Experian (Credit Club) plummeted relative to others?!

baxterbasics

Hi.

I've been regularly tracking my scores in three CRAs for a while - Clearscore (Equifax), Credit Karma (Transunion) and MSE Credit club (Experian).

I understand that actual scores are like the bars on your wifi icon, ie meaningless, but I would think watching them move one way or the other gives an idea of direction of travel, yes?

Well I am confused because the Clearscore & Transunion have either improved or remained stable for months, whereas MSE CC took a dive recently into 'very poor' territory (from 714 to 543!) .

All three seem to have the correct data, I don't see any explanation for the sudden divergence.  Is there something different about how Credit Club calculates scores that might have led to this?  Recent changes have been a couple of 'hard searches' added and a rise in credit utilisation - but again, all three agencies have this noted, only Credit Club took a big dive.

Welcome any thoughts.

emmajones1976

baxterbasics said:

I understand that actual scores are like the bars on your wifi icon, ie meaningless

This is the answer to your question then.

[Deleted User]

baxterbasics said:

I understand that actual scores are like the bars on your wifi icon, ie meaningless, but I would think watching them move one way or the other gives an idea of direction of travel, yes?

No. 

Or rather, sometimes it will and sometimes it won't. Which isn't hugely helpful. 

But fortunately, you can view the actual data and make a far more accurate assessment yourself.

Ebe_Scrooge

Is the very fact that you're seeing this happen not proof itself that the scores are meaningless?

baxterbasics said:

Hi.

Recent changes have been a couple of 'hard searches' added and a rise in credit utilisation - but again, all three agencies have this noted, only Credit Club took a big dive.

My guess would be that Credit Club take a dim view of hard searches, and that they dislike your increased utilisation - but the other two don't care.  It's a good job that any lender will ignore your scores (actually, they can't see them anyway).  So long as the data is accurate, that's what matters when you apply for credit.

Utilisation is an interesting one - the CRAs do love to harp on about it, but so long as you're repaying your cards in full every month (which, as all good MSE-ers know, you really ought to be doing), then utilisation is immaterial.  It only becomes an issue if you're carrying a balance - which you really should avoid doing at all costs anyway, if you possibly can.

baxterbasics

Ebe_Scrooge said:

Is the very fact that you're seeing this happen not proof itself that the scores are meaningless?

baxterbasics said:

Hi.

Recent changes have been a couple of 'hard searches' added and a rise in credit utilisation - but again, all three agencies have this noted, only Credit Club took a big dive.

My guess would be that Credit Club take a dim view of hard searches, and that they dislike your increased utilisation - but the other two don't care.  It's a good job that any lender will ignore your scores (actually, they can't see them anyway).  So long as the data is accurate, that's what matters when you apply for credit.

Utilisation is an interesting one - the CRAs do love to harp on about it, but so long as you're repaying your cards in full every month (which, as all good MSE-ers know, you really ought to be doing), then utilisation is immaterial.  It only becomes an issue if you're carrying a balance - which you really should avoid doing at all costs anyway, if you possibly can.

Well I am carrying some balance, at 0% interest following a transfer,  my utilisation did rise from 20% to 35% of available credit - but I've just paid down half of that which is yet to feed through to the reports so will watch how they react with interest (and my monthly payments are significantly higher than minimum, the overall picture is improving regardless of what Experian think!)

Ebe_Scrooge

baxterbasics said:

Ebe_Scrooge said:

Is the very fact that you're seeing this happen not proof itself that the scores are meaningless?

baxterbasics said:

Hi.

Recent changes have been a couple of 'hard searches' added and a rise in credit utilisation - but again, all three agencies have this noted, only Credit Club took a big dive.

My guess would be that Credit Club take a dim view of hard searches, and that they dislike your increased utilisation - but the other two don't care.  It's a good job that any lender will ignore your scores (actually, they can't see them anyway).  So long as the data is accurate, that's what matters when you apply for credit.

Utilisation is an interesting one - the CRAs do love to harp on about it, but so long as you're repaying your cards in full every month (which, as all good MSE-ers know, you really ought to be doing), then utilisation is immaterial.  It only becomes an issue if you're carrying a balance - which you really should avoid doing at all costs anyway, if you possibly can.

Well I am carrying some balance, at 0% interest following a transfer,  my utilisation did rise from 20% to 35% of available credit - but I've just paid down half of that which is yet to feed through to the reports so will watch how they react with interest (and my monthly payments are significantly higher than minimum, the overall picture is improving regardless of what Experian think!)

Ah right - I should perhaps have given the caveat that promotional deals are excluded from the "don't carry a balance" mantra.  A promotional deal will be marked as such on your file, so a lender will be expecting you to carry a balance in that scenario.  Just make sure you clear it when the promo expires :-)