56 Point drop in one week, but nothing has changed

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William Alverson

• October 06, 2022 22:12

I am at a loss for why my credit score plunged 56 points.  I've no new debt, no inquiries, no debt cancellation, NOTHING!!!!!!!!

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• Official comment

  

  Winslow J

  • October 07, 2022 17:31
  • Edited

  Hi William,

  Thanks for asking your question in our forum - it's a question lots of people have, so I'm sure that other forum members will benefit from your post, too!

  A very common reason for a credit score drop is an increase in reported utilization on one or more revolving credit accounts (typically credit cards). I didn't see that specifically ruled out in your list of what didn't change, so this might apply in your case. This can be especially impactful when the credit limit on a card is low, since a relatively small purchase can skyrocket the utilization.

  Here's some math to clarify:

  • Putting a $1,000 purchase on a credit card with a $10,000 limit = 10% utilization.
  • Putting a $1,000 purchase on a credit card with a $2,000 limit  = 50% utilization.

  From personal experience as well as articles like this one from NerdWallet, I see there is a big difference in credit score impact between having 10% utilization (little or no impact) versus 50% utilization (very large impact.)

  The great news - if high utilization is the cause, then reducing your utilization (paying down or paying off the card) should reverse the credit score impact, assuming other factors stay the same.

  If a change in utilization is not the issue, you might want to read through this article: Why Did My Credit Score Drop? 9 Possible Reasons.

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  shipper50

  • November 07, 2022 19:01
  • Edited

  I had a similar thing happen. My credit Journey score with Chase had been 825+ for years and then dropped 70 points to 758. Got a new Credit Report from Equifax and my score was 805 and Experian is765. Why is there a 40 point difference?

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