Experian FICO went down 32 points

Discussion in 'Credit Talk' started by Knights36, Jun 22, 2006.

  1. Knights36

    Knights36 New Member

    Earlier in the month I checked my Experian score via MyFICO.com and it came up 695.

    For the past 20+ days, I've made just one credit card purchase of $160 and am still way below the 30% utilization on that card (as with the others). I also paid all cards on time and above the minimum payment....plus the total debt outstanding went down from when the score was 695.

    I checked today and was stunned and pissed it went DOWN to 663.

    Any explanations?

    Tim
     
  2. ontrack

    ontrack Well-Known Member

    Do you have any additional hard inquiries tue to applications for new credit or increased credit lines? Any new accounts, whether used or not? Any creditor decrease your credit limit?

    Any disputed items no longer disputed?
    Any negative items at all?
     
  3. Knights36

    Knights36 New Member

    only one hard inquiry

    ontrack,

    The only hard inquiry I had earlier in the month was with a Mortgage company in the preliminary stages for them to see if I was a viable candidate. I had checked that score and got 695...when they checked, it also was 695. There have been no hard inquiries since then.

    No credit limits were decreased.

    All bills paid on time AND more than minimum.

    Only one credit card purchase made ($160.00) and that wasn't even included in the new report I got yesterday.

    It is very disconcerning that one phone call can cost me in interest rates for a mortgage. Glad I haven't gone to two other mortgage companies as this probably would have decreased the score even further.
     
  4. ontrack

    ontrack Well-Known Member

    Multiple mortgage inquiries should not depress your scores more than one, as long as they are placed with 30 days. FICO is supposed to lump them together, to allow loan shopping as consumers try to get the best rate.

    Are your mortgage inquiries correctly coded to show they are for mortgages? Is your own inquiry correctly coded to be "soft" and not visible to others?
    If either of those are incorrectly coded, it will depress your scores. You would want to get that fixed.

    Were any accounts removed?
     
  5. Knights36

    Knights36 New Member

    One was removed

    ontrack,

    I looked at all three that are in MyFICO because only one had listed the very first credit card I got back in 1989. It was closed for over ten years and had no issues. I think the back got bought and well I just never used it. But it was only listed on Experian...TU and Equifax did not list it.

    Via MyFICO I can't tell is the inquiries are "soft" or "hard". The mortgage one does state it was for that purpose.

    But is it really possible that a very old credit card (or I guess it's called Trade Line) and one mortgage inquiry can lower my score 30 points? Will it take long for me to regain them if I still lower all debt levels and not take on any new cards?

    Thanks for your expertise.
     
  6. ontrack

    ontrack Well-Known Member

    Could the old credit card account have fallen off, or perhaps passed some threshold that FICO rejected it?

    Normally accounts closed for over about 10 years would also drop off, even if positive. Maybe FICO drops it, even if the CRA didn't, based on age, and your later score occurred just after that rule was triggered.

    Old positive accounts can have a significant effect on FICO scores, especially if a lot of your other accounts are very recent. The change in "average account age" might be significant.

    Other possibilities: Could you have a mixed file, with data sometimes including someone else's accounts, or sometimes not? Most likely if there is someone with a similar name with a past address that matched yours, such as with parents with similar names?

    Or could you have a split file, where sometimes a pull will get one subset of accounts, and sometimes it will get another subset?

    Or did FICO make an adjustment to the scoring model? FICO scores are partly computed by comparisions to populations of similar consumers, as an estimate of risk to the lender. Since the risks for different subgroups may vary with the economy, the scoring model might shift. Hypothetically, there might be nothing at all different in the data that drove your score, other than that the scoring model might, say, include a term for market interest rates, which have been going up. In effect, the score says when interest rates rise, people with a certain amount of debt are a higher risk to make additional loans to.
     

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