Paid off mortgage and Experian credit score drops by 96 points!

keiran

Whilst of course we know that the "scores" of CRAs are a fictitious nonsense, I was surprised to see that my score had fallen by 96 points after paying off my buy-to-let mortgage. ( I had thought it would rise!)

There has been no other change, and I have dozens of other long-standing accounts which demonstrate my (good) financial history.

Yet more proof of how ridiculous these scores are...?

System

Your score will drop with ANY change to your file.
It does go someway to show how rudimentary their score algorithm is.

Willing2Learn

beany_bot wrote: »

Your score will drop with ANY change to your file.
It does go someway to show how rudimentary their score algorithm is.

… and demonstrates why CRA credit scores should be ignored.

[Deleted User]

beany_bot wrote: »

Your score will drop with ANY change to your file.
It does go someway to show how rudimentary their score algorithm is.

What?

I thought the scores meant everything and weren’t just some random number?

System

Who ever said that?

They aren't a "random number".
The number is generated by some (shody) algorithm based on what the credit agency can see in your credit file.
This does not make the score reliable or something to be held in High regard or concerned about.

However the score is not "completely random". Or "entirely fictitious" as you constantly peddle.

Willing2Learn

It does however, mean that people should ignore their CRA credit score, as it is irrelevant.

[Deleted User]

beany_bot wrote: »

Who ever said that?

They aren't a "random number".
The number is generated by some (shody) algorithm based on what the credit agency can see in your credit file.
This does not make the score reliable or something to be held in High regard or concerned about.

However the score is not "completely random". Or "entirely fictitious" as you constantly peddle.

Long story short - a random number. Have you seen the recent thread?

Someone with a 984 “score” that was turned down for a BT card?

HeCh

Long story short - a random number. Have you seen the recent thread?

Someone with a 984 “score” that was turned down for a BT card?

I have never read anything on this forum or elsewhere that provides any evidence that the scores are randomly generated numbers. The fact that someone with a higher score is turned down for a credit card is just one observation of an apparent lack of correlation between a high score and credit account application success.

[Deleted User]

It’s a lack of correlation between the lenders not seeing the CRA scores and pigs flying.

Lenders do not see, use or care about the scores generated by the CRA’s

jpsartre

HeCh wrote: »

I have never read anything on this forum or elsewhere that provides any evidence that the scores are randomly generated numbers.

Well they're not in one sense of the word. They are a function of what's on your creditfile and whatever algorithm the CRA uses to generate the number. If two people have exactly the same credithistory, the number generated will be the same. So in that sense they are not randomly generated (and I doubt anyone in here is disputing that).

HeCh

Lenders do not see, use or care about the scores generated by the CRA’s

I tend to agree - as does Wiki:

"[UK] "Credit scores" . . . from Credit Reference Agencies[ CRAs] are marketed to consumers and are not usually used by lenders.[citation needed] Most lenders instead use their own internal scoring mechanism.[citation needed]."

. . . although the absence of citations/references will raise some confusion/doubt with most.

It is, however, untrue and misleading to say the CRAs scores are randomly generated numbers. So, for posters with similar CRA score-related questions the standard response, in my view, should be along the lines of:

1. The scores from the CRAs provide one indication of creditworthiness: higher scores can be indicative of lower risk to lenders and lower scores can be indicative of higher risk to lenders.

2. However, lenders themselves (usually) have a separate scoring system to the ones used by the CRAs so their internal score and risk assessment may be different to those of the CRAs.

3. So, with these differences in mind, only focus on ensuring the details held by the CRAs are complete and accurate.