Money Saving Monday: Credit score surprises and quick fixes from financial experts

SPOKANE, Wash. — You’re ready to buy that new car or finally get a mortgage, so you check your credit score. Then comes the surprise, it’s way lower than you thought.

Don’t panic. You’re not alone.

Mike Whipple, a branch manager with Numerica Credit Union, sees this all the time. Most people don’t even know their score dropped until they apply for credit.

“They get that real big shock of oh my gosh this is way lower than what I had expected or what I had thought,” Whipple said.

Start by digging into your credit history.

“The biggest thing that you can do is go ahead and check your account history and your credit cards,” he said.

First, look for mistakes or fraud on your credit report. You can dispute errors for free, which might fix your score right away.

But often, there’s a real reason your score dropped. Whipple says the issues are pretty predictable.

“If you’re applying for credit and those credit pulls or if you’re balancing the balances, get too high on your credit cards, or if they go into the delinquent status, which is normally about 30 days late,” he explained.

Emergency expenses can also hurt your score, even when you’re making payments on time.

“Let’s say you have a $5,000 credit card. A big emergency comes up for medical emergency, and you have to pay $4,500 and you’re making that minimum payment. Your balance is barely starting to go down with those minimum payments. You’re still going to have a relatively high credit utilization score, and that is going to play a factor into having that negative impact on your credit,” Whipple said.

Small drops are often temporary. How long it takes to recover depends on what caused the problem.

Want to keep tabs on your score without hurting it? Whipple recommends the official Annual Credit Report site.

“Annual credit report is great. You can pull your credit there for free. One time of year is not going to have an impact on your credit,” he said.

You can also use monthly services like Credit Karma to watch your score bounce back.

Recovery time varies. “If it’s one late payment that can start rebounding maybe in six months. But if it’s a bigger thing, maybe like a repossession that can take quite a bit longer to be able to have a greater impact on your credit score,” Whipple noted.