drop before going back up. I would keep a few cards with balances below 10% for an overall utilization below 8%-10%.

Just curious, why do you care about the score being exactly 750? 


Not really accurate. You score dropped that much because it probably was you had no other loans after payoff and fell out of the credit mix of cards and loan. Scores go up under 8% not down. 10% is not ideal. Its the next threshold with cards above 8.99%. Also its best to stay under 50% and lower of total cards reporting a balance.


Message 8 of 26
SouthJamaica
Mega Contributor

Re: Unexplained FICO Score Drop


@Anonymous wrote:

I had slowly worked my score up over 750.  No late payments or anything bad.  I always look at my free credit reports to make sure there is no illegal stuff going on too. My score would be higher, but my utilization got a bit up there at one time; it's down to 25% now.   Lately, I've been killing it at work and I've been paying my CC's down religiously (but keeping the accounts open).  Two weeks ago, I paid $1,000 on my Capital One Visa....and my FICO dropped 35 points on the next update.  This makes no sense to me.  I even used their online credit score estimator to see what would happen if I charged $1000, and the estimated score went right back up 35 points.  Anyone know why the heck this is happening?  I want to refi my mortgage soon, and this throws a wrench into that plan. 


1. Which score are you talking about?

 

2. When you paid the Capital One Visa, did all your cards report zero balances?


Total revolving limits 741200 (620700 reporting) FICO 8: EQ 701 TU 704 EX 685

Message 9 of 26
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Unexplained FICO Score Drop

It's not that I "care".  My score just happened to be exactly 750 at that moment.  When I paid more off, I was hoping it would go up even more.  Wrong heh.

Message 10 of 26
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