Very unfair credit score movement!!

DavyF

I hate having to use a credit card, but when I do I try my best to pay it 'IN FULL'    My credit score is normally in the 'good' bracket, I think it's around 670.  My wife is going on a cruise in a couple of months and for security I paid for it with my Santander credit card, which has a limit of £1800, so I paid £1700 with my card, before the end of the month I paid the card off 'IN FULL'.  A couple of weeks later I received an email from Money Supermarket with the heading 'Your Credit Score Has Been Updated'  I thought happy days my score will have gone up, but when I checked my score had dropped, by 28 points, the reason I was given was because I had gone close to my limit, despite having paid it off within the month!!   How unfair is that.... 

BoGoF

Read the pinned post at the top. Your 'score' means absolutely nothing. Only you see it so ignore it.

sourcrates

Please read the stickie thread at the top of this forum.

What your Credit Score really means - Please read first before posting about a credit score issue. — MoneySavingExpert Forum

cymruchris

Don't panic. Let your wife enjoy her cruise. Don't look at the score. It's a marketing tool. It moved to try and make you panic, and it has. Lenders only look at overall history, they don't look at magic made up numbers. Pay the card down as and when you can, and the magic number will go back up again. When the sun shines on the third Tuesday in August, it'll go down again. When Doris burns the toast on a cold October morning, it'll go up again.

borderline

I will never understand this credit scores. I always pay my cards in full, I have no debts, I have applied for a new credit card and my score went down from excellent to good. 

cymruchris

borderline said:

I will never understand this credit scores. I always pay my cards in full, I have no debts, I have applied for a new credit card and my score went down from excellent to good. 

You don't have to understand it - if there's a change to anything in your history, new card, card closed, balance jumps up, balance jumps down - the magic number will swerve in either direction. Don't look at the number - focus on building good history. Pay on time. If you can, pay in full. If you can't, pay as much as you can, over the minimum. Try not to keep a running high balance for months on end, unless it's on a promo deal like a 0 percent transfer. Don't apply for 20 credit cards in the space of a week. Be sensible. That kind of thing.

eskbanker

borderline said:

I will never understand this credit scores. I always pay my cards in full, I have no debts, I have applied for a new credit card and my score went down from excellent to good. 

As above, the 'score' is just made up, but if you've increased the total amount of credit that you have access to, then that is information that's useful and relevant to institutions looking at your credit files, and even if the application was rejected, the mere fact that you were trying to get more credit can be of interest.

Hoenir

borderline said:

I will never understand this credit scores. I always pay my cards in full, I have no debts, I have applied for a new credit card and my score went down from excellent to good. 

From a lenders perspective as that's actually the purpose of the data.  You've obtained a further line of credit.  The potential amount you could default on has increased. No one knows your precise financial  circumstances on a day to day basis except you.