Another drop

[demi]

Just got another credit alert, my score on Equifax dropped 4 points because Discover was paid off !  All three scores dropped in the last week, all that is happening (under a debt management plan) is things are getting paid off.....getting near the end of it, I am starting to freak that the scores I have worked for are going down. 

Is it likely that this is just a temporary decrease ?  I am purchasing a house, which is currently in the building permit stage....so they will be rechecking again in a few months...my scores are all in the 670-680 range right now, and I am doing FHA, so I know its not critical....but its really beginning to bug me !

[demi]

OK, I have an idea. It seems as I pay things off, my credit scores drop. I only have 4 cards left to pay off...my debt management plan basically has paid off the higher interest ones, what is left are all about the same interest rates, they are paying off the smaller ones first. What if I talked to them and asked them to apply the extra payments which are now going to the smaller ones to the largest, so although they would be paid off in the same amount of time, they would not be paid off individually as fast, just the total amount paid down....would this potentially help my score ? I am most concerned about the next 4 months or so....I have about 6 months left of payments. House is about to start construction, they will pull credit again about 1 1/2 months before anticipated final? Any sense to this idea ?

[RobertEG]

Your total % util will obviously be the same either way.  FICO also scores individual cards according to thier %util, and also scores overall based on the percent of total open cards with balances.  So you have two opotions.  One, try to get the higher %util cards down ASAP to a reasonable level, or two, concentrate on getting as many of the four remaining down to zero balance before they pull your report, thus improving the % of cards with balances.   In the ideal case, try to PIF at least one card, and get each of the remaining down to a reasonable level.  Either way, the interest rate on each card is immaterial to FCIO scoring, and thus should not be considered in your strategy.  Lowering %util by reducing balances on the highest %util cards, and reducing the number of total cards with balances are your short term focus.

[demi]

Its just weird, it seems like everytime one is paid off, it drops a few points.  All but one will be paid off in 2-3 months under the current plan, they will all be paid off in 5-6 months.  Its just weird, 4 months ago when they were first pulled, and I still owed 11,000 or so, the score was higher...only change, other than paying off, has been the hard pulls to check...which dropped them 2 points, but that was 4 months ago.  Oh well, it does seem to be a game.    One report will tell me that 18 years 1 month of credit history is helping, another says its not established enough !!!