86-year-old man wonders why his credit score dropped from 805 to 725: Money Matters (2024)

I discarded my monthly notices as long as my score remained unchanged.I was dismayed when my s core was lowered to 725 and tried to find out the reason for the change because I knew of no reason and thought perhaps that someone was running up big bills on my account. I tried to contact Discover or FICO but never got a reply.

It occurred to me that I should contact you because you might have an explanation for this mystery. I think it is very poor business practice.

K.F., Columbus

A: You could have a big problem. First, you should -- as quickly as possible -- get copies of your credit reports from all three of the major credit bureaus, Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. By federal law, you are entitled to one report per year from each of the three. To get your free credit report, go to annualcreditreport.comor call 1-877-322-8228. Yes, you will have to provide your Social Security number, as well as other personal information.

It's not normal that a person's score wouldstay in the 800 range for months or years and then suddenly drop to 725. While a 725 is still "A" credit, it's not walk-on-water A-plus-plus credit like an 805 score is.

You could have fraud going on. You could have had a bill that somehow you forgot to pay for months, like a Macy's or Kohl's account that you don't use that often. You could have had a lien or collection case mistakenly filed against you. Or you may have had a couple of credit accounts closed, if you weren't using them. This can reduce your credit score as well.

Also, think whether there's anything you might have done that could have caused this? Did you apply for several new credit cards in a short period of time? Did you close your home equity line with no balance while keeping credit card accounts with a balance? I'd be surprised if either of those caused an 80-point drop, but it's a starting point.

It wouldn't do you any good to contact Discover, unless that company had taken action against you.

Back in 2013, Discover was one of the first credit card companies to start providing customers with their own credit scores monthly at no charge. Barclaycard and First National Bank of Omaha joined in and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been pressuring banks for two years to follow suit and provide credit scores monthly at no charge. Thebankshave access to this information anyway. Why not share it with the person it's about?

In the last two years, most big banks, including Citi, Bank of America and Chase, started sharing customers' credit scores with them monthly forcompetitive reasons and as a goodwill gesture.

A credit score iskind of like your weight -- it's going to fluctuate a few points or pounds every day or week. No biggie. Seeing your credit score every month helps you realize what's affecting your financial health and helps you monitor a potential problem.

When you do get your credit reports, I encourage to sit down with your favorite beverage and look them over carefully. Pay close attention to your TransUnion report. That's what Discover generally uses to generate your FICO score. So if there's something on your TransUnion report that's not on the other two, or something on Equifax and Experian that's missing from TransUnion, then that could be the cause of your plunging credit score.