Understanding FICO® Scoring

[DallasNative]

I had a score of 811. I pay my cards off each month.  I went on vacation and had higher balances on 3 cards from the trip (Sams for gas, Amex for lodging, and Mastercard for meals and misc).  The next month my  score dropped to 792 due to "increased balances."  I paid them all off as usual, but three months later my score has not recovered.  How does this work?

[llecs]

Welcome!

Was this a FICO score from here?

Did your non-recovering 792 reflect the paid off balances?

[sunshine7157]

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DallasNative wrote:

I had a score of 811. I pay my cards off each month.  I went on vacation and had higher balances on 3 cards from the trip (Sams for gas, Amex for lodging, and Mastercard for meals and misc).  The next month my  score dropped to 792 due to "increased balances."  I paid them all off as usual, but three months later my score has not recovered.  How does this work?

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I'm quite curious about that, also. I lost 8 points by going from a <8% total util (1 card showing a balance) to 15% total util (also only on 1 account), and 2 months after the util reduction (back down to 8%) has reported, I have not recovered even 1 of those points. Very, very frustrating.

[DallasNative]

Yes scores from this site.

This problem has continued.  I travel a lot.  I have a card I use for personal expenses, one for business, and one for a trust I manage.  I pay these off in full every month.

Since August, my score has declined from 811 to 779.  The reported balances vary each month.  For example, I might be out of town and pay my utility bills online with a card instead of mailing a check.  I tried to see if I could improve this situation by paying off the card balance before the statements reported e.g. I pay $3,100 two days before the statement reports and the statement reports an $18.00 balance. FICO does not go up.  Next month, I forget to pay early and balance reports as $2,200 (typical) and FICO score goes down due to a 'balance increase'.  It's a one way ratchet.  I don't owe a penny more than I did in August (zero!), but the score continues to decline.  Short of carrying around a checkbook and a wad of cash and stop using my credit cards, what can I do?

[DallasNative]

Yes scores from this site.

This problem has continued.  I travel a lot.  I have a card I use for personal expenses, one for business, and one for a trust I manage.  I pay these off in full every month.

Since August, my score has declined from 811 to 779.  The reported balances vary each month.  For example, I might be out of town and pay my utility bills online with a card instead of mailing a check.  I tried to see if I could improve this situation by paying off the card balance before the statements reported e.g. I pay $3,100 two days before the statement reports and the statement reports an $18.00 balance. FICO does not go up.  Next month, I forget to pay early and balance reports as $2,200 (typical) and FICO score goes down due to a 'balance increase'.  It's a one way ratchet.  I don't owe a penny more than I did in August (zero!), but the score continues to decline.  Short of carrying around a checkbook and a wad of cash and stop using my credit cards, what can I do?

[llecs]

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DallasNative wrote:

Yes scores from this site.

This problem has continued.  I travel a lot.  I have a card I use for personal expenses, one for business, and one for a trust I manage.  I pay these off in full every month.

Since August, my score has declined from 811 to 779.  The reported balances vary each month.  For example, I might be out of town and pay my utility bills online with a card instead of mailing a check.  I tried to see if I could improve this situation by paying off the card balance before the statements reported e.g. I pay $3,100 two days before the statement reports and the statement reports an $18.00 balance. FICO does not go up.  Next month, I forget to pay early and balance reports as $2,200 (typical) and FICO score goes down due to a 'balance increase'.  It's a one way ratchet.  I don't owe a penny more than I did in August (zero!), but the score continues to decline.  Short of carrying around a checkbook and a wad of cash and stop using my credit cards, what can I do?

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Look on your FICO report. What are the top negative items on the items that help/hurt your FICO (see pages 2 & 3)? Is utilization listed? If so, what is that utilization? If your FICO is dropping due to balances, and judging by your higher scores and assuming you aren't losing points due to something like adding accounts, then utilization would be in that number one slot. That'll give you an idea of what is hurting your scores the most. 

I suspect you are letting too many cards report a balance and/or your payments aren't clearing to get utilization at a lower amount. Are you actually buying new reports each time or are you relying on a service like ScoreWatch?

[llecs]

Yes scores from this site.

This problem has continued.  I travel a lot.  I have a card I use for personal expenses, one for business, and one for a trust I manage.  I pay these off in full every month.

Since August, my score has declined from 811 to 779.  The reported balances vary each month.  For example, I might be out of town and pay my utility bills online with a card instead of mailing a check.  I tried to see if I could improve this situation by paying off the card balance before the statements reported e.g. I pay $3,100 two days before the statement reports and the statement reports an $18.00 balance. FICO does not go up.  Next month, I forget to pay early and balance reports as $2,200 (typical) and FICO score goes down due to a 'balance increase'.  It's a one way ratchet.  I don't owe a penny more than I did in August (zero!), but the score continues to decline.  Short of carrying around a checkbook and a wad of cash and stop using my credit cards, what can I do?

[sphinx313]

+1 on relying on SW. There have been members that purchased a new report the same day a SW came through and the scores and info on the report were higher than SW had notified them.