My wife and I have always had an excellent credit score - it's been above 840 for years. But we noticed a pretty big drop in November and another drop in December, even though nothing has really changed as far as we can tell. No outstanding bills or new lines of credit. How can we find out what's going on? Who can we talk to?
Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice - pull down your pants and slide on the ice. ʘ ͜ʖ ʘ
Posts: 4950 | Location: Highland, UT | Registered: September 14, 2006
Unless some scum stole my info and applied for stuff, I couldn't care less about this credit score game. So, check with the credit bureaus as suggested above.
Here is an example of the bullshit score game. WF offers free credit score from Experian's data, and mine (from WF) is 20 points higher than the score on Experian's website.
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Posts: 28223 | Location: TEXAS | Registered: September 04, 2008
Have you paid off any debt, or cancelled any cards?
I have $300 left on a $4300 personal/debt-consolidation loan. I expect my >800 credit score to drop a little when this is paid off. Paying off my car in 2011 did nothing for my score, either way. One would think successfully paying off a loan - and a little early - would count for something.
The OP is being awfully short on specifics and backstory here.
Posts: 29072 | Location: Johnson City, TN | Registered: April 28, 2012
Yep, mine dropped 12 points. It's probably because I don't have any debt that I'm managing. Then again, it may have been that reply tweets to Jenna Griswold. Haven't gotten a CC offer in the mail for awhile. Last one I signed up for gave me $200 to buy a gun.
Don't worry at all if it's 800 or above, or even above 740. They look at a range and it can vary every month for all sorts of reasons that have nothing to do with y9our bill paying. FICO is the one that counts.
Originally posted by Leemur: Get a copy of your credit report ASAP. You’re entitled to one free report a year. Be sure your identity hasn’t been stolen.
Its actually once a week now. I was astonished when I checked annualcreditreport.com and saw that.
The reason why I checked? I noticed my score drop from a perfect 850 to 740 due to a "seriously delinquent account." I was bewildered on that and pulled the report and it was a GM Card I was an authorized user on my parents' card so I could use the GM Points. Well, they have both died, with my mom the most recent. The card has had a zero balance for decades. I had called Synchrony to report my mom had passed and the account can be closed. What had Synchrony done? They noted the account as a CHARGE OFF, when it had a zero balance. I've been round and round with them on this and had to elevate it to a manager for her to correct the credit and am waiting out the change to be noted in the credit bureaus.
I have always thought being an authorized user on a card only gets you the good (long credit history and reduced debt to borrowing ratio) not any of the bad. They said now when anything bad happens on the card, it hits every SSN tied to it and when someone passes away that is how they close the account, regardless if there is no balance.
Posts: 2626 | Location: Iowa by way of Missouri | Registered: July 18, 2002
Ours dropped about 50 points when we paid off a car loan last month.
Only had the loan for 4 months, the Toyota dealer wouldn't let me pay cash because I was an out of state buyer. Oh, and I needed to keep the loan for at least 6 months (so they made their money, I'm sure).
I get there (2nd of the month) to do the paper work and they had already dated and filled out everything for the end of the last month. Couldn't add anything to my deposit as an additional down payment.
So I get home and sent Toyota about 90% of the loan balance and the rest over the next 3 months. Never heard a word from the dealer, not that I'll ever be back there.
Posts: 1385 | Location: Escaped California...Now In Sunny, Southern Utah | Registered: February 15, 2003
All my credit card issuers (American Express, Capital One, Chase, Elan Financial) have credit scores and reports, updated weekly or more, for the asking. Check yours and look for anything unusual.
Posts: 29072 | Location: Johnson City, TN | Registered: April 28, 2012
BTW, we don't owe anyone a dime, and apart from a mortgage, paid off 24 years ago, we never have.This message has been edited. Last edited by: tacfoley,
Posts: 11497 | Location: UK, OR, ONT | Registered: July 10, 2003
Mine took a big hit when we paid off the house. That was the only debt we had. I couldn't care less, as I don't plan to incur any more debt, so the score itself is meaningless to me. The criteria they use to determine it are clearly idiotic.
Posts: 9563 | Location: In the Cornfields | Registered: May 25, 2006