Author Topic: Discover fico dropped 65 points in 2 months, but Karma and Sesame look fine?!  (Read 3087 times)

catccc

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I don't usually bother looking at DH's credit score (I manage the finances in our household), but I did today and discover card reports that it dropped from 825 to 769 in October, and in November, is now 760!  That's a pretty big drop, right?!

Discover says they base the score on transunion.  Both credit sesame and credit karma report transunion, and they both report 814.

Any idea what gives?  I feel like we really need to investigate and fix this!

boarder42

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you would have seen anything derogatory come up if something was effecting it ... at the end of the day none of those scores are real  so take them with a grain of salt.  also why do you car so much? the difference between a real 800+ and a 760 is nothing even when buying a house.

Brilliantine

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CreditKarma does not report a FICO score. I don't know if what Discover calls FICO is _the_ FICO but it is definitely on a different scale from the CreditKarma score.

What does the Discover FICO score page list as a "Key Factor"?

bacchi

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FICO has a dozen different algorithms.

catccc

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I care because we were considering some travel hacking, but we've been looking to possibly buy a house.  I know the easy answer is to buy house first, travel hack second.  But, we've been house hunting for 8+ years.  (Looking in a very restricted area with very little inventory.)  So I feel like I've wasted years of potential travel hacking because that house might be around the next corner.  But I've recently become comfortable with letting a couple inquiries hit our credit reports.  At 825, it should be no big deal.  At 760, it's more of a concern, if that house pops up.

I know there are many different algorithms for calculating a score, and not every score is a fico, but usually the variances between various scores I can access are +/- 15 points or so. 

A 65 point range is out of the ordinary based on history.  Discover, Credit Karma, and Credit Sesame were are reporting in the 814-825 range over the last year.  For Discover to suddenly drop to 760 seems very strange to me. 

It says the key factor is: "too few accounts currently paid as agreed."  He has not closed any accounts recently.  He has not had any late payments ever, let alone in the last couple months.  Plus, number of accounts has a relatively low impact on the score.  So I'm worried that somehow there is a report of non-payment someplace on his report that really isn't his...  Oh yeah, also, he and his dad have very similar names (i.e. given names are Ronny v. Ronald), and I think once some of his dad's credit info actually made it onto his report.  I know, that doesn't really make sense, because it should be based on SSN and not name.  But I'm pretty sure we've seen in before...

Also this is on the discover site: "According to FICO, 88% of the population experiences changes to their score by up to 20 points month to month."   Based on that I'd say a drop from 825 to 769 is slightly unusual, right?!

I'm surprised nobody thinks this is weird!  Really, nobody else thinks this is weird?!
« Last Edit: November 28, 2016, 08:12:00 PM by catccc »

Villanelle

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Time to check the credit reports, but if nothing unusual shows up there, I would spend zero energy thinking about this. 

boarder42

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You are over thinking all of this.  i started travel hacking hardcore in 2014.  churning thru 20+ cards per year per person in my family.  in Feb 2016 i purchased a house i just put my hacking on hold once we had an accepted offer, then picked back up afterwards.  and travel hacked without a hold thru my refinance in Aug of this year.  your credit is highly uneffected by new accounts and hard pulls.  it is much more effected by paying on time and derrogatory marks and your overall utilization. 

catccc

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Discover fico dropped 65 points in 2 months, but Karma and Sesame look fine?!
« Reply #7 on: November 29, 2016, 07:04:59 AM »
I pulled transunion, and I don't see anything fishy there.  Which is really good, but that still leaves me confused as to why it dropped so much.  So I guess this means I should spend energy to the tune of zero on this anymore.

it is much more effected by paying on time and derrogatory marks and your overall utilization.

I understand that, and it is exactly why I'm worried!  There have not been any negative payments, derogatory marks, or changes to utilization.  Yet it dropped from 825 to 760 for seemingly no reason.  If it randomly drops that much again, he'd fall below 700 and that would be pretty crappy if it happened when we found a house. 

So, boarder, I respect your hacking experience... if this happened to you would you continue hacking?!  I'm slightly hesitant still because this is not even my credit score I'm messing with, it is my husband's.  I'll still hack with mine, which is steady at 815... for now.





boarder42

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Yes Because those ARENT YOUR ACTUAL SCORES.  as i stated above those arent accurate.  loan officers hate those sites b/c they are wrong.   They use their own algorithms to predict what your score would be.  I give two flying F*cks about what those sites say.  their value comes from letting you know when new lines of credit hit your account.  if you want your real scores go pull them from the credit bureaus.


catccc

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okay, okay.  I'll not worry about it any longer...

VAR

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Checked my BOA fico today, same as last month but credit karma showed a major drop. Nothing has changed, no idea why. The ways of the FICO/FAKO are mysterious. My scores mostly jumped up when churning

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!