Amex charge card balance moved my score?

[PointLager]

Hi guys

Has anyone ever seen their scores moved by a charge card balance?

My EX FAKO history;

8m credit history

4 inquiries as of Dec
3k unused revolving lines (3 of them)
Score was 730 (same as before my 3rd revolver and PRG were reported )
First Jan Amex PRG statement showing $3500 balance.


I then did an app spree earlier this week, adding three more HP to my file
Approved for $5k CSP (received and activated but not reporting yet) and Amex SPG 5k (not yet received)

The HPs dropped my FAKO from 730 to 721

Today I checked EX and my FAKO shot up to 734. No new accounts reporting. The only changes are my new Amex PRG balance is $2500 and one of my revolvers was $30.

Did the fact that I had nothing on revolvers keep me low before and now that I have $30 on it my score is higher or did the $1k drop in Amex PRG month over month somehow boost my score? I thought that revolvers don't affect scores.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

[blondy250]

Charge cards affect scores, TU fico that is offered on this site takes it into more scoring account then say TU08 does. It's a common misconception that charge card balances (in this case Amex) don't affect credit score, they do to a lesser extent then typical credit cards. You should also realize that FAKO scores are for entertainment value exclusively.

[user5387]

One issue is how charge cards affect utilization, since there's no stated CL.

Sometimes the high balance is used as the limit, and you might appear to be maxed out in such a case.

There are lots of threads here that discuss the issue.

[PointLager]

Thanks for the feedback guys

Unfortunately I can't get a Myfico number because they insist on 2 yrs of history. Plus I don't have any file with EQ. This is why I need to rely on FAKO scores as proxies for FICO.

[PointLager]

What's interesting is that when PRG reported my first statement at 3.5k it didn't affect my score whatsoever.

[pizzadude]

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@PointLager wrote:
Thanks for the feedback guys

Unfortunately I can't get a Myfico number because they insist on 2 yrs of history. Plus I don't have any file with EQ. This is why I need to rely on FAKO scores as proxies for FICO.

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I would ignore the FAKO scores, as they don't follow the same scoring rules as FICO and many times can't be correlated at all.   Just focus on keep your utilization low, and removing any negatives / lates ( if you have any ).

Also FICO scoring ( except for TU98 FICO sold here ) doesn't take the balance into account for calculating your revolving utilization, however it does count as a card with a balance.   

[PointLager]

I figured out why my score jumped.  I missed the fact that my new 3x CLI on Delta Amex was reported.  So it wasn't the $1k drop in charge card balance month over month but the 3x CLI on the revolver.

Not bad.  So just the CLI alone bumped me higher than I was before this week's tripple HP spree.    And my CSP and SPG are yet to get added. ($10k combined)