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score drop for payoff?

tag
Anonymous
Not applicable

score drop for payoff?

I paid down a credit card last month (it wasn't a high balance, just $50) and just got an alert that my score droped over thirty points because of the balance decrease??? I'm confused why it would drop at all, let alone so much!

Message 1 of 7
6 REPLIES 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: score drop for payoff?

The balance decrease was the trigger for the update, not the reason for the score drop.

Message 2 of 7
tattooedhusker
Established Contributor

Re: score drop for payoff?

Did you happen to drop to 0% overall utilization?

NFCU CashRewards $13.5k | AMEX BCE $15k | Lowes $17k | Sportsmanss guide $7.6k | Chase Freedom $1k | Discover IT $4.4k |
Walmart $8k | Gordman's $2950
Message 3 of 7
redbeard
Frequent Contributor

Re: score drop for payoff?

Its likely something else occurred as well that didn't cause an alert.  

 

Or....

 

You paid off all of your credit cards to a balance of $0.00, which will cause a score drop

 

Or....

 

This account reported as closed and it impacted your mix / AAoA at the same time.

 

Or....

 

The Fico gods have looked down upon you as a bigger risk because of what you ate for dinner last night.

 

 

I know when I paid off my student loan, which was reporting fine, nothing bad, just paid it off, I took a 20+ point drop.  Didn't expect that, wouldn't have paid it off if I knew that was coming.  In the end though, it was good, got it paid off.

 

Dan

 

Just trying to get my scores to rise from the dead......

Wait.... I think I just heard a heartbeat!

Message 4 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: score drop for payoff?

Wow. Yeah, I did, both cards were paid off and I never got around to using them for anything else last month. I'd read somewhere that you do need to use the revolving credit, so I usually charge something small each month. I had no idea not using them for a single month would impact the score that much, though.

 

I had a redeemable report for that bureau, so I took a look--nothing new was on it. So it must be the zero util. Guess I should be expecting similar alerts for the other two, then.

Message 5 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: score drop for payoff?


@Anonymous wrote:

Wow. Yeah, I did, both cards were paid off and I never got around to using them for anything else last month. I'd read somewhere that you do need to use the revolving credit, so I usually charge something small each month. I had no idea not using them for a single month would impact the score that much, though.

 

I had a redeemable report for that bureau, so I took a look--nothing new was on it. So it must be the zero util. Guess I should be expecting similar alerts for the other two, then.


Well, the good news is that utility has no memory, so if you report a non-zero util this month, you should get those points back. 

Message 6 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: score drop for payoff?

That is good to know, thank you. We're still trying to figure out all this credit score voodoo, clearly still have a lot to learn Smiley Very Happy Thanks everyone for the quick responses.

Message 7 of 7
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