Experian huge credit score drop

Ladypopkins

Hello,

I am looking for some advice and would be very grateful for any words of wisdom. My credit score with experian has dropped over 80 points this month, I have no missed payments but I do now have a credit card that I pay off in full and stay under 20% threshold. Is it likely to be due to this? I am hoping that I can re-build this as I had a huge knock back due to a ccj  I wasnt aware of late year (long story but it shows as satisfied oncredit files including trans Union and equifax) I payed that off as soon as I found out (went to the wrong address) now I am facing the negative repercussions of that and trying to set judgement aside (any advice on that would be amazing). I am trying not to obsess over my credit scores but it is stressing me out quite a bit.

Thanks again

Ebe_Scrooge

Your score is irrelevant - no lender uses it, nor even sees it.  You say "I do now have a credit card that I pay off in full and stay under 20% threshold" - am I right in assuming that you've recently acquired this card?  If so, that'll be the reason for the drop in your score - the score dished out by Experian drops in response to any change in your credit status, whether good or bad, and creeps up over a period of stability.  But it has absolutely no bearing on how a lender views you - they look purely at the data contained within your file, nothing else.  If you're using the card regularly and always pay it off in full every month, then you're doing the right thing - this will, over time, build up a positive history which is what you want.  You don't even need to worry about staying "under 20% threshold" - provided you don't go over your limit, and you're always paying in full, the percentage usage doesn't matter.

The CCJ will appear on your file, and will be taken into consideration by any future lender.  What impact it has will differ depending on how a particular lender views it - one lender may not worry too much about it, another may not touch you with a barge pole.  Each lender has different lending criteria, and assigns different weightings to various factors.  These lending criteria are different for each lender, confidential and commercially sensitive, so you have no way of knowing what matters to a particular lender.  But the effect of a CCJ (or any negative marker) will diminish over time, especially if you carry on adding positive history (for example, by regular use and repayment of a credit card)

DCFC79

Ladypopkins said:

Hello,

I am looking for some advice and would be very grateful for any words of wisdom. My credit score with experian has dropped over 80 points this month, I have no missed payments but I do now have a credit card that I pay off in full and stay under 20% threshold. Is it likely to be due to this? I am hoping that I can re-build this as I had a huge knock back due to a ccj  I wasnt aware of late year (long story but it shows as satisfied oncredit files including trans Union and equifax) I payed that off as soon as I found out (went to the wrong address) now I am facing the negative repercussions of that and trying to set judgement aside (any advice on that would be amazing). I am trying not to obsess over my credit scores but it is stressing me out quite a bit.

Thanks again

No need to stress about a score only you can see.
My score went down as Id moved to a new property.

Re the CCJ I couldm e wrong but I dont think you can go for a set aside if you have already paid it, with you paying it you have admitted it was yours.
On what basis would you go for a set aside ?

Ladypopkins

DCFC79 said:

Ladypopkins said:

Hello,

I am looking for some advice and would be very grateful for any words of wisdom. My credit score with experian has dropped over 80 points this month, I have no missed payments but I do now have a credit card that I pay off in full and stay under 20% threshold. Is it likely to be due to this? I am hoping that I can re-build this as I had a huge knock back due to a ccj  I wasnt aware of late year (long story but it shows as satisfied oncredit files including trans Union and equifax) I payed that off as soon as I found out (went to the wrong address) now I am facing the negative repercussions of that and trying to set judgement aside (any advice on that would be amazing). I am trying not to obsess over my credit scores but it is stressing me out quite a bit.

Thanks again

No need to stress about a score only you can see.
My score went down as Id moved to a new property.

Re the CCJ I couldm e wrong but I dont think you can go for a set aside if you have already paid it, with you paying it you have admitted it was yours.
On what basis would you go for a set aside ?

Thank you ever so much for your responses.

Regarding to set judgement aside it is a little complicated but long story short, I found out I had a ccj in June last year (only £300 so not massive but still a ccj) I only found out because I noticed something on my credit file, I found out it was a ccj through a debt advisor that was put on me in April last year. I moved house in 2018 and wasn't aware that anyone was chasing me for any payment. I payed in full and found out that they had my old address on file. A year later (this April) after having a difficult time mentally with the stress of it effecting my credit score (which I am thankful the feedback I am getting is to not worry about this but focus on my report itself). I contacted County Court to see if there was anything that I could do, they advised to set judgement aside as if I had known that I had a ccj when it was placed on me, I would have paid immediatly and then it wouldn't be on my file.

Ladypopkins

Ebe_Scrooge said:

Your score is irrelevant - no lender uses it, nor even sees it.  You say "I do now have a credit card that I pay off in full and stay under 20% threshold" - am I right in assuming that you've recently acquired this card?  If so, that'll be the reason for the drop in your score - the score dished out by Experian drops in response to any change in your credit status, whether good or bad, and creeps up over a period of stability.  But it has absolutely no bearing on how a lender views you - they look purely at the data contained within your file, nothing else.  If you're using the card regularly and always pay it off in full every month, then you're doing the right thing - this will, over time, build up a positive history which is what you want.  You don't even need to worry about staying "under 20% threshold" - provided you don't go over your limit, and you're always paying in full, the percentage usage doesn't matter.

The CCJ will appear on your file, and will be taken into consideration by any future lender.  What impact it has will differ depending on how a particular lender views it - one lender may not worry too much about it, another may not touch you with a barge pole.  Each lender has different lending criteria, and assigns different weightings to various factors.  These lending criteria are different for each lender, confidential and commercially sensitive, so you have no way of knowing what matters to a particular lender.  But the effect of a CCJ (or any negative marker) will diminish over time, especially if you carry on adding positive history (for example, by regular use and repayment of a credit card)

Thank you ever so much for your advice. I had opened the credit card in February this year so maybe there has been some sort of delay. In the first month, I was paying the card off ASAP rather than at the end of the month all together so I didn't realise at the time until speaking to the credit card company that they gather the information of what you have borrowed from the card at the end of the month.

Hope that makes sense. Thanks again

DCFC79

Ladypopkins said:

DCFC79 said:

Ladypopkins said:

Hello,

I am looking for some advice and would be very grateful for any words of wisdom. My credit score with experian has dropped over 80 points this month, I have no missed payments but I do now have a credit card that I pay off in full and stay under 20% threshold. Is it likely to be due to this? I am hoping that I can re-build this as I had a huge knock back due to a ccj  I wasnt aware of late year (long story but it shows as satisfied oncredit files including trans Union and equifax) I payed that off as soon as I found out (went to the wrong address) now I am facing the negative repercussions of that and trying to set judgement aside (any advice on that would be amazing). I am trying not to obsess over my credit scores but it is stressing me out quite a bit.

Thanks again

No need to stress about a score only you can see.
My score went down as Id moved to a new property.

Re the CCJ I couldm e wrong but I dont think you can go for a set aside if you have already paid it, with you paying it you have admitted it was yours.
On what basis would you go for a set aside ?

Thank you ever so much for your responses.

Regarding to set judgement aside it is a little complicated but long story short, I found out I had a ccj in June last year (only £300 so not massive but still a ccj) I only found out because I noticed something on my credit file, I found out it was a ccj through a debt advisor that was put on me in April last year. I moved house in 2018 and wasn't aware that anyone was chasing me for any payment. I payed in full and found out that they had my old address on file. A year later (this April) after having a difficult time mentally with the stress of it effecting my credit score (which I am thankful the feedback I am getting is to not worry about this but focus on my report itself). I contacted County Court to see if there was anything that I could do, they advised to set judgement aside as if I had known that I had a ccj when it was placed on me, I would have paid immediatly and then it wouldn't be on my file.

Apologies if I was a little harsh with my earlier reply.
 Like I saw I could be wrong, if you can get it set aside then you could be in luck.

Maybe speak to stepchange re the ccj, see what they say.

DCFC79

Ladypopkins said:

Ebe_Scrooge said:

Your score is irrelevant - no lender uses it, nor even sees it.  You say "I do now have a credit card that I pay off in full and stay under 20% threshold" - am I right in assuming that you've recently acquired this card?  If so, that'll be the reason for the drop in your score - the score dished out by Experian drops in response to any change in your credit status, whether good or bad, and creeps up over a period of stability.  But it has absolutely no bearing on how a lender views you - they look purely at the data contained within your file, nothing else.  If you're using the card regularly and always pay it off in full every month, then you're doing the right thing - this will, over time, build up a positive history which is what you want.  You don't even need to worry about staying "under 20% threshold" - provided you don't go over your limit, and you're always paying in full, the percentage usage doesn't matter.

The CCJ will appear on your file, and will be taken into consideration by any future lender.  What impact it has will differ depending on how a particular lender views it - one lender may not worry too much about it, another may not touch you with a barge pole.  Each lender has different lending criteria, and assigns different weightings to various factors.  These lending criteria are different for each lender, confidential and commercially sensitive, so you have no way of knowing what matters to a particular lender.  But the effect of a CCJ (or any negative marker) will diminish over time, especially if you carry on adding positive history (for example, by regular use and repayment of a credit card)

Thank you ever so much for your advice. I had opened the credit card in February this year so maybe there has been some sort of delay. In the first month, I was paying the card off ASAP rather than at the end of the month all together so I didn't realise at the time until speaking to the credit card company that they gather the information of what you have borrowed from the card at the end of the month.

Hope that makes sense. Thanks again

Just set up a direct debit for the card, just remember to only use it for what you can afford.

Ebe_Scrooge

Ladypopkins said:

Thank you ever so much for your advice. I had opened the credit card in February this year so maybe there has been some sort of delay. In the first month, I was paying the card off ASAP rather than at the end of the month all together so I didn't realise at the time until speaking to the credit card company that they gather the information of what you have borrowed from the card at the end of the month.

Hope that makes sense. Thanks again

That makes sense.  Lenders don't always report to the CRA immediately.  Most lenders tend to report on a monthly basis, but that's by no means guaranteed, and in the current climate with reduced staffing levels etc., there can be delays.  All of which is nothing to worry about.

In terms of using a card to build up a favourable credit history - yes, you need to wait for the statement to arrive, then pay in full before the "payment due" date ( which is usually about a couple of weeks after the statement is produced).  If you clear the balance before the statement is produced, the statement will show a zero balance.  Nothing wrong with that as such, but it looks (on your credit file) like you're not using the card, so you lose the benefit of building up a good history.  And the advice is always to set up a Direct Debit to pay the balance in full every month - that way, there's no danger of you forgetting to pay it, or missing it if you're away on holiday or whatever.

Ladypopkins

DCFC79 said:

Ladypopkins said:

DCFC79 said:

Ladypopkins said:

Hello,

I am looking for some advice and would be very grateful for any words of wisdom. My credit score with experian has dropped over 80 points this month, I have no missed payments but I do now have a credit card that I pay off in full and stay under 20% threshold. Is it likely to be due to this? I am hoping that I can re-build this as I had a huge knock back due to a ccj  I wasnt aware of late year (long story but it shows as satisfied oncredit files including trans Union and equifax) I payed that off as soon as I found out (went to the wrong address) now I am facing the negative repercussions of that and trying to set judgement aside (any advice on that would be amazing). I am trying not to obsess over my credit scores but it is stressing me out quite a bit.

Thanks again

No need to stress about a score only you can see.
My score went down as Id moved to a new property.

Re the CCJ I couldm e wrong but I dont think you can go for a set aside if you have already paid it, with you paying it you have admitted it was yours.
On what basis would you go for a set aside ?

Thank you ever so much for your responses.

Regarding to set judgement aside it is a little complicated but long story short, I found out I had a ccj in June last year (only £300 so not massive but still a ccj) I only found out because I noticed something on my credit file, I found out it was a ccj through a debt advisor that was put on me in April last year. I moved house in 2018 and wasn't aware that anyone was chasing me for any payment. I payed in full and found out that they had my old address on file. A year later (this April) after having a difficult time mentally with the stress of it effecting my credit score (which I am thankful the feedback I am getting is to not worry about this but focus on my report itself). I contacted County Court to see if there was anything that I could do, they advised to set judgement aside as if I had known that I had a ccj when it was placed on me, I would have paid immediatly and then it wouldn't be on my file.

Apologies if I was a little harsh with my earlier reply.
 Like I saw I could be wrong, if you can get it set aside then you could be in luck.

Maybe speak to stepchange re the ccj, see what they say.

No need to apologise

Thank you ever so much for your help

Ladypopkins

Ebe_Scrooge said:

Ladypopkins said:

Thank you ever so much for your advice. I had opened the credit card in February this year so maybe there has been some sort of delay. In the first month, I was paying the card off ASAP rather than at the end of the month all together so I didn't realise at the time until speaking to the credit card company that they gather the information of what you have borrowed from the card at the end of the month.

Hope that makes sense. Thanks again

That makes sense.  Lenders don't always report to the CRA immediately.  Most lenders tend to report on a monthly basis, but that's by no means guaranteed, and in the current climate with reduced staffing levels etc., there can be delays.  All of which is nothing to worry about.

In terms of using a card to build up a favourable credit history - yes, you need to wait for the statement to arrive, then pay in full before the "payment due" date ( which is usually about a couple of weeks after the statement is produced).  If you clear the balance before the statement is produced, the statement will show a zero balance.  Nothing wrong with that as such, but it looks (on your credit file) like you're not using the card, so you lose the benefit of building up a good history.  And the advice is always to set up a Direct Debit to pay the balance in full every month - that way, there's no danger of you forgetting to pay it, or missing it if you're away on holiday or whatever.

That's super, thank you very much. I have set up a DD for 1st of every month to pay in full and the statements are from 9th-9th so I should hopefully think that within time, it will build a credit history. 🤞🏻

Ebe_Scrooge

Ladypopkins said:

That's super, thank you very much. I have set up a DD for 1st of every month to pay in full and the statements are from 9th-9th so I should hopefully think that within time, it will build a credit history. 🤞🏻

Just check the date of your DD.  Usually the card company will dictate what date the DD comes out, as it depends on the billing cycle - though they will of course advise you of the date that it's due.  If you find that the date they specify is inconvenient (maybe you want the DD to come out straight after payday), most card companies will let you change the statement date if you give them a quick call.