Wow.
My scores had been stuck in a narrow range for the longest time.
Then today I got a 33 point pop in Equifax, and a 25 point pop in TransUnion, both of which take me to my highest scores since I started tracking my scores.
And I do not have a clue as to why. Nothing appears to have changed except higher utilization than the month before.
Can it be that the new year causes a score increase?
@Aahz wrote:The new year in and of itself doesn't effect scores.
However if your AAoA increased past a certain threshold you could have been moved to a new scorecard/bucket.
And according to your sig your last app was in late December. DId that new card possibly report today, bettering your utility?
No, I was turned down for that card 
And my utilzation is worse, not better, than it was last month (2% vs below 1%).