691 to 753 in one month???

[Anonymous]

I have had a 691 fico store for months and nothing I did increased it... I usually pay off all my credit card balance monthly - this month I did not and kept a 3k balance.  I just got my new discover statement and the fico score went from 691 to 753 and that is the only thing that is different - I did not have any negatives that came off etc... does carrying that balance really make it increase that much

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have had a 691 fico store for months and nothing I did increased it... I usually pay off all my credit card balance monthly - this month I did not and kept a 3k balance.  I just got my new discover statement and the fico score went from 691 to 753 and that is the only thing that is different - I did not have any negatives that came off etc... does carrying that balance really make it increase that much

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Generally no. Carrying a balance usually reduces your score. The one exception is if you carry a zero balance on every single CC. If all your CCs report a zero balance, your score is hurt. Optimally, you want 1 CC to report over 0 and under 10% and every other CC to report 0. However, more practically, if you keep your reported balances under 10% across all cards or even under 30% for individual cards and 10% overall, your score should not be too negatively impacted by utilization. 

Simply put, the general rule is as follows. Keep your CC balances as low as possible but above zero and your scores will go up. Keeping a balance just means your card must report a balance. You don't have to pay any interest and can PIF your cards before the due date. Most cards report shortly after their statement cut date, but some cards report at other times. 

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have had a 691 fico store for months and nothing I did increased it... I usually pay off all my credit card balance monthly - this month I did not and kept a 3k balance.  I just got my new discover statement and the fico score went from 691 to 753 and that is the only thing that is different - I did not have any negatives that came off etc... does carrying that balance really make it increase that much

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Do you have negatives in your report? This kind of pop is usually associated with a baddy from the past going away.

If you are using the Discover FICO, you aren't getting the alerts here? Thus things may be happening that you don't get alerted to?