I received a Score Watch Alert today. When I checked it out, I saw that my score had jumped from 688 to 703. Yay!
That's a pretty decent jump, but there were no credit alerts on my Equifax report. Sure would be nice to know what happened.
I only have four accounts with balances:
- Two Nelnet student loans
- A zero interest Wells Fargo Home Projects account ($7700 credit limit, $3849 balance)
- My shiny new-ish PNC HELOC with a whopping $56K balance, nearly 100% of the limit
In looking at what I just typed, I'm wondering if the Wells Fargo dropping $1 below the 50% mark could make a 15 point difference in my score...
Curious...
I would say it is just generally something passing a milestone. Maybe an accounts age, that small balance difference, anything possibly negative going our of scoring. Either way congrats!!!
Starting Score: myFico Scores Equifax 544 Transunion 585
Thank you both 
I only know two of my scores, but it's nice to know that they are both over 700. Kind of a big deal for me, personally.
Hey! I think I figured it out!
I just got a Score Watch report back on 2/2. Under the "What's hurting your score" section, it says:
Ratio of your revolving balances to your credit limits
31%
I only have a balance on one revolving account, and my monthly payment to that account should have hit my report between 2/2 and when my score jumped 15 points yesterday (2/8). That payment was enough to get me under that magic 30% utilization number, I betcha. [Edited to add: I did the math, and instead of being at 31%, I am now sitting at 27%]
That's really that only thing that has changed. So it looks like those utilization tiers (80%, 50%, 30%, etc.) are pretty darn valid! Now I'm going to go searching to see what the next tier is below 30%, if there is one.