All cards reported Zero, drop, but when fixed points did not return

[Bees18]

I have a fairly thin file so it's very easy to keep track of changes. I also report the same balance each month so my score always stays consistent and slowly growing.

Last month I accidentally let both cards report zero. It dropped my score from 771 to 751. Now it has been fixed and has a card reporting a balance but my score did not pick up those points.

I have experian Fico service so I get a fresh update everyday and new report. There were no other changes.

To make it worse a week later my third card reported that was opened in December and I lost another 10 pets.

My amount of credit actually increased by 15k, and my credit is not over a year old total so not understanding that drop either.

With these two thing should my score went from 771 to 741 and even letting a card report a balance did not fix it.

[tparks5961]

Hey Bees, 

I'm experimenting with balances at the moment as well.. 

I noticed you said you let "A" card report a balance.. Was it the same one or different?

I know that Individual vs. aggregate UTI will have an impact on your score.  

Example:

Card A   200/200

Card B 0/2000   

In this example, Card A has an individual Utilization of 100% even though the overall UTI is 10%.  I believe you will take a hit because of the 1 maxed out card.

So let's say you started with accounts that looked like this:

Card A 0/200

Card B 200/2000.

In this example you will get a more favorable score, because your individual and aggregate UTI are both low..  So, if you left a balance on a different card just to get a balance back, it would have had a different affect on your score.. 

Hope this makes sense

[Anonymous]

Being notified that something in particular happened and having your score move a certain amount doesn't mean that the former is the sole cause of the latter.

Maybe it wasn't letting both cards report zero that reduced your score in December by the whole 20 points. Maybe the hard pull that would have been associated with the opening that new card hit at about the same time, and you just thought it was all because of what the cards reported. That's just one possibility. There could have been other things you either overlooked or even had no way or reasonably knowing.

And I suspect that when the new card reported, it probably caused your score to drop more that the 10 points you observed, but you actually did end up getting some increase by allowing some balance to post. And it was a combination of both things (and possibly other things as well) that netted you a 10 point drop.

The bottom line is that you're going to make yourself crazy by sweating every 10 or 20 point swing. That's just noise that evens out over time. You're better off watching the details of your report to make sure you're doing everything right (and the CRAs are reporting everything right) and take a much broader, long-term view of your scores.

[Bees18]

Thank! I always let the same balance post, $6!

i pull a report everyday too, so I wasn't notified of a change, I was able to see the drop, see it get fixed and then checked each day after and score never went back to normal. I only have two cards and one SSL that always has the same balance (under 8%) so it's pretty easy to check for changes. 

As as I said a full week later there was another change with a new card reporting, and that dropped it another 10 pts...but my profile is not over a year old so the AAOA was barley changed. 

Makes no sense to me :/

[SouthJamaica]

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@Bees18 wrote:

I have a fairly thin file so it's very easy to keep track of changes. I also report the same balance each month so my score always stays consistent and slowly growing.

Last month I accidentally let both cards report zero. It dropped my score from 771 to 751. Now it has been fixed and has a card reporting a balance but my score did not pick up those points.

I have experian Fico service so I get a fresh update everyday and new report. There were no other changes.

To make it worse a week later my third card reported that was opened in December and I lost another 10 pets.

My amount of credit actually increased by 15k, and my credit is not over a year old total so not understanding that drop either.

With these two thing should my score went from 771 to 741 and even letting a card report a balance did not fix it.

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You reference 4 reports: (1) your report the day before you let both cards report zero; (2) your report the day both cards reported zero; (3) your report the day it was "fixed"; (4) your report the day the third card reported.

In order to make sense of it we would need to know the limits and the balances from each of those reports. It would also be helpful to know the dates.

[Bees18]

Thanks. Yes, Experians service pulls a fresh Fico report everyday.

Usual balance and score :

score: 771

capital one: 0/500

Discover: 6/2500

SSL: 41/550

Then when the card Discover card reported 0: (everything eles the exact same )

score:751

Capital one: 0/500

Discover:0/2500

SSL: 41/550

This month, when Discover reported a balance:

Score still: 751

Capital one: 0/500

Discover: 6/2500

SSL: 41/550

One week later when new card reported:

Score now:741

Capital one: 0/500

Discover:6/2500

NFCU Visa: 1400/15000

SSL:41/550

i have no latest or negitves so this is my entire file.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Bees18 wrote:

Thanks. Yes, Experians service pulls a fresh Fico report everyday.

Usual balance and score :

score: 771

capital one: 0/500

Discover: 6/2500

SSL: 41/550

Then when the card Discover card reported 0: (everything eles the exact same )

score:751

Capital one: 0/500

Discover:0/2500

SSL: 41/550

This month, when Discover reported a balance:

Score still: 751

Capital one: 0/500

Discover: 6/2500

SSL: 41/550

One week later when new card reported:

Score now:741

Capital one: 0/500

Discover:6/2500

NFCU Visa: 1400/15000

SSL:41/550

i have no latest or negitves so this is my entire file.

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Thanks.

IMHO (a) the 20 point drop most likely had nothing to do with the cards reporting zero and was attributable to something else, and (b) the 10 point drop was attributable to the new inquiry, new account, shorter average age of accounts, shorter age of youngest account, and higher overall revolving utilization percentage.

It would be of interest to see what the negative reason codes were for reports 1, 2, and 3.

[Anonymous]

I'm in the same boat

[Anonymous]

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@Bees18 wrote:

To make it worse a week later my third card reported that was opened in December and I lost another 10 pets.

My amount of credit actually increased by 15k, and my credit is not over a year old total so not understanding that drop either.

With these two thing should my score went from 771 to 741 and even letting a card report a balance did not fix it.

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I have a short credit history as well, and in December when my report showed my age of oldest account at 1 year, I lost 19 points at Experian and 20 points at Equifax from 1 new inquiry on each. Zero inquiries at both before that.