https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Experian-Credit-Score/m-p/5252602#M139610 <BLOCKQUOTE><HR />@Anonymous&nbsp;wrote:<BR />I just received my credit card in April. I swipped it for 30% of my total balance and a few days later my score went up. I paid my first bill eight days early in full. I got an email this Friday stating the my balance decreased to $0 and Experian dropped my score by 7 points. Can someone explain this to me? Why was I penalized for paying the bill in full? Is it because this is a new account? Is it because I only have one credit card?<HR /></BLOCKQUOTE><P>1.&nbsp; Often the "alert" and the noted change are unrelated.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>2. The only way paying a revolving balance down to zero would cause a score decrease is if you have no other cards reporting a balance. So in this case, since you have only one credit card, you may have gotten the 7 point drop by reporting zero. The FICO 8 and FICO 9 algorithms penalize you for having no reported balances. Next time let your statement report a balance of $10, before you pay it off, and see what happens.</P> Sun, 20 May 2018 14:18:34 GMT SouthJamaica 2018-05-20T14:18:34Z https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Experian-Credit-Score/m-p/5252593#M139609 I just received my credit card in April. I swipped it for 30% of my total balance and a few days later my score went up. I paid my first bill eight days early in full. I got an email this Friday stating the my balance decreased to $0 and Experian dropped my score by 7 points. Can someone explain this to me? Why was I penalized for paying the bill in full? Is it because this is a new account? Is it because I only have one credit card? Sun, 20 May 2018 14:10:18 GMT https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Experian-Credit-Score/m-p/5252593#M139609 Anonymous 2018-05-20T14:10:18Z https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Experian-Credit-Score/m-p/5252602#M139610 <BLOCKQUOTE><HR />@Anonymous&nbsp;wrote:<BR />I just received my credit card in April. I swipped it for 30% of my total balance and a few days later my score went up. I paid my first bill eight days early in full. I got an email this Friday stating the my balance decreased to $0 and Experian dropped my score by 7 points. Can someone explain this to me? Why was I penalized for paying the bill in full? Is it because this is a new account? Is it because I only have one credit card?<HR /></BLOCKQUOTE><P>1.&nbsp; Often the "alert" and the noted change are unrelated.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>2. The only way paying a revolving balance down to zero would cause a score decrease is if you have no other cards reporting a balance. So in this case, since you have only one credit card, you may have gotten the 7 point drop by reporting zero. The FICO 8 and FICO 9 algorithms penalize you for having no reported balances. Next time let your statement report a balance of $10, before you pay it off, and see what happens.</P> Sun, 20 May 2018 14:18:34 GMT https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Experian-Credit-Score/m-p/5252602#M139610 SouthJamaica 2018-05-20T14:18:34Z