Score Increases & Decreases for Balance?

[Anonymous]

Super confused about this one guys, and could use some insight! (Sorry if this isn't in the right place!)

I have a Capital One credit card that I've had a pretty high balance on, utilizing almost all of my available credit. I've been making consistent on-time payments, but noticed a really weird flucuations in my scores today. 

I have a limit of 500, and currently have a balance of 475. I want to pay this down so I can utilize no more than 30% of what I have available. Today, I received my bill that is due on 12/12, and scheduled a payment for $75. This is where things get weird. 

My score from Experian actually jumped up a whole 45 points because of high credit utilization....while my TransUnion score dropped because of a balance change to the same account. I'm super confused as to why this would both increase and decrease my score. Following this logic, it's almost like my score benefits from utilizing so much of my credit? 

[Anonymous]

Where are you getting your scores from?

I ask because I was using Credit Karma and it said my score was 641 which I thought was too low and when I actually bought my report it was actually 685, so sometimes the free places can not be accurate.

[Anonymous]

Omg don't go by karma. They will freak you out with their scoring.

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:

My score from Experian actually jumped up a whole 45 points because of high credit utilization....while my TransUnion score dropped because of a balance change to the same account. I'm super confused as to why this would both increase and decrease my score. Following this logic, it's almost like my score benefits from utilizing so much of my credit? 

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High utilization definitely does not help.  Utilization is the second biggest factor (Amount Owed):

http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/whatsinyourscore.aspx

and high utilization is seen as a risk.

It sounds like you're misinterpreting or possibly overlooking something.  Have you confirmed that the high utilization has reported on both?

Scoring model could be another reason.  If the score came from Experian it's a FAKO.  Your OP isn't clear on where the TU score came from.

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@Anonymous wrote:

I ask because I was using Credit Karma and it said my score was 641 which I thought was too low and when I actually bought my report it was actually 685, so sometimes the free places can not be accurate.

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It's not a matter of price.  It's a matter of scoring models.  You can't rely on one scoring model to determine a score generated by an entirely different scoring model.  CK does not provide FICO's so you can't use CK to determine a TU FICO.

[daddyheatly]

I'm actually trying to figure out something similar with my scores! I have the three score monitoring from myfico and  I just got a huge score increase for equifax and transunion for balance decrease with Capital One and utilization decrease but at the same time my experian score dropped for the exact same thing. No misinterpretation on my end it's almost word for word for the same event in the description of my alerts. It really stinks because experian is my lowest score and it seems the more good i do to improve my credit the lower the stupid score goes.

[CreditMagic7]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Omg don't go by karma. They will freak you out with their scoring.

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+1

It seems this just can't be repeated enough. No no no, never depend on CK scores. They are only FAKE as in FAKO! only, not FICO. Yes sometimes they may differ somewhat closely but definitely DO NOT act on those scores.

[elim]

you maybe should pay that down.  95% UTIL screams desperation to your lenders and is probably throwing some flags.

[Anonymous]

Mine did the same exact thing today. Experian went up 25 points and transunion went down 2 points after my balance reported. Weird. 

[taxi818]

Well to give anyone a good ideal how bad credit karma is. last month. i closed my TD Bank extra rewards card. 1 year old. my oldest by 3 days. it had 500 limit. currently have about 50 k in limits so far. so the 500 was no big deal. but on CK. i lost 89 points for closing that puppy. not that its accurate anyway. i went from 747 ck to 658 how the hell is that possible. for closing a 500 account it noted that all info from the account is now deleted. payment history AA of A all is gone. it says closed. but they don't give you credit for good standing. online payment history and all. they just delete the whole thing. It convinced me to delete all my credit karma info. it really is useless.