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Unexpected 78-point credit score drop after opening charge card

💸 moneyproduct problemSingle report ●●●●● severity 4/5

A credit card user reports that their credit score dropped 78 points after opening an American Express Gold charge card, despite having a thin credit file and no other negative factors like late payments or high utilization, and the score has failed to recover after one year.

Who's affected: A consumer with a limited credit history (5 total cards) planning to apply for a mortgage.

⚠️ Single report. This is one person's account. We mark it so until more voices confirm it.

What people do today

🔧 Fix this

Ideas a builder, maker or community group could start on:

  1. A credit simulation tool that specifically models how charge cards with no pre-set spending limits impact different credit scoring algorithms compared to traditional revolving credit cards.
  2. A specialized credit counseling service that helps users with thin files understand the specific impact of 'charge card' reporting on FICO vs. VantageScore models.
  3. A browser-based dashboard that aggregates credit report data to highlight specific 'reason codes' provided by bureaus that explain significant score fluctuations.
I want to build this

Real voices

“For whatever reason when I added the gold card my scores dropped 78 points. It’s been over a year since then and they haven’t recovered”

Source: Stack Exchange (money) · CC BY-SA 4.0, user-contributed content from Stack Exchange; summarized and modified

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