DEAR BRUCE: My credit score recently dropped more than 100 points, but none of my habits have changed in the last six months. My score has been in the 760-780 ranges for quite a few years. I make it a habit to check my score quarterly. Last week, I noticed it has moved to the mid-600 range. I have three credit cards with a line of credit of about $60,000. Two of them carry a zero balance, and the other has a balance of $3,200 with a zero percent rate. The last loan I took out was last summer for some furniture that I financed at zero percent for three years, and that's the only change within the past couple years. I can't understand why my score has changed. Is it the economy that caused the readjustment of credit scores? Are they using new criteria to establish scores? Where do I turn to investigate this sudden change? -- Jim, via e-mail

DEAR JIM: You say nothing has changed in the last six months and that you check your score quarterly. Are you checking your credit reports as well? There may be inaccurate information that may have been added by mistake, by another creditor or money owed by someone else. There are a whole lot of things that can happen very rapidly. It also may be because of the inactivity on your two cards; that has had an adverse affect on your score. If you have the cards, you should use them periodically for small purchases, and pay them on time so you accumulate no charges. Letting them sit dormant for whatever reason can work against your score. The first thing I would do is pull all three credit reports and make certain all of the information is accurate. If this doesn't give you any reason why the score has dropped so dramatically, the next thing is to write to the credit reporting agencies (they all have their own scores) and also to FICO for an explanation.

DEAR BRUCE: My wife had an interesting idea and I would like your opinion. We have a home with a mortgage at 5.75 percent, which is on 5 acres that is partially surrounded by another 20 acres we own free and clear. Would it be prudent to secure a loan on the 20 acres and pay off the mortgage on the house and 5 acres? In these economic times, we could reluctantly allow the land to be foreclosed but would still have our house. -- G.T., via e-mail