Why would a credit increase lower my score? Capital One Journey increased my CLI from 300 to 3,000.00! That's GOOD, right? It only fell by 1 point on EX, but still. I thought that, if anything, the CLI increase should have a positive affect on the scores. Similarly, EQ lowered my score by 4 points because my account balance fell from 91.00 to 0.00. Again this does not make sense. My accounts are all set to pay in full each month, so...lol what am I doing wrong here?
Starting Score: 630
Hey there. In regards to the CLI, my guess is that something else happened in the background. As you said, a CLI shouldn't decrease your score.
Paying off all your cards to zero can actually lower you score. The most widely accepted method is to have all cards report zero except one that reports 1-9% UTIL.
@-NewGuy- wrote:Hey there. In regards to the CLI, my guess is that something else happened in the background. As you said, a CLI shouldn't decrease your score.
Paying off all your cards to zero can actually lower you score. The most widely accepted method is to have all cards report zero except one that reports 1-9% UTIL.
I used my capital one card AND my Walmart card this month...does that mean my score will go down even more if I pay them both off again?
Just pay one card off, and let the other report a balance of 1-9% UTL and see what that does to your score then. Sometimes you have to test it out to get the results you may be looking for..Good Luck!
@Mshellt wrote:
@-NewGuy- wrote:Hey there. In regards to the CLI, my guess is that something else happened in the background. As you said, a CLI shouldn't decrease your score.
Paying off all your cards to zero can actually lower you score. The most widely accepted method is to have all cards report zero except one that reports 1-9% UTIL.
I used my capital one card AND my Walmart card this month...does that mean my score will go down even more if I pay them both off again?
Not at all, UTIL has no memory. You don't have to worry about your score going down more for continuing to do so in the future. Honestly, as far this goes, I only do this when I'm going to app for something. Otherwise, I put convenience and rewards and finances before score.
...NewGuy is right, once you've PIF'd all your CC accounts, your score won't decrease again for continuing to do so
...but if you don't PIF just one card (preferably your lowest interest one) and keep the utilization rate between 3-9% your scores will often actually increase
...this is again usually a one time phenomenom ...hth
@RobertEG wrote:Did you apply for the CLI, or was it granted via the creditor's own internal review?
Stated differently, did you also get a hard pull when getting the CLI?
I did click the "request credit increase" button, but I think it was a soft pull because I did not receive an alert for a hard pull.
Yeah, usually if you are going to get a hard pull they will place a disclaimer pretty prominently around the CLI button.