Ask Liz Weston

Get smart with your money

Credit Scoring

Q&A: When paying debt hurts credit score

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Dear Liz: You recently answered someone whose credit scores dropped more than 30 points after they paid off a mortgage. You mentioned that the big drop was probably because the mortgage was the person’s only installment loan. Credit scores like to see active use of both types of credit, installment loans and credit cards. Because this person’s scores were so high, they almost certainly were still actively using credit cards. But you should remind people that if they stop using credit, eventually they won’t have any credit scores at all.

Answer: Consider them reminded. There’s no need to carry balances; just using credit cards regularly is enough.

A few other readers wrote in suggesting the letter writer get a personal loan as a way of increasing their scores. Although personal loans can be a great help to people building credit, there’s really no point in increasing scores once they’re above about 760 on a 300-to-850 scale. Higher scores only get you bragging rights, and it would be a little silly to pay a lender unnecessary interest to get those.

Q&A: Weekly free credit reports

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Dear Liz: In a recent column, you wrote that credit reports are now available weekly from AnnualCreditReport.com. Most people understand that they are entitled to a free credit report once a year via that site. Please explain what is meant by “now available weekly?” By signing up for a paid service from one or more of the credit reporting agencies, or for free, or what?

Answer: AnnualCreditReport.com was created to provide free annual reports, but now you can get your free reports every week.

If you navigate to AnnualCreditReport.com, you’ll see an announcement from the three credit bureaus that the site will provide free credit reports weekly until April 2021.

Free means free. You don’t have to pay or provide credit card information, although the bureaus may try to sell you credit monitoring or other services.

Q&A: When credit scores take a pandemic dive, how to figure out what caused it

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Dear Liz: My VantageScores as reported by TransUnion were in the 780 to 790 range until around February, when they all dropped 40 points for no discernible reason. My FICO 8 and 9 credit scores remained unchanged around 760 and still continue to increase. What would cause that?

Answer: VantageScores tend to react more than FICO scores when you apply for new credit, but 40 points is a pretty big drop. The other usual culprit when good scores fall is higher credit utilization, or using more of your available credit, but typically your FICO scores would have dropped as well.

Most credit monitoring services will offer you some kind of explanation for why your scores changed, so that would be the first place to look for clues. You also should check your credit reports, which are now available weekly from AnnualCreditReport.com.

Q&A: The bottom line on getting your credit scores in better shape

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Dear Liz: I want to write a letter of explanation to be included on my credit reports to explain a negative posting. How much impact will the letter have on my credit scores?

Answer: Credit scoring formulas can’t read, so letters of explanation won’t help your scores.

You do have a federal right to demand the credit bureaus include your explanation, which is also known as a consumer statement, in your credit reports. Theoretically, the statement could help a lender understand why you have the negative mark — but only if a human being actually examines your credit report and uses the information in evaluating your creditworthiness.

Because lending is largely automated, however, there’s no guarantee your statement will be read, let alone factored into a lending decision. Many of the other details of your credit report are converted to standardized codes used to calculate credit scores, but not consumer statements.

If the negative information in your reports isn’t accurate, you can dispute it with the credit bureaus. If the information is accurate, you can work to offset the effect on your scores.

Paying your credit accounts on time, all the time, will help rebuild credit. So will using less than 10% of your limits on credit cards.

If you don’t have a credit card, consider getting a secured card — where the credit limit typically is equal to the amount you deposit with the issuing bank. Credit builder loans, available at many credit unions, also can help add positive information to your credit reports.

Don’t close accounts, because that could hurt your scores and won’t get rid of any associated negative information.

People with only a few credit accounts also can help their scores by being added as an authorized user to a responsible person’s credit card. The responsible person doesn’t need to grant access to the actual card. Before taking this step, though, ask the credit card issuer whether authorized user information will be imported to your credit reports because issuers’ policies vary.

Q&A: Helping a son with horrible credit scores

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Dear Liz: My 33-year-old son has horrible credit scores. If I added his name to my credit card, would it have a positive effect on his score without any negative ramifications to mine? Could any of his creditors come after me?

Answer: Adding someone to your credit card as an authorized user can have a positive effect on their credit scores without negatively affecting your own or obligating you to pay their other debts. You would be responsible for any debt your authorized user incurred on the card.

In your son’s case, though, being added as an authorized user probably won’t help much.

When someone has fallen behind on their bills, the effect on their scores depends on three main factors: recency (how recently did a late payment occur?), severity (how far behind are they — 30 days, 60 days, 90 days or more?) and frequency (how many accounts have late payments?).

One skipped payment can knock 100 points or more off good scores but won’t result in “horrible” credit. Truly bad credit typically requires someone to be well behind on a number of accounts in the recent past. The fact that you’re worried about his creditors indicates that he may not have resolved his financial problems enough to start rebuilding his credit.

What he should do now depends on his circumstances.

If he still has a job, he may be able to arrange a payment plan or settle debts with collectors. If his income has dropped or he’s otherwise unable to pay, he may need to consider bankruptcy.

Once his past debts are resolved — either paid, settled or legally erased — he can take steps to improve his credit, one of which could include being added to your card. A credit builder loan, offered by many credit unions, also could help, as could a secured credit card, which requires a deposit.

It’s crucial that he be able to make all his payments on time, however. If he falls behind again, he’ll offset any progress that’s been made.

Q&A: I get different credit scores from my bank and card companies. What gives?

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Dear Liz: I have three financial providers that supply regular, free credit scores: my bank and two credit card issuers. My credit score from the bank is always a “perfect score” while the two card companies are consistently 17 points lower, both exactly the same for two years now. I always pay off most or all of the outstanding balance on time or early. Any clue as to why there is this consistent difference?

Answer: The companies probably are using different credit scoring formulas or different credit bureaus, or both.

You don’t have one credit score. You have many. FICO is the dominant scoring formula, but lenders also use VantageScores and the credit bureaus sometimes provide their own, proprietary scores.

The formulas have been updated over the years. The FICO 8 is the most commonly used score, but the FICO 9 is the latest version and FICO 10 will be introduced this summer. Some scoring formulas are modified to suit different industries, such as auto lending or credit cards, plus each score is calculated from data at one of the three credit bureaus.

So one institution may provide its customers a FICO Score 9 from Experian, another might offer a FICO 8 Bankcard score from Equifax and a third might give you a VantageScore 3.0 from TransUnion. Even if all three were using the same type of score, they probably would use different credit bureaus, or vice versa. To make things even more confusing, your credit scores are constantly changing as your credit bureau information changes.

Furthermore, you typically can’t predict which score or scores a lender will use to evaluate your application for credit. Rather than worry about which number is “right” — they all are — use the free scores as a general indicator of your credit health.