topic Re: Paid off Credit Card, 0 Balance now, but Score Dropped 6 pts??!!?? in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Paid off Credit Card, 0 Balance now, but Score Dropped 6 pts??!!??

Anonymous — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 05:19:02 GMT

I don't understand this.

I paid off the remaining balance to a Chase credit card, and it reported on July 17th as 0 balanc and account status Paid as Agreed....yet the same day my Fico score drops 6 points!

I don't understand!

Any ideas why....is this a Fico error?

Re: Paid off Credit Card, 0 Balance now, but Score Dropped 6 pts??!!??

Anonymous — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 06:40:36 GMT

It could be for any number of reasons. Have you looked at your report?

Is this your only CC? Do you have others with a balance reporting?

Re: Paid off Credit Card, 0 Balance now, but Score Dropped 6 pts??!!??

Shogun — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 10:51:31 GMT

If this was your only CC, then you are at 0% util. Fico likes to see a small percentage of use.

Re: Paid off Credit Card, 0 Balance now, but Score Dropped 6 pts??!!??

BackInTheSaddleAgain — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 16:14:11 GMT

I did the same thing last month. As a general rule of thumb and concensus froms this board, I usually keep a small balance 5% to 9% on one of my cards. A small interest price to pay for maximum scores. However, just for shoots and giggles, last month I decided I would pay everything off and leave no balances on any of my cards whatsoever. ZERO across all 4 cards! Bang, my FICO scores dropped 15 points.

Re: Paid off Credit Card, 0 Balance now, but Score Dropped 6 pts??!!??

Anonymous — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 16:34:45 GMT

a bit funny, because a few months ago i found out that i actually gained 8 points when i went do to all 0 balances from having a single card reporting under 5%.

Re: Paid off Credit Card, 0 Balance now, but Score Dropped 6 pts??!!??

Anonymous — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 19:18:13 GMT

This was not my only credit card. I also have 2 Capital One cards (one actually was Ho, usehold Bank but bought out by Cap One few months ago.)

Had both of those about 5-7 years. Have a Helzberg and Firestone cards, student loans, mortgage, auto loan. The Chase may have been the oldest but it was also closed. It is the Chase that I finally paid off last month and it reported the 0 balance July 17 and tbe same day got the myfico alert that my score dropped 6 points as well.

Re: Paid off Credit Card, 0 Balance now, but Score Dropped 6 pts??!!??

Shogun — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 23:38:22 GMT

Do any of your other CCs have a balance?

Re: Paid off Credit Card, 0 Balance now, but Score Dropped 6 pts??!!??

Anonymous — Sun, 21 Jul 2013 05:40:25 GMT

Yes. Around 80-80% util on the Cap One cards, 75% on Helzberg, and 35% on Firestone.
Just weird, can't figure out why it would drop. Will be very curious to see what happens in next 30 days when all the tradelines get refreshed.

Re: Paid off Credit Card, 0 Balance now, but Score Dropped 6 pts??!!??

Anonymous — Sun, 21 Jul 2013 05:56:33 GMT

It could be due to your overall utilization being way too high.

If you paid off one and one of the others went up, it would have dropped.

Re: Paid off Credit Card, 0 Balance now, but Score Dropped 6 pts??!!??

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 02:36:12 GMT

I don't think that is the case either, as I had not used any of the other cards in past couple of months and been making payments on time....so those balances are coming downn as well.

Re: Paid off Credit Card, 0 Balance now, but Score Dropped 6 pts??!!??

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 02:38:09 GMT

I also use credit sesame and credit karma. Have not seen any changes on credit karma but on credit sesame their scoring system showed me up 1 point after the 0 balance reported.