Drastic score change

[Anonymous]

I have been building up my credit over the last 2 years. While my score has fluccuated week to week and month to month, I recently had a large increase and drop and am not sure why. My average score went from 708 in January to 754 in Feb. Then back to 705 for March. Previously, my score ranged from 710-720 depending on specific utilization at that time. What confuses me is that my score should be slowly increasing due to the CLI's I have and the fact that many inquiries have passed the 1 and 2 year marks. I have been paying down an auto loan and have cleared the balance on 2 cards. While my overall balance has not gone down drastically, I have had a few CLI's which dropped my utilization from  mid 30's to mid 20's) I have one card with a high balance (40% or so) and am not sure if that factors in. I have not missed any payments and have been doing the same thing I have been that has worked in the past. 

I am house shopping and would like to know if this is an error or if it is something I can control. I feel there is a big diffrerence between 705 and 735 when it comes time to get a loan. 

I guess my questions are:

Even if overall utlization is good, can one card that has a high % make that much difference?

What othyer factors may be the cause?

Could this have just been error? 

[Anonymous]

Per what I've read on this forum...

1. Overall utilization below 8.99%

2. Individual card utilization below 28.99%

...Will yield the highest possible scores pertaining to credit card accounts.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Per what I've read on this forum...

1. Overall utilization below 8.99%

2. Individual card utilization below 28.99%

...Will yield the highest possible scores pertaining to credit card accounts.

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Those two factors, plus a third:

(3)  Number of credit cards reporting a positive balance

To maximize the points on this factor (#3) you want most of your cards reporting a $0 balance, with one card showing a positive balance.  This factor is an important factor in the mortgage models.

Is there any way our OP could simply pay all cards to $0 and then leave one card reporting at $20 each month, between now and the day he moves into his new home?

That will solve his issue and is the usual advice for anyone making this major life investment of a home loan.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have been building up my credit over the last 2 years. While my score has fluccuated week to week and month to month, I recently had a large increase and drop and am not sure why. My average score went from 708 in January to 754 in Feb. Then back to 705 for March. Previously, my score ranged from 710-720 depending on specific utilization at that time. What confuses me is that my score should be slowly increasing due to the CLI's I have and the fact that many inquiries have passed the 1 and 2 year marks. I have been paying down an auto loan and have cleared the balance on 2 cards. While my overall balance has not gone down drastically, I have had a few CLI's which dropped my utilization from  mid 30's to mid 20's) I have one card with a high balance (40% or so) and am not sure if that factors in. I have not missed any payments and have been doing the same thing I have been that has worked in the past. 

I am house shopping and would like to know if this is an error or if it is something I can control. I feel there is a big diffrerence between 705 and 735 when it comes time to get a loan. 

I guess my questions are:

Even if overall utlization is good, can one card that has a high % make that much difference?

What othyer factors may be the cause?

Could this have just been error? 

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Yes

No