My scores went DOWN when paying down cc balances?!

[Heartbreaker]

My husband and I have been proactively paying down cc balances as we are looking to sell our current home and buy a new one later this year.  Since February, my cc usage %  has gone down over 20%.  That is the only change to my credit history - no late pays, no new inquiries, etc.  That being said, I was so excited to see how much my scores had improved since Feb but to my extreme dismay both my Equifax and TransUnion scores went down.  Experian did go up.  They all are reporting the same information. Can anyone please tell me why this may have happened??  So confused....

[bman86]

Did you recently close any of your credit accounts or have any credit line decreases?

[Heartbreaker]

No and no....

[youngandcreditwrthy]

Have the updated balances posted yet?

[Creditaddict]

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@Heartbreaker wrote:

My husband and I have been proactively paying down cc balances as we are looking to sell our current home and buy a new one later this year.  Since February, my cc usage %  has gone down over 20%.  That is the only change to my credit history - no late pays, no new inquiries, etc.  That being said, I was so excited to see how much my scores had improved since Feb but to my extreme dismay both my Equifax and TransUnion scores went down.  Experian did go up.  They all are reporting the same information. Can anyone please tell me why this may have happened??  So confused....

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Where did you get the reports and score from? here on Myfico?

[Heartbreaker]

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@youngandcreditwrthy wrote:
Have the updated balances posted yet?

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Most of them, yes.

[Heartbreaker]

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@Creditaddict wrote:

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@Heartbreaker wrote:

My husband and I have been proactively paying down cc balances as we are looking to sell our current home and buy a new one later this year.  Since February, my cc usage %  has gone down over 20%.  That is the only change to my credit history - no late pays, no new inquiries, etc.  That being said, I was so excited to see how much my scores had improved since Feb but to my extreme dismay both my Equifax and TransUnion scores went down.  Experian did go up.  They all are reporting the same information. Can anyone please tell me why this may have happened??  So confused....

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Where did you get the reports and score from? here on Myfico?

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I did get them from here, yes

[09Lexie]

I was going to suggest that you post this in Understanding FICO Scoring but I see that you already did.
My guess, it's re bucketing - if all the reports are the same.

[Bluedog23]

The same thing has happened to me recently. Both times the my Fico alert has stated that this point reduction happened on the day when my balance for one card in particular reported a lower balance. Score dropped from 744 to 733. Then a couple of days later another drop when down to 732 when a card balance dropped to 0. Even with these lower balances I still had util of 4%. Credit scoring is so baffling to me!!!

[BungalowMo]

If everything looks good on your reports & your balances went down, it is possible that you have been moved to the next bucket.  At this point, your reports are compared to everyone else in the bucket & your scores are generated.  (remember...on your reports here, it will show you on the scale the neg's & pos's. & below it says...most FICO high achievers have...bla bla bla.)  Well throughout your credit history, you are actually being constantly compared with everyone, but in different levels, or buckets.

You may have just moved into a better bucket.  Soon enough...usually within a few months, you will see your scores go up & up, as long as utilization stays low, payments are not late & you do not apply for anything new.

You mention you dropped util % by 20%, but you don't mention what it actually is.  You also mentioned that your scores went down, but you don't mention from what to what.  You don't "have" to tell us, but a little more info could help us to help you.  Whatever your scores are, if there is one thing I have learned about this place....we judge NO one!  Ever.

Mine were in the low 600's when I came here years ago.  I was so embarassed, but everyone was so wonderful.  I have never had so much help & support from a group of people I'd never met.  It was, quite honestly, life changing!