why didn't my FICO drop when a 0 bal CC reported a $75 balance?

[smo65d11]

I was out of town and bought some things for my kids on 3/15.  I got home 3/16 and logged onto my Sears account to pay before the statement hit, but the closing date was 3/16, so I screwed up!  Anyway I received a Score Watch Alert that showed the increase, but my score remained the same.  The only other change was 2 inquiries dropped off at the same time.  Is that why my score didn't change?  I expected a drop of maybe 5-10 points.  Not that I am complaining, but I am just curious.

[haulingthescoreup]

How many CC's do you normally have reporting $0, and out of how many total?

You don't necessarily get a ding for every single thing, but for clumps of them. We see the same thing with inqs.

Alternatively, it could be that losing the inqs canceled out the drop.

[Guardian]

The statement reporting a balance doesn't necessarily hurt you unless it increases your UTIL by a significantly dingable margin.

[smo65d11]

out of 6 cards, 2 store cards (Sears Included) normally have $0 balance, 3 carry 30-45% balances, 1 is a "no-pre-set spending limit" / "revolving line" card, which doesn't report a CL.  So with that Sears card being one of my only 2 zero balance cards, I really expected a hit?  Again not that I am complaining, but it is just different than I figured it would be?

[haulingthescoreup]

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smo65d11 wrote:
out of 6 cards, 2 store cards (Sears Included) normally have $0 balance, 3 carry 30-45% balances, 1 is a "no-pre-set spending limit" / "revolving line" card, which doesn't report a CL.  So with that Sears card being one of my only 2 zero balance cards, I really expected a hit?  Again not that I am complaining, but it is just different than I figured it would be?

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I'd say that you don't get dinged every time an additional card reports. For instance, I got my payment schedules goobered up last fall, and at one point, three cards were reporting instead of the usual one. I got a ding when the second card reported, but no ding for the third. I'm sure that if I had lost my mind and let all eleven report, I would have heard about it!

[Guardian]

@haulingthescoreup, bingo, well said. You don't get hit for every little thing, they have to accumulate to a certain point to hurt you.

[Anonymous]

Smo,

In my opinion, the reason you did not get dinged, is because you were all ready dinged previously.  When you look at the "HINTS" from myfico.com on "High Achievers" they show that the average high achiever (760+) has balances on only 3 accounts (this includes revolving & installment loans) with a 7% utilization of revolving credit and  installment loans having paid down to 65% of original loan balance.

So, if you have been carrying more than 3 balances and your utilization remains (percentage wise) relatively similar, then your score most likely will not be affected by such a small increase in total outstanding utilization balance and percentage. 

The fact that 2 inquiries dropped may have helped some in offset of scoring, but remember that utilization accounts for a much higher percentage of your FICO than inquiries.

Chances are, your current PERCENTAGE of utililization remained within your current bucket range, even with your Sears $75 balance, so that it was not a real factor in scoring change.  In addition, your total dollar balances  probably remained within your current scoring bucket range.

So, unless you increase balances more significantly (putting you into a new "range") or your utilization increases enough to put you in the next range or bucket, then your score will not vary siginificantly.  However, if you reduce your number of balances to 3 and reduce total of balances and percentage of utilization, your score will increase.  At that time, should you increase your balances or number of balances, then you will see the ding you expected.

Message Edited by txjohn on 03-22-2009 10:24 AM