After high utilization is paid down, how long to recover?

[checkach]

My score has dropped from 740 to 665 since December because I bought a duplex and basically gutted it and remodeled.  During the process, I had credit inquiries from the lender (over a several month period), I applied for new credit lines (from Lowe's, etc.) and I have maxed out my existing credit cards as well (because of the draw process for the construction budget).  I am fine with the drop, because I worked to improve my credit so I could use it for this process.  What I'd like to know is this:

• once I pay down most of the cards (I will have one with a high utilization remaining that will take me a few months to pay off) how fast will my score recover?
• I've seen references to lenders doing a "soft" something and being concerned with a person who suddenly has a high utilization and has been seeking new credit.  What does that mean?  Is "AA" adverse action, and if so, what kind of action?
• Once paid off, will my score increase to what it was before, or will it be (1) lower because I have newer lines of credit, or (2) higher because I have more available credit that I am not using?

Thanks in advance for the responses.

[Booner72]

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@checkach wrote:

My score has dropped from 740 to 665 since December because I bought a duplex and basically gutted it and remodeled.  During the process, I had credit inquiries from the lender (over a several month period), I applied for new credit lines (from Lowe's, etc.) and I have maxed out my existing credit cards as well (because of the draw process for the construction budget).  I am fine with the drop, because I worked to improve my credit so I could use it for this process.  What I'd like to know is this:

• once I pay down most of the cards (I will have one with a high utilization remaining that will take me a few months to pay off) how fast will my score recover?You should get pointage when your utilization goes back down, but because you now have mortgage it won't be the exact same as before, too many new things have happened.  Your score would immediately be affected once the new balances are reflected on your reports, in terms of "how fast will my score recover."
  
• I've seen references to lenders doing a "soft" something and being concerned with a person who suddenly has a high utilization and has been seeking new credit.  What does that mean?  Is "AA" adverse action, and if so, what kind of action? A Soft Something is when a creditor looks at your report w/o doing a hard pull.  This means you don't get dinged for the inquiry.  AA = could mean AA0A which means Average Age Of Accounts - since you have new credit, your AAoA will go down as it is an average of all accounts.  But I'm not sure if this is what you are referring to when you say "AA"  I've never once read about Adverse Actions here on the board but I do believe I've heard that term before.  I guess Adverse Action would be any action that affects your score/report in a negative way.
  
• Once paid off, will my score increase to what it was before, or will it be (1) lower because I have newer lines of credit, or (2) higher because I have more available credit that I am not using?It could be higher or lower.  I get dinged for not have a mortgage, so you do now, so that could give you some points.  And yes if only you are looking at your utilization, and said utilization is lower than it was before, you would likely get some pointage for that.

Now that you have your house and the Lowe's card to buy things for house, you can just let the dust settle and see where you end up.  I would not add any new credit unless it was absolutely necessary at this point so that things can simmer down.  Congrats on the house by the way.

Thanks in advance for the responses.

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