Why Did My FICO® Score Decrease by 12 Points In One Month?

 

A Stable FICO® Score

I check my credit scores everytime I check my credit card balances. The scores are stable, fairly consistent and fluctuate a few points at most. The chart below is a clear illustration of that stability.

stable FICO® score
I usually have a consistent FICO® score as illustrated by the Transunion chart here
An Untypical FICO® Score Situation

So when I got a notification last month that my best score had dropped 12 points, I was shocked. The charts below mentions the 12 pt decrease in red.

stable fico® score
My credit score has decreased by 12 points. Why did it change so much?

Because I pay such careful attention to my score, I usually have a pretty good idea why it might change and by how much. As I mentioned, I usually have a fairly stable FICO® score. Therefore a decrease of 12 points was a red flag to me. Something was wrong. But I had no idea what it was. It was time to investigate.

Five FICO® Score Factors System

There are five or six main categories that go into determining a credit score. They are illustrated in the three examples below.

stable FICO® score
Five FICO® Score Factors
Six FICO® Score Factors System
stable FICO® score
Six FICO® factors
Primary Credit Factors

The wording may vary slightly and the scoring may as well. But it comes down to basically the same thing. Scoring may be based on a letter system like A, B, C, D or words like, Excellent, Good, Average, Below Average. In my case, my monthly grades have enough excellents that my score remains around 800 for these six categories:
• Payment history (On-time Payments)
• Credit Utilization (Credit Used)
• Age of Credit (Oldest Credit Line)
• Credit Inquiries (Recent Inquiries)(New Accounts)
• Total Accounts (Available Credit)
• Negative Marks

stable FICO® score
What Impacts Your Credit from Capital One
Searching for the FICO® Score Factor Red Flag

The above grades are good enough to rank me around an 800 FICO® score each month. Previous to last month, no action I took lowered my score by 12 points. But I knew that once I found what category was off and why this had happened, my decrease would be explained. In fact, what it was turned out to be kind of humorous.

The Solution Turned Out To Be in the Credit Utilization Category

On an average, I use between 1% and 2% of my credit utilization category. This means that if I have a $100,000 credit limit on all my credit cards, I only charge $1000 to $2000 dollar a month total. Two months ago, I had gotten a new promotional credit card. It offered a cash back reward of $200 if I charged $1,000 on it within three months. I was so excited about the cash reward that I charged the full amount within two months. That reflected a very unusual credit utilization percentage for me. It was much more than normal.

stable FICO® score
Credit Utilization Flagged

Glancing at the chart above, one can see that my normal credit utilization is 2%. But the new card that I purposely charged a large amount on had a credit utilization rate of 22%. Here’s the irony. In order to fulfill the requirements for the promotion, I charged much more in a month than normal. It did not significantly damage my credit. But it did throw both the credit rating company and me for a bit of a loop at first. I am sure that by next month everything will be back to normal since that kind of utilization is atypical for me. In addition, I will have a statement credit or a cash reward of $200. to ease the pain. Not a bad FICO® score lesson in my book!

Conclusion

I was fortunate in this case that nothing serious had happened to my credit. I did not need to contact any of the credit reporting agencies. They are Transunion®, Experian®, and Equifax®. If there is a situation that does not seem right and that you cannot figure out on your own, do not hesitate to call the particular credit card or one of the three agencies. We live in a time when we have easy access to these agencies and we should be careful as well as protect ourselves from errors and fraud.

stable FICO® score
Two published eBooks and a third on the way in the 3 eBook series about ‘The Former Middle Class’
Sources and Resources

Transunion®
Experian®
Equifax®
Using Credit Cards for Survival and Profit

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Using Cash Reward Credit Cards for Survival & Profit

 

Introduction

I’ve talked a lot about using cash reward credit cards, lately. It actually feels like I am living in a credit card world. In fact, this for two reasons. One is because I have wanted to learn everything I could about cash reward credit cards, credit scores and credit reports, too. The other reason, probably the most important one, is that cash reward credit cards have become one of my most essential survival tools.

cash reward credit cards
Alison D. Gilbert, The Credit Card Maven
The Credit Card Maven

As a result of my intense interest and need to know everything I can about credit cards, I’ve even created a Facebook page called The Credit Card Maven. This is where I post information as I have researched and sourced it. I have found a number of websites, blog posts, Facebook pages (listed here) and groups that are extremely helpful resources in my quest for knowledge as The Credit Card Maven in my credit card world. Included are:
Credit Card Mastery
Credit Karma
CreditCards.com
NerdWallet
Wallet Hacks
Wise Bread
 

cash reward credit cards
Viper Tool Storage Box Survival Toolkit as part of My Credit Card World
Credit Cards as a Survival Tool

As I mentioned at the start of this post, credit cards have become a survival tool in my credit cards world. It was not by design that this came to be.

It was more a matter of circumstances. Once I got a feel for how useful and profitable using credit cards could be, my desire to use them and master it increased. Let me give you an example.

I have had cash reward credit cards for a number of years. I can accumulate up to about $40. in a two month period from one of them. That was a good beginning. Then I decided to get a travel rewards card in anticipation of someday going to visit my family in Colorado. I used it and kept on accumulating points.

Credit Card Currency

When I went to check on the conversion to paying for an airplane ticket, the results were not impressive. I had to find something better. This time by design, I set out to find the best deal I could for air travel benefits using a credit card. I found one that I ultimately used for my flight. It rewarded me with 30,000 points and a $100. discount on my airplane ticket. This was such a great deal that I have enough points to return to Colorado for free, right now.

cash reward credit cards
Credit cards currency from 123RF.com
Now that’s what I call using credit cards as currency. If I could do that with a travel rewards credit card, I wondered what other benefits and rewards I could manifest in my credit cards world. I familiarized myself with a few other travel rewards cards as part of getting a second ticket for my husband and having funds for other things related to our vacation. All in all, my activities resulted in a savings of between $400 and $500 for our trip.

 

 

Credit Card Investing

Let me present one more situation where the skilled use of a credit card became very profitable. I found an offer for a cash rewards credit card that would refund $100 on spending $500 within 90 days of acquiring the card. That would be a 20% profit. I had never accomplished that in the stock market. It seemed like a very good investment to me. I wasn’t sure if I would be granted another card as I had accumulated quite a few by this point. But it came through. I fulfilled the requirements. Now I am just waiting for my investment to pay off.

cash reward credit cards
Credit Card Monthly Rotation represented by a photo from blog.taxact.com
Credit Card Monthly Rotation

I made another discovery. It may seem a bit confusing. In fact, I am kind of surprised that I am even able to do this. I am calling it credit card monthly rotation. It is based upon a combination of the nature of credit cards themselves and good credit card hygiene.

Each credit card has a closing date and a payment due date. Since I have several cash reward credit cards and they have different closing and payment dates, I can stagger them and not have to pay them at the same time. If I make my purchases and schedule my payments using my monthly rotation system, I have a revolving credit situation. In other words, if my budget in a particular month needs to be exceeded, I can use a card that has a closing date that will allow payment the following month. I just have to make sure the funds will be available then. I also have to have a very good bookkeeping system to keep track of every detail of every card.
 

cash reward credit cards
Brian Cain’s Credit Card Mastery Course
Credit Card Mastery

What is credit card mastery? Have I achieved it? It turns out that this term exists. I did not invent it as I thought I had. There is actually a course called Credit Card Mastery that costs $97. Much of it seems similar to my own system. Although I have not taken that course, it looks very comprehensive. This is an introduction to the course and an explanation of it by founder, Brian Cain.

Based upon my understanding and goals to achieve Credit Card Mastery, I believe that I am on my way but I have not achieved mastery yet. When will I achieve it? There are several requirements that I have established for myself:
• My credit scores average will be over 800 again. It is only about 10-20 points from that now.
• My monthly rotation system will have proven itself to work and I will have a sense of mastery in my credit card world
• My Credit Card Management Chart will be complete and committed to memory. As a result, I will have a firm grasp on all my cards and a natural flow for their use in rotation as needed.

Conclusion

To many people, understanding credit scores and reading credit reports are overwhelming and confusing. There is no need to not have transparency and clarity about your credit cards world. Credit cards are an important tool and can even be crucial for personal survival and business development. Study the resources provided. Take the Credit Card Mastery Course if you can. Having one’s finances in order and being able to live solvently in a credit card world are not luxuries. They are necessities and everyone deserves to have them.

cash reward credit cards
The Cool Piggy Bank property of The WalletHacks.com and the cover image of their facebook page
Sources & Resources

CreditCardMastery.com, a course developed by Brian Cain
CreditCards.com, find a credit card that’s right for you
CreditKarma.com, free credit scores and more
NerdWallet.com, Best Credit Cards of 2017
NextAdvisor.com, all about finances
WalletHacks.com, founded by Jim Wang
WiseBread.com, great blog post advice about credit cards and everyday frugal living

FICO SCORE AND CREDIT REPORTING AGENCIES
Equifax
Experian
Transunion
Identity Guard

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