topic Score Watch update FINALLY! in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Score Watch update FINALLY!

C-XRS2005 — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 18:01:31 GMT

My EQ was 650 as of 1/09 then I paid off my cc's then used 2% on one of the cards. It took until today to update my score because of AMEX. The simulator showed me my score should be 680-720 well it is now 678

It said my FICO could have gone down because of the increased 2% from $0 bal on that one card...I thought it was ok as long as it was below 9% UTL??? If I paid that one card off could I gain some more pts?? Or pay more down?

Re: Score Watch update FINALLY!

haulingthescoreup — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:43:58 GMT

The SW alerts are notoriously unreliable.

Did your score go up from the original 650, and then down to 678? I missed what it was going down from. If there was an in-between score, what was the reported util that time, and how many accounts were reporting a balance on that particular report? And then how many accounts had balances on the 678 report?

If you had had a couple of CC's reporting a balance, and this new one made a third, that might have done it, even though your total util is very low.

Re: Score Watch update FINALLY!

C-XRS2005 — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:06:49 GMT

It went up to 678 from 650 but said that because my balance went from $18 to $254 ($3700 limit) on one of my cards that that is holding me back from more pts...

Re: Score Watch update FINALLY!

KingAdrock — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 01:15:40 GMT

A balance that is <10% is good for your score, as long as it is not 0%. But the closer that balance is to 0 the better. A util of 1% will give more points than 9%, although the difference will be very marginal. So yes, if you go from a balance of $18 to $254 your score will drop, but likely only a point or two.