24pt score drop

[Anonymous]

So my EX score dropped 24 pts for a 44% to a 63% UTI increase. Does that even make sense? Have people been able to get these points back?

[rmduhon]

As soon as you get the UTI down the points will come back. UTI has no memory so a temporarily high UTI won't hurt unless you have a card that is really sensitive to it.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So my EX score dropped 24 pts for a 44% to a 63% UTI increase. Does that even make sense? Have people been able to get these points back?

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Yes it makes sense.  You crossed a threshold when you went over 50%.  Had you raised your utilization from 44% to 49% it wouldn't have made a difference.  At 50% you lose points, then again at 70%.  Raising your utilization now from 63% up to 69% would have no further impact on your score.

You get back the points just as quick as you lost them when you bring down your utilization and the new utilization gets reported to the bureaus.  Going in the other direction, 29% is your next threshold point.  If you lost 24 points from raising your utilization across a threshold you could possibly gain a relatively similar amount of points in dropping it one (to 29%) which may be something you want to set up a plan to do.

I'm guessing your file isn't that thick since it's very sensitive to utilization changes.  What is your AAoA and how old is your oldest account?  I can cross 2 thresholds with utilization and my score only fluctuates a couple of points, but that's because my file is a bit more aged and is less volatile to such changes. 

[Anonymous]

I've had it drop that much by accidentally letting everything report zero balances also. FICO is a tricky mistress. It came back the next month. 

[Anonymous]

Very true, that does happen as well.

[Anonymous]

I accidentally let all cards report zero balance and lost 15-18 points across all bureaus. Gained them back the next cycle except for equifax. Equifax is still 4 points behind, whereas EX and TU has grown past the original score by 6-8 points. Weird

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So my EX score dropped 24 pts for a 44% to a 63% UTI increase. Does that even make sense? Have people been able to get these points back?

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1. It's not possible to know for sure that the score drop was entirely due to the utilization increase.

2. Whatever points were lost by the utilization increase can be gotten back immediately in the next cycle by dropping utilization back to 44%.

[Anonymous]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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1. It's not possible to know for sure that the score drop was entirely due to the utilization increase.

2. Whatever points were lost by the utilization increase can be gotten back immediately in the next cycle by dropping utilization back to 44%.

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Right.  And, it's important to realize that while this next cycle is taking place other things are going on with respect to your profile.  New information can be introduced (such as new accounts).  Inquiries can add on.  Inquiries can age.  Accounts age.  Negative items age.  Credit limits can change.  My point is that if you lose X points from a change in utilization, while you will certainly gain X points back from returning to that former utilization your end result score could be +/- that score still based on other variables impacting the new score that may have been impacting your old score differently.

[805orbust]

This is one I've been waiting to inquire on.  On my reports, I notice when I cross the 10% threshold (never even approach 20), I always gain a few extra points on the rebound without fail.  Have you guys had a similar experience?