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I live in the USA.

I was a member of a small credit union which has merged with a much larger one. I kept a credit card with the small credit union because my interest rate was only 5.75%

When the credit unions merged, my credit card was closed from the original institution and a new one opened by the new institution and my balance transferred.

My limit is $2,000 of which a $1,200 balance was transferred. My questions is, is it reasonable that my credit score dropped 30 points from 779 to 749 from the closure of a card and a balance transfer not of my doing? I am thinking that my score will go back up soon, I do pay it off quickly.

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    How does this affect your life? Why does this matter?
    – Pete B.
    Jan 8, 2019 at 15:38
  • How long was it at 779 prior to the change? How long have you been carrying the balance?
    – TTT
    Jan 8, 2019 at 16:22
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    @PeteB. Even if it doesn't matter, it still may be interesting to understand why the transfer caused the change. (And even if the transfer caused it at all!)
    – TTT
    Jan 8, 2019 at 16:24
  • The transfer was the only thing to show on my report. I'm a fairly stable person, meaning I don't make many purchases and when I do they are long term, furniture, remodeling, etc. Does it affect my life right now...no
    – MCP_infiltrator
    Jan 8, 2019 at 16:40
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    Are you looking at the same score? Or did you previously have a score provided free by the credit union, and now a score provided by the bank, and they are 30 points different?
    – Ben Voigt
    Jan 10, 2019 at 3:15

2 Answers 2

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We don't have an exact formula for how scores are calculated. However, the age of your accounts has a moderate impact on your score.

Pull a report and see if it really shows two accounts with one of them having recently been closed. If that is the case, then your 'new' card would have diluted the average age of your accounts. This is especially true if your history is short or if you have only a few accounts.

Also, double check to make sure there wasn't a hard pull from the new institution.

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  • The closure does not show, I'm guessing maybe this is a one month dip and in a month it will go back to normal, it shows I have had the card with them for the full term.
    – MCP_infiltrator
    Jan 8, 2019 at 16:01
  • Do you see only a single entry for the card with its entire history? It is in the name of the old or new bank?
    – Brian R
    Jan 8, 2019 at 16:37
  • single entry, with new credit union name
    – MCP_infiltrator
    Jan 8, 2019 at 17:32
  • Hmm well it sounds like they properly assumed the account. If that's the case, it should not have had an impact at all on your score. If you had a tool like CreditKarma tracking your score, it should be able to indicate what may have changed on your report.
    – Brian R
    Jan 8, 2019 at 17:47
  • CreditKarma is how I found out about it - I check it weekly
    – MCP_infiltrator
    Jan 8, 2019 at 18:11
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Even know we can't be 100% sure of how credit scores work. Yes it is possible for the credit score to drop a bit when a credit card is closed/cancelled or even when a loan is totally paid (so closed). The thing here is that you are financially stable, so my guess is that the credit-unions assumed/counted it as if you had close your credit card account by yourself. It would not be the first time someone's credit score dropped a bit by closing an account (credit card). Your score will probably go back to what it was in a few months.

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