Score goes up 19?!

[shalane85]

Scorewatch says my fico (EQ) went up 19 points. I was thinking that because I payed my cc balances down it would go up but it listed the reason for going up is bc I have a new inquiry on my cr. Thats strange.

[Donks3369]

Shalane,

From what i've seen and read, you can't really trust the reasons that Scorewatch gives.  It will only usually list one reason and it usually isn't the right one.  My guess is that the score went up because your utilization went down, it's just not telling you that.

[llecs]

I've received similar SW alerts in the past. They don't show you the entire picture, but only a segment of what really happened.

It could be due to paying down balances. Less damage due to a baddie. If that inquiry lead to a new CC, as an example, then maybe it was due to an improved mix of credit or lowered util.