Credit Score

Dear Liz: I sold my house, paid off my mortgage and then got a new mortgage for another home in 2021. When I applied for the new mortgage, my credit score was 830. After buying the home, my score dropped to the low 700s. It’s gone up only 2 points in seven months. I have no other debt. What’s going on?

Answer: Remember, you don’t have one credit score, you have many. When you applied for a mortgage, you typically would be shown three older-generation FICO scores — one from each of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). Your interest rate would have been based on the middle number. If your scores were 840, 830 and 700, for example, your rate would be based on 830. Any score over 740 typically gets the best rate and terms on a mortgage, all else being equal.

The score you’re monitoring now was probably created from a different scoring model. If the score is a FICO score, it probably was created from an updated formula such as FICO 8 or FICO 9. It’s also possible that you’re viewing a VantageScore 3.0 or 4.0. VantageScore is a FICO competitor.

If you’ve been monitoring the same score all along and it actually dropped 100 points since your application, then something else is going on. Please check your credit reports from all three bureaus and look for a skipped payment, a collection or some other serious problem.

Dear Liz: I am 36 with a 535 credit score and about to move back to the U.S. from Colombia with my future wife. I’d like to increase my score by 100 or 200 points within eight to 12 months. Is it possible?

Answer: Increasing your credit scores to the mid-600s within a year or so is probably a reasonable goal.

Most consumer credit scores are on a 300-to-850 range. The higher your scores, the easier it will be to get approved for loans and credit cards, plus you’ll be offered better rates and terms.

What’s considered a good or bad score depends on the lender and the scoring formula. In general, scores below 630 or so are considered bad while scores in the mid-600s are usually considered “fair.” Good scores typically begin around 690.

Consider a credit builder loan from a credit union or online lender. The money you borrow is placed in a certificate of deposit or a savings account for you to claim after you’ve made 12 on-time payments. You’ll pay interest to the lender but be building your savings at the same time.

Secured credit cards are another way to build credit. You deposit a certain amount with the issuing bank, often $200 to $2,000, and get a credit line in the same amount. If you use the charge lightly and pay it off in full each month, you can build credit without paying interest.

Dear Liz: I know there are different factors involved, but I find a recent upsurge in my FICO score inexplicable. My score went from about 740 to 815, according to a note in my most recent credit card statement. Yet I’ve done virtually nothing in the way of major credit activity — no purchases, no change in my already-low credit card use. I transferred about $800 from one card to another, and that’s it. If such small matters can affect the FICO score, it makes that score seem ridiculous. Can you offer any possible explanations?

Answer: Credit scoring formulas are a bit of a black box, but they are sensitive to how much of your available credit you’re using.

If you transferred the balance from a card with a very low credit limit to one with a higher limit, your scores typically would improve — although perhaps not as dramatically as the increase you’re describing.

Your scores might also improve if your balances dropped on other accounts or something that was negatively impacting your credit “fell off” or stopped being reported. The simple passage of time can improve your scores, as well, increasing the age of your credit accounts and the time since your last application for credit.

It’s impossible to say exactly what combination of factors may have affected the score you saw, but at least it moved in the right direction.