Random Credit Score Drop

[Anonymous]

I recently paid off several small credit cards and now I only have one credit card with a balance. I charged $150 on my Care Credit, but paid it off before the statement came out. However, I received a notificaiton from FICO today that my TU score dropped 32 points because of the charge I made on my Care Credit. Why would a small charge like that cause such a large drop? I've charged things on the card before so it's not my first time using it. I know that it takes a month for credit companies to update the agencies. Any advice?

[Anonymous]

Do you know when your statements are usually generated? Usually the balance reports a few days after the statement is generated....Don't fret too much about it. Your scores will improve back to normal once the utilization has reached a minimum. Utilization has a big impact. 30% or less has a great impact, where 0-9% has the best. Some card companies don't report for the month if your utilization is 0% though, so I'd recommend keeping a few bucks on there, or perhaps 5%. 

Some scoring models (Vantage) penalize for each card, whereas....and correct me if I'm wrong...FICO calculates total utilzation of all cards. Since FICO is the most widely used scoring system..and..depending on your available credit, perhaps considering opening up another line of credit to offset the difference if you plan to use Care Credit more frequently.

Cheers