Credit rating.. Dropped with no cause

Pmc2k24

Hi,

Quick question / search for clues.. My credit rating has been around 530 on equifax and 5/5 on noddle. In the space of a month that has dropped to 367 and 2/5.

Last month Amex gave me a missed payment marker incorrectly which was then updated to up to date. Other than that all accounts are up to date, I've not attempted to get new credit and have paid off two credit cards, closed one and reduced the limit on another. My credit utilisation has gone down according to equifax.

I phoned equifax to ask why the big drop and was told they couldn't find any reason and couldn't explain what had happened.

Anyone any ideas or other avenues to explore? Thanks!

The_Boss

You don't have a credit rating as credit ratings do not exist. You've just been suckered into believing you do by Equifax, hence why they couldn't give you a reason. There are plenty of threads on here about the meaningless "scores" provided by CRAs and a sticky at the top of the board, so you must have missed them.

shortcrust

Pmc2k24 wrote: »

Hi,

Quick question / search for clues.. My credit rating has been around 530 on equifax and 5/5 on noddle. In the space of a month that has dropped to 367 and 2/5.

Last month Amex gave me a missed payment marker incorrectly which was then updated to up to date. Other than that all accounts are up to date, I've not attempted to get new credit and have paid off two credit cards, closed one and reduced the limit on another. My credit utilisation has gone down according to equifax.

I phoned equifax to ask why the big drop and was told they couldn't find any reason and couldn't explain what had happened.

Anyone any ideas or other avenues to explore? Thanks!

Doesn't that just say it all!:D

DCFC79

You need to explore the " I dont have a credit score avenue ".

The_Boss

DCFC79 wrote: »

You need to explore the " I dont have a credit score avenue ".

I don't get why people don't come to this conclusion themselves when CRAs cannot give them sensible explanation or if the "score" is totally baffling.

ilikewatch

!!!!!!, this is fast becoming my new pet hate... Credit scores/ratings DO exist - just sign up to Equifax, Noddle etc. and you'll be able to see yours - also, despite the rubbish people talk on forums, these credit scores/ratings are NOT randomly generated - the CRA's use their own "secret" algorithms to generate the score.
What would be true to say is that the credit score/rating that a CRA gives you PROBABLY doesn't have any practical use other than POSSIBLY being a very vague indicator of your credit worthiness...

The_Boss

^ oh dear...

ilikewatch

The_Boss wrote: »

^ oh dear...

So, according to your signature you believe that a CRA credit score is randomly generated?

If I signed up to a CRA subscription service and had an approximately median credit score of 500,and over the following month the ONLY factor that changed was that I was bankrupted do you think that it would be equally likely that my score would increase OR decrease by the next months score?

I'm pretty damn certain that in the above scenario my credit score would decrease, reflecting that I was bankrupted and indicating that CRA credit scores are NOT random...

shortcrust

ilikewatch wrote: »

!!!!!!, this is fast becoming my new pet hate... Credit scores/ratings DO exist - just sign up to Equifax, Noddle etc. and you'll be able to see yours - also, despite the rubbish people talk on forums, these credit scores/ratings are NOT randomly generated - the CRA's use their own "secret" algorithms to generate the score.
What would be true to say is that the credit score/rating that a CRA gives you PROBABLY doesn't have any practical use other than POSSIBLY being a very vague indicator of your credit worthiness...

Semantics eh? Of course companies produce and sell things called 'credit scores' but we all know that The Boss is quite right in saying that none of us really have a credit score in any meaningful sense of the term.

I could start calculating 'hotness scores' based on people's biometrics using (tee hee hee, I can barely type the next two words...) secret algorithms. People could upload photos to a site and 'hotness scores' could be something that everyone could buy. They would exist. They probably wouldn't have any practical use other than possibly being a very vague indicator of your attractiveness... Would we then all really have something called a hotness score? Or would you be quite correct in telling people not to be so daft?

meer53

Until Equifax/Experia/Call Credit et al start lending money, their "scores" are meaningless. The only "score" you should worry about is the one your bank uses. And they won't tell you so your best bet is to try to live within your means for as long as you can.

You don't need a score to know whether you've been silly with your money, people can usually remember if they've had defaults or CCJ's.

GingerBob_3

ilikewatch wrote: »

!!!!!!, this is fast becoming my new pet hate... Credit scores/ratings DO exist - just sign up to Equifax, Noddle etc. and you'll be able to see yours - also, despite the rubbish people talk on forums, these credit scores/ratings are NOT randomly generated - the CRA's use their own "secret" algorithms to generate the score.
What would be true to say is that the credit score/rating that a CRA gives you PROBABLY doesn't have any practical use other than POSSIBLY being a very vague indicator of your credit worthiness...

This is exactly right. A professional statistician would agree.