Credit score fluctuating from 668 to 645 to 659 (Experian) in just 1 month. Is this normal?
….Or does the score vary on which company retrieves the score? For example, on 11/10 I found out my 3 scores through a Transunion service. Experian score was 668.
Then on 12/10 I signed up for a credit monitoring service (free trial) with Bank of America and my Experian score dropped to 645.
Then today I signed up for credit score analyzer with Discover for $8 a month. I am going to stick with this service. They only use Experian but they are the most difficult. And my score today was 659.
Is this type of fluctuation normal? Look at how my score dropped with Transunion from 713 on 11/10 to 672 on 12/10…seems odd.
11/10: http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m254/nathan_211/Credit/creditscoresnov102009.png
12/10: http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m254/nathan_211/Credit/663avgcreditscoreswithBAC.png
I did just get a foreclosed home and was low on cash so I opened a Home Depot store card in November with a $5,000 limit and I used up over 50% of my limit ($2800/$5000). This was urgent so I had to do it!! I will be making a $2,000 payment next month…I suppose this could have brought my score from 713 to 672 but that seems like a big drop in a couple weeks!
Tamara
Connie
First, it is normal for your score to be different at each credit bureau. Not every creditor reports to all three. It is also normal for your score to fluxuate during the month as creditors update at different times.
But even more important, is the source of the score. Creditors use FICO scores. Anything else is really a waste. The Equifax site uses FICO. You can also get FICO scores for TransUnion and Equifax at MyFico.com. Consumers can no longer get FICO scores for Experian. The TransUnion and Experian sites use Vantage (different scale and formula). Third party monitoring services use Fakko scores (their own system).
Basically, you have been comparing apples and watermelons with the different score sources. All monitoring services are a complete waste of money. Cancel them all. You can get free annual copies of your credit reports online from each of the three credit bureaus thru AnnualCreditReport.com. Reports are free, scores are not.
CreditKarma.com offers a free score estimator based on your TransUnion credit report. It’s not FICO. But it’s kinda, sorta like FICO, give or take 50 points or so. Good enough if you are just interested in tracking your score.
By the way, if you just took out a new mortgage for that home, that could be the reason your score dropped. A new mortgage is probably most of your debt and being new works against your. As you make the monthly payments, your score will go back up.
Carrying credit card balances of more than 30% of your limit hurts your score. But pay off the balances and get an immediate rebound.
Eleanor
This is normal.
You can make you score go up by paying back the money that you owe on the Home Depot card.