$3 card balance paid off dropped EXP 8 by 20 points

[Anonymous]

Today my Experian score dropped by 20 points because I paid the $3 balance on my card last month and it now reported out. I usually pay in full each month but a late dropping transaction squeezed in before close. My score did not go up any when the $3 reported out last month but today it's dropped by 20 for paying it off.  How could this change mean that I'm suddenly a worse risk for credit? This makes no sense.

[RSX]

If that is your only card, you get Penalized for No amount reporting

all CC's reporting zero will drop your score

have 1 report $3-5 and you will likely get all those points back

[Anonymous]

Yes, this explains it then. Currently in underwriting for mortgage with new home build and they wanted all three zeroed out prior to the pull which I did. Luckily it's not going to change rate for the loan but it freaked me out. After close I'll cycle back to a tiny balance. Should I do it on just one card or all three?

[Anonymous]

RSX explained it perfectly. Your scores went down due to no reporting balance - whether it's your only card or not. Same thing happened to me several days ago. I usually put AZEO, but the way I was revolving my cards this month, the card I left a balance on hasn't reported yet, so for another few days I'm reporting zero. Therefore, lost several points because of this. However, scores will rise again once my last account reports to CB's.

[RSX]

Just one of the 3

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Yes, this explains it then. Currently in underwriting for mortgage with new home build and they wanted all three zeroed out prior to the pull which I did. Luckily it's not going to change rate for the loan but it freaked me out. After close I'll cycle back to a tiny balance. Should I do it on just one card or all three?

---

I found this out the hard way. Sometimes people who work in the industry do not understand how scoring works. They should have never told you to zero out everything. You want one card with a small balance reporting for maximum mortgage scorring. $10-$15 should be enough.

[Trudy]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Yes, this explains it then. Currently in underwriting for mortgage with new home build and they wanted all three zeroed out prior to the pull which I did. Luckily it's not going to change rate for the loan but it freaked me out. After close I'll cycle back to a tiny balance. Should I do it on just one card or all three?

---

I found this out the hard way. Sometimes people who work in the industry do not understand how scoring works. They should have never told you to zero out everything. You want one card with a small balance reporting for maximum mortgage scorring. $10-$15 should be enough.

---

Hey Morpho.  Just an FYI regarding my profile:  My MTG score was not negatively impacted by zero revolvers reporting.  EX was the only one I could monitor on that date.   The one time I did this in 2018 my 8's took a hit but not EX2.  I agree some lenders seem to know little about how scores work but maybe, just maybe (giving the lender the benefit of the doubt ) he didn't know (care) about the impact to other score models

[SouthJamaica]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Yes, this explains it then. Currently in underwriting for mortgage with new home build and they wanted all three zeroed out prior to the pull which I did. Luckily it's not going to change rate for the loan but it freaked me out. After close I'll cycle back to a tiny balance. Should I do it on just one card or all three?

---

Optimally, just one.

But let's put this whole discussion in context: it's your FICO 8 that was affected, not your mortgage scores. Most likely your mortgage scores didn't even budge.