Now this is just depressing

[Anonymous]

I have been hard at work to clear up my FICO.

I posted here earlier this year that it was at 570...

That was last year of course and it was not due to late payments or other issues like that.

It was due to the amount of available credit to used credit.

My wife is european and it took a few years for her to establish herself.

In that time I took everything under me...and it hurt.

Well...it was 570 last year....

I pulled it again last month....638.

OK..not great, but definately heading in the right direction.

So I got a bonus at work....and I sold an old car.

It was enough to pay off a remaining 6K on another car loan and another 2K on a personal loan.

The car payoff posted....BAM...up from 638 to 648.

I was a little disapointed due to the amount paid but it will work.

Then it dropped to 645.....huh?......well it turned out my wife had just made a 260 dollar charge on a credit card....AGGGGHHHHHHHHH

Then the 2K payoff posted......and it went from 645...to............

................DRUMROLL..........................

645.........SAY WHAT?!!!!

200 dollars drops me by 3 points?

6K raises me only 10 points and 2K does nothing at all?

What kinda scam is this FICO thing?

[Junejer]

Sorry brokelife, but the installment credit doesn't count as much in FICO scoring as does the revolving debt. Revolving/unsecured debt is more risky than secured debt (your car loan), so the potential reward/punishment for utilizing it correctly/incorrectly is greater. Keep that overall uti and individual uti between 1-9% and don't allow more than half of your accounts to report a balance.

[Anonymous]

Thanks..

I knew that installment payments did not count as much but I did not know it was this skewed.

I am a little suprised simply because, revolving or installments..I only can pay so much each month.

Those bills freed up a nice chunk of change each month.