Hi. I'm struggling to understand some recent alerts I received in my account. First, some context: I have four credit cards, but I practice the common habit of only using one of them and keeping a zero balance on the rest. In the past three months, I haven't applied for credit, added any accounts, significantly changed my utilization, or experienced any other changes to my credit.
Last month, my scores were on the precipice of 800. This month, as usual, I put a very small balance on one credit card and then paid it off on time. The balance was actually around 400% less than usual, as I've been working way more and haven't been spending much.
Over the past two days, I received three notifications in a row, which were accompanied by a drop in score. They read as follows:
Experian: "The balance on one of your accounts has decreased by $101." Accompanied by a drop of 25 points.
Transunion: "The balance on all of your Bankcard accounts has decreased by $101. The change applies to the sum of all Bankcard balances." Accompanied by a drop of 14 points.
Can anyone explain why an action I assumed would yield a positive outcome instead caused a negative one?
