Lost points

[Bajan1]

The myFICO app, my fico8 numbers stayed the same but my fico9 bank card numbers dropped by 12 points. It said accounts with balances 

[Rogue46]

It sounds like you possibly paid one of the other cards off AFTER the statement cut which would give the "balances" remark. 

[Thomas_Thumb]

As a general rule, Fico bankcard scores react more strongly to # of cards with balances than their classic score counterparts. Also EQ and TU typically react more strongly than EX.

If you are looking at monthly free scores, it is important to check the date each score was pulled. That may differ significantly from a statement date.

If you play AZEO; timing is everything. If you end up with 0 cards reporting balances that can cost 15 to 25 points due to the "no recent revolving activity penalty". Much better to allow 2 cards report small balances than 0.

Given your situation, I would report low balances on 1 or 2 cards with low meaning under 9% of the card's credit limit. Find out statement close dates for each card.

For cards that you don't want showing balances, stop using them 7 to 10 days before statement close date and then pay current balance 2 or 3 days before statement close so a zero balance reports. A couple days after statement closes the card can be used again or idled for a few months. Caution: best not to idle a card more than 4 to 5 months as some card issuers may start closing accounts after 6 months of non use.

I would select a couple cards as daily drivers. It is fine to accumulate charges up to 50% or even 80% of the card's CL as long as balances are paid down a couple days prior to statement close dates. Pay each balance down to under 9% UT. Some people paydown to a set amount - say $5 or $10 but, that is personal choice and matters not score wise. Then pay statement balance before due date to avoid interest charges.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Bajan1 wrote:

The myFICO app, my fico8 numbers stayed the same but my fico9 bank card numbers dropped by 12 points. It said accounts with balances 

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In order to correctly draw the conclusions you are trying to draw, from MyFICO.com data, you would need to know

-the date the score changed, and

-the reported balances in your report as of that date

You can't possibly know either of those components from MyFICO.com without pulling a new 3-bureau report.

The only other way you can make those kinds of judgments accurately is in certain of your Experian scores if you were subscribing to the experian.com services, which provide daily updates.

My advice is to stop fretting over things that aren't real. If it's important to you that your revolving utilization be optimal, you should just let one of your 3 cards report a balance of 28% or less, let your aggregate reported balances be 9% or less, and let 2 of your 3 cards report a zero balance. If you are achieving that, your scores will not go down, unless something unrelated happens.