Understanding FICO® Scoring

[Cpbball3]

6 months ago - 718

3 months ago - 708

Today - 707

All are Transunioun quarterly reports from myfico.com...

Accounts - $117K mortgage and $17 car loan

2 accts 30 days late Oct 2007

5 credit cards with 1-5% utilization monthly paid off at month end in full

WHY IS MY SCORE GOING DOWN OVER TIME?  I am paying all credit cards down every month end before they are due and I have made all payments and applied for no new credit..

I do have 1 credit card that has a $38K limit (with my dad) - could this effect utilization ratio? 

What am i missing guys?  My score is suppose to go UP over time Haha!

[pizzadude]

It's just speculation on my part, but this is likely just due to your fluctuating revolving utilization.   And assuming that you are an AU on the $38K card that you share, it would be included in your revolving utilization as well.

Also it is not a given that your FICO score will increase every month.   I have seen situations where my FICO score remains flat for months at a time, despite my baddies aging, and continued on time payments on my part.

[Cpbball3]

Should I close the $38K credit card?

[llecs]

Are you an AU or do you own the CC?

What's the reported balance of the $38k acct?

[bettercreditguy1]

You re not reporting any baddies, ie charge offs or collections. Are your unpaid balances fluctuating a lot on your revolving credit, that is your credit cards? Meaning are you pif and charging or increasing a few hundred or thousand either way? This will throw Fico off. I can speak from experience. Fico only sees unpaid balances, not that you pif and then recharge so to speak. My score has taken a hit from TU and EX because they see my monthly payment rising. Fico assumes that you do NOT pif each month. It has no way of knowing if you do as it recieves information only from cras after the fact, not real time. If you are pif each month and then recharging/using credit, I would not be concerned unless you are apping for a home mortage. As always YMMV.

[Cpbball3]

I have been paying in full after i charge the card ie: before statement comes in or payment is due. Should I setup automatic payments on my cards and then have the entire statement balance paid in full on the exact due date?

[AndySoCal]

Are you pre paying all of credit credits in full prior to the end of the billing period ( statment date)?  If so allow one or two cards to report a balance.