Does a new mortgage lower your score?

[Asher Anthes]

I just bought my first house in may of this year. When I closed my loan my scores were around 700. The mortgage just appeared on my credit report last month and my scores today were in the 660's - 680's. I figured my scores would have been going up since I have paying everything on time.

Also, do high balances on student loans lower my score? I'm making all my payments on time, but maybe I need to pay down some more of that debt to higher my score?

Thanks guys.

[Carlos Flores]

Three items top the list in this scenario: 1) inquiries to get new loan; 2) age of the new loan; 3) increased utilization. Should go up some after aging at least 6 months.

Ask for a credit line increase on your credit cards that report your available credit. Some credit cards only report your balance. You don't want these cards. They increase your utilization, lowering your score. Anyway, a CC CLI should increase your score a little as well (as long as you don't increase your cc debt too).