Credit Karma Faqs - Why did my credit score drop?

It's never a fun surprise to find out that your credit score dropped and, unfortunately, you can't always fix it right away, but you can sometimes figure out what caused it. Score drops usually break down into three categories: things you did, things you didn't do or things someone else did. Here's some of the most common reasons for score drops. You closed an account either by paying off a loan or closing a credit card. Your credit history and available credit will change as a result. You opened or tried to open a new account. Inquiries and new accounts will ding your score too. You're spending more or paying off less. Your balances are reported to the bureaus just once a month. If your credit utilization is higher than normal one month your score might have dropped. If you missed a payment that might have done it too. There's a new derogatory mark on your credit history. Collections, tax liens, defaults - all of these can do a number on your credit score. And, of course, there could be a new mistake on your credit report. The best way to figure out what's going on is to pull your full credit reports for free from AnnualCreditReport.com. If there's something wrong in your report dispute it and your score should improve. A lot of things impact your score so don't be too concerned about small drops over short periods of time and if you want to monitor for changes in your credit report that could influence your credit score enroll in Credit Karma's free credit monitoring and keep an eye on your credit notifications because this can help you pinpoint the reason for credit score changes. Continue practicing healthy financial habits and your scores will recover.