I am pretty sure that I have figured something out about Experian scoring. The system "rewards" you disproportionally for paying down debt. Here's what I mean. Let's say that you are at 83% available credit and you pay everything down to 87% open Your score goes up. Maybe 8 points. The scoring model notes that you are paying down debt. The trend/pattern is good. Now you charge again. You are back to 83%, where you were before, but now your score has dropped by 15 points, a 7 point net loss. Even though you have the exact same ratio, 83%, as you had before, your score is lower, because the "trend" is negative. Has anyone else observed this? If I am correct, then the very best thing to do in preparation for a large purchase (auto/mortgage) would be to steadily pay down debt and make sure it doesn't fluctuate UP for any reason. I've been observing this for awhile and I am pretty sure about it. Has anyone else noticed it? C
Yes I have noticed this with "just" Experian. My husband had a balance go up, 2 months prior he had paid it down, it went up 7 points, this month it went back to the balance it was, he lost 15 points. The amount was < 500. But when it hit Equifax, he only lost 5 points.
I have also noticed the points vary widely for inquiries. With Experian's consumer score you lose 4 points with one, TU with their scoring system I have lost 15 for one and Equifax has always cost me 5 points .
I agree about Experian I have observed that CE loves to see low debt. My grandmother only owes $130 total and her score is 780. She only has a few cards. On the other hand, her FICO and TU are not as high. I have a friend who owes 15K in student loans and about 14K in credit card debt. No mortgage, no auto and has a 777 Fico. His TU, though is only 680. And I have a friend who owes about 10K in CC, no derogs, has paid off 2 autos and has a long-time mortgage who has a 876 TU. But his Experian dropped 15 points to 733 when his debt went up about 3K, making it 7 points net lower than it was a month ago when he owed the exact same amount. My friends all think that I am a little obsessed and they probably are right. But they are also grateful because I've helped their scores go up. They don't mind sharing info with me for the "greater good." Since the general consensus is that the CE simulator doesn't help much in figuring this out, it will be interesting to see if Equifax's simulator (which they are adding in June?) will shed any more light on this system.
For inquiries, I have seen exactly 6 point drops on Experian on several different reports. But I have seen zero change on TU and Equifax after new inquiries on reports that hadn't had one in awhile. See why everyone says RANDOM??
Random because you can get rid of a "BADDIE" off your report and LOSE points...you can pay off $30,000 of credit card debt and LOSE points...you can apply for three credit cards and GAIN points... I came up with the "RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR"...because there is NO logic to the scoring system...see above...YOU DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO GET A BETTER SCORE...YOU FAIL EVERY TIME!!! There is just a VERY FEW high numbers available in the "RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR"...
