01/12/2026
This is my own credit score, and it just dropped a whooping 23 points 😳
So what the heck happened❓
1) I had one credit inquiry (typically -3 points)
2) I exceeded 30% of the limit on one my cards (- 20 points). This is known as credit utilization and it has a big impact. Going over 30% will hurt your score, going over 50% will hurt a lot more.
Even though I've never missed any payments, and I pay everything off in full, this one time where I exceeded 30%, it dropped my score by 20 points overnight. I'll be fine, and my score will recover, but if someone has a borderline score and they're shopping for a mortgage, it could mean the difference between a prime lender, vs alternative lender. Or even alternative lender vs private lender. So it'll get expensive in a hurry.
There are strategies to help with this, and it's very important that you keep your scores up for your mortgage needs. And of course it goes without saying, you should be keeping an eye on your credit reports. Last year I caught a mistake on my name by Equifax.
Let me know if you have questions about credit scores and credit reports. To you it's boring, to me it's fun 😅
