Experian

westiedog

My credit score has gone from 963 to 505 in one month for no apparent reason... :mad:

yksi

While someone will pipe up that the score is meaningless, this is a red flag to get hold of your statutory report and find out what tanked it (did you apply for credit anywhere? miss any payments?).

Ben8282

Agreed. Check the credit files and try to establish why.

westiedog

Got a loan through my bank which was approved approx 4 weeks ago. Never missed any payments and have no other debt.

Ben8282

Are you sure there is nothing else?
If you have no other debt please clarify what the payments that you have not missed are for.
If you are sure that your credit files contain no adverse information then just have a good laugh about it. No lender will ever see the score so it doesn't really matter.

[Deleted User]

My credit score tanked when I paid off and closed two credit card accounts that had reached the end of the 0% BT period. Apparently the CRA thinks I am a bigger risk to lenders by paying off debt but as no lender uses the credit score I give zero f***s about it.

Ebe_Scrooge

westiedog wrote: »

Got a loan through my bank which was approved approx 4 weeks ago. Never missed any payments and have no other debt.

That's more than likely the cause then. As has been said time and again on here, your score is meaningless. It will go down in response to ANY change in your credit circumstances, good or bad. Open a new account, open a new card, take out a loan - it'll go down. It'll also go down if you win the lottery and pay off your mortgage and every debt you've got.

Most lenders tend to report to the Credit Reference Agencies monthly. So if you say you took out a new loan 4 weeks ago, it's highly likely that the lender has only reported it to the CRA in the last week or so - new line of credit, so they drop your score.

As others have said, it's worth checking your files (for free, don't ever pay to check them), just to make sure all the information contained therein is factually correct. But aside from that, treat your score with the contempt it deserves.

Ben8282

Ebe_Scrooge wrote: »

That's more than likely the cause then. As has been said time and again on here, your score is meaningless. It will go down in response to ANY change in your credit circumstances, good or bad. Open a new account, open a new card, take out a loan - it'll go down. It'll also go down if you win the lottery and pay off your mortgage and every debt you've got.

.

Not strictly true. Only for those with bad credit and bad credit scores. My Experian 999 score has remained unchanged for years and does not drop when I obtain a new credit card and a balance appears on that account or when I, close an account etc. This is factually correct.
Of course I don't go round switching bank accounts and obtaining new credit every month, but even Experian themselves state that a single hard search will not affect the score. So if OP has only obtained this one credit product and there is therefore only one hard search the score should not have been affected.

boo_star

Ben8282 wrote: »

Not strictly true. Only for those with bad credit and bad credit scores. My Experian 999 score has remained unchanged for years and does not drop when I obtain a new credit card and a balance appears on that account or when I, close an account etc. This is factually correct.
Of course I don't go round switching bank accounts and obtaining new credit every month, but even Experian themselves state that a single hard search will not affect the score. So if OP has only obtained this one credit product and there is therefore only one hard search the score should not have been affected.

I usually have a 999 score too but I don't think I've ever not had a temporary dip in score if basically anything changes on my file (account being closed, hard search, account being opened.)

Perhaps more evidence (if it was needed) that these scores are meaningless, there's no consistency in how peoples scores are calculated.

Willing2Learn

I do not think a CRA score is totally meaningless as any fluctuations up or down mean I have to double-check my credit file for data accuracy. In other words, the score itself is meaningless, although any significant changes in score means something has changed in the recorded data and needs to be checked.

Ben8282

In the context of the OP, it is difficult to understand how the simple act of taking out a single loan with one hard search could, in itself, have resulted in the drop from 963 to 505, meaningless score or not, which makes me wonder if we have been fully and correctly informed about the situation.

One problem is that we only ever get to see our own (and perhaps those of close family members) credit scores and files. If I could be provided with the scores and files of say 1000 people and compare them, I might be able to form a better opinion of how the scores compare to the information contained in the files and how the scores are calculated. But that is not going to happen.

Obviouslt the score cannot really be an indication of the iikelyhood of an individual being accepted for a specific credit product or being given a specific APR on a loan etc due, if for no other reason, to the fact thet the credit files lack very important information which will be considered in the application.

I have always believed that the score must have some meaning in the broad sense that the higher the score the lower the probability that the credit files will contain adverse information (ccj's, defaults, missed payments etc).

I don't subscribe to any of the credit score/credit report checking services. The only reason I am familiar with my Experian score and files is because I have access through a packaged bank account and like to have a look from time to time. I view the information in printable pdf format devoid of advertising, commentary and green ticks; probably similar to the way it would be presented to a lender. Honestly, the score has never changed since I first started looking at the files about 4 or 5 years ago. I have taken cash advances on a credit card, opened new credit card accounts and closed a credit card account in that time but there has never been the slightest change. However, every account shows status 0 for every reporting period, utilisation % is low and I do have some very old accounts (which are reported even though people say they shouldn't be because of their age) and this gives me a very impressive average account age. This does not however make me believe that I would automatically get anything that I applied for or automatically be given the best APR on a loan etc.

I wonder if the reason the score never changes is because Experian know that they have no chance whatsoever of getting any money out of me for a paid subscription and no chance of selling me any improvement products and therefore simply don't bother!

I suppose I could arrange for several hard searches and take out lots of credit all at once and see what happens to the score but I am really not inclined to do this.

We need to consider they type of individual that these credit scores are aimed at. The people who care about improving their scroes and subscribe to these services are, for the most part, individuals who are experiencing difficulty in obtaining credit. If you look at the advertising on television, the scores displayed on the phones are never 999! If you get a close up of the cards beinbg recommended they are the credit builder type, not high street bank cards or Amex platinum charge cards.

Obviously if an individual is experiencing difficulty in obtaining credit then they are going to like it when they are told of they are pre-approved for this or that and will go along with the idea of taking out credit builder card X to improve their score so that they will become eligible for something better.