Although credit scores naturally fluctuate over time, sudden drops should be taken seriously as this could make renting an apartment, applying for mortgage or car loans, or finding employment more challenging.

Your credit score depends on many factors, including payment history, how much debt you owe and the mix of loan repayment and revolving accounts such as credit cards. Any inaccurate information on your report or identity theft may further bring down your scores.

1. Late Payments

Credit score fluctuations are completely normal; however, sudden drops should be concerning if their cause remains obscure. Here are a few possible culprits for such an abrupt decrease:

Failing to pay on time can have a dramatic effect on your credit scores, even for short amounts of time like just two days. At 30 or more days late, creditors typically report delinquency to credit bureaus and can cause a drastic decline in scores–especially among people with excellent credit. Furthermore, once more than 60 or 90 days late has passed, your account could even be sent directly to collection agency – further damaging them further.

Credit scoring models place significant weight on payment history, which accounts for 35% of your FICO credit score. Even missing one payment could cause irreparable damage, as missed payments often remain on reports for seven years after being reported as late or missed altogether.

2. Identity Theft

As with anything, credit scores fluctuate over time and minor fluctuations usually do not require further investigation. But if your score significantly decreases without explanation, this may warrant further exploration.

Identity theft could be one of the main contributors to your sudden credit decline. When someone else uses your personal data without permission to apply for new credit cards or loans using it can trigger hard inquiries on your report that reduce your score further, while fraudulent charges from stolen cards could further decrease it further.

Assume nothing and check your credit reports frequently in order to prevent identity theft. If any discrepancies appear (e.g. an incorrect late payment or account balance), dispute it immediately with the credit bureaus, lock your accounts that may have been compromised and file a police report as soon as you suspect anything fishy has taken place. It would also be wise to enroll in LendingTree Spring which provides free credit monitoring with instant scores in order to spot potential fraud before it turns into an issue.

3. Repossession

If your credit has suffered because of repossession, the impact will be felt throughout your life and can make it more difficult to secure favorable interest rates when applying for mortgage, auto and personal loans, not to mention getting new jobs or renting apartments without needing a credit check.

Repossession occurs when a lender seizes back assets used as security against debt that are tied to you (like a car) which were used as security, such as nonpayment of payments. Repossession usually only applies to cars but lenders have every right to seize back any collateral tied to debt, including boats, jewelry or any other form of property tied to debt.

Repossession can remain on your credit report for seven years and is likely to cause your scores to decrease significantly, though its exact impact can’t be predicted given that different scoring models use different weighting schemes. Though recovering can be hard after repossessions occur, time and responsible debt management should help your scores recover over time.

Your score could drop due to recently closing an account, as this reduces your credit utilization ratio (the percentage of available credit that’s being utilized). It is recommended to keep credit card balances under 30% of overall limit.

4. New Credit

New credit accounts (credit cards and loans) typically lower your score because they change your overall credit utilization ratio, average credit age and total amounts owed. Therefore, it is wise to carefully consider if applying for new credit is truly necessary; generally it is wiser only applying when necessary or building credit from scratch.

When applying for new credit, lenders typically conduct a credit check that results in a “hard inquiry” on your report. A hard inquiry typically causes a 5- to 10-point decrease in your score and will remain on it for two years; after which it should reassess itself within several months.

However, your credit may take five years or longer to recover after an event such as bankruptcy or foreclosure. Therefore, it is advisable to speak to a credit counselor about how this will impact future plans and create a budget with them as well as get tips on managing money and debt effectively. You can find one near you through the National Foundation for Credit Counseling’s free and confidential service or ask your financial institution or employer for recommendations of counselors in your area.