balance transfer caused 36 point drop ??

[Anonymous]

0% to  0% balance transfer, went from 70% util on original card to ~50% on the new card.  New card w/ balance is also an existing account.  Does this 36 point drop seem normal?  I thought after the old card reported the zero balance my fico would bounce back up but its been two months and it has only came back up 6 points.  : (

Message Edited by chazsteak on 07-29-2009 09:43 AM

[llecs]

Welcome to the forums!

While individual utilization plays a big part in scoring, so does overall.

What were the balances and CLs? Is the card you transferred to a new CC in the sense that it just started reporting?

Did your CC util change on your other CCs?

Finally, it had to be asked, where did you get your scores from?

[Anonymous]

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@llecs wrote:

Welcome to the forums!

Hi and thanks for the welcome and reply.

While individual utilization plays a big part in scoring, so does overall.

What were the balances and CLs?

Balance trans was 7000, old card CL was 10k "new" card CL is 13.8k.

Is the card you transferred to a new CC in the sense that it just started reporting?

"New" card is an existing card that has been active and reporting for close to two years.

Did your CC util change on your other CCs?

Not overall, my day-to-day cards vary but nothing out of the ordinary.

Finally, it had to be asked, where did you get your scores from?

MyFICO

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thanks for any input.

[llecs]

The new card isn't new; it was chilling out at $0 balance when you made the transfer. Had to ask because new reporting accounts have dropped my score by an avg. of 20-25 pts. That's not an issue.

For the 10k card, by which you transferred the $7k away from, is that still reporting as "open". Make sure it wasn't closed by the lender. If closed, then overall util on these two cards would have gone from 29.4% to just over 50%, though util on the other cards might enhance or dampen the damage if that was the case.

If not closed, then I'd look at the reports. I'd start with the positive and negative factors listed on pages 2 and 3 to see of there are any major changes. I'd compare the Credit-at-a-glance pages and Account summary pages to see if there are any red flags. Finally, I would look line by line within the report to look for anything out of the ordinary like new accounts, missing accounts, date changes on your baddies, if applicable, etc.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the response Llecs,

the "new" card was active as a balance transfer had been paid off about two months before this BT.  the 10k card "old" should be listed as open since I use it (its a Amazon reward card).

I am going to get the three free reports right now. Up to know I was just relying on the myfico score watch and report (equifax only).

Message Edited by chazsteak on 07-29-2009 10:35 AM

[Anonymous]

I'm back from pulling the three CR's.  Nothing shows up in any negative public records and nothing else out of the ordinary. Head scratcher I guess. 

What I am going to do though is stop using our day-to-day cards, from another post I learned the (obvious now) rule that though a card is paid off month to month the credit reporting agency's are still seeing the statement balance as a negative.  So hopefully having those three cards report 0 for a month or more will pop the FICO back up to the upper 700's.

[haulingthescoreup]

Oddly enough, you probably need to let one report a small balance. Most of us lose points when all cards report $0. The score formula likes to see some usage.

I didn't realize that you were in the high 700's. One thing to note is that score drops for anything at all tend to be greater for those up in oxygen-mask territory (where I'm trying desperately to reach!)

[Anonymous]

Thanks HSU,

Actually it wasn't that high, highest was 764 since I started myFico in April.  Here is a screen shot.

 

The big drop is pretty evident.

Message Edited by chazsteak on 07-29-2009 01:28 PM

[Grape]

According to your SW alert, looks like it has to do with the rate on ur HLOAN and not related to the BT?

[Anonymous]

I reread that before too, I think they are referring to getting a worse rate on a Home Loan due to the lower score.