Credit Scores are Weird!

[Anonymous]

I thought I was getting the hang of this credit score thing but now I am again baffled. I recently went on vacation and used both my credit cards which I hadn't used in a while. I have now paid them both off but that it not yet reflected in the reporting.

I received the following notifications: 

Equifax The balance on one of your accounts has increased by $476 Score Increase of 7 points to 668

TransUnion The balance on all your Bankcard account(s) has changed Score Drop of 33 points to 618

I don't use the cards and my score stays steady. I start using them as I thought I was supposed to and one score jumps and the other tanks. What am I doing wrong? UGH!

[DollyLama]

Did you wait until the statement cut before paying off in full?  Are all cards at 0 balance with exception of 1 at <8.9% utilization now? 

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I thought I was getting the hang of this credit score thing but now I am again baffled. I recently went on vacation and used both my credit cards which I hadn't used in a while. I have now paid them both off but that it not yet reflected in the reporting.

I received the following notifications: 

Equifax The balance on one of your accounts has increased by $476 Score Increase of 7 points to 668

TransUnion The balance on all your Bankcard account(s) has changed Score Drop of 33 points to 618

I don't use the cards and my score stays steady. I start using them as I thought I was supposed to and one score jumps and the other tanks. What am I doing wrong? UGH!

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You're assuming that the score changes and the alert contents are causally related. They're not.

It's very confusing, but the MyFICO alerts don't provide reasons for a score change.
There are certain events, such as a balance change, which trigger MyFICO alerts.
If there happens to be any difference between your present score at that particular bureau,
and the previous score reported to you from that bureau, the score change is tacked on to the alert.
There is not necessarily any connection at all between the score change and the alert substance.

[Anonymous]

Helpful. Thank you.
Maybe I'll get this figured out one day!

[Anonymous]

People like SouthJ and DollyL are pretty generous with their time.  And they know  a lot about this stuff..  If you just run your general situation by them, they can probably tell you some basic stuff to do that will in the long run help your scores a lot.

So you may be able to learn a lot without relying on yourself to figure it all out.

[Anonymous]

Thanks CreditGuy. Any tips for me from the experts?
I had quite a few collections that were paid off at the end of last year. Some of them remain on my report but show a $0 balance. I also had defaulted on my furniture account but paid that off however it's still showing "120 days past due" in the status with a $0 balance. Annoying.
I have never been late on my 2 credit cards but was often using the full limit. I had one 30 day late on my car loan.
My only open accounts are my credit cards, car loan, and a jewelry account that's also been paid off but had quite a few lates.
Anything you can think of to help me get a good jump in my score would be helpful!

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Hey CGID, SJ, etc...

Don't you guys think it would be worthwhile for myFICO to put some sort of disclaimer or notation that alerts and score changes are often unrelated?  I feel like many of our members such as the OP above are mislead by this, as evidenced by almost a thread per day on this topic.  You have to think, then, how many times more members are thinking the same thing but never post about it and go on with their life completely misguided?  I don't know who would be responsible for considering such a minor amendment, but I think it would be extremely beneficial.

[sarge12]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hey CGID, SJ, etc...

Don't you guys think it would be worthwhile for myFICO to put some sort of disclaimer or notation that alerts and score changes are often unrelated?  I feel like many of our members such as the OP above are mislead by this, as evidenced by almost a thread per day on this topic.  You have to think, then, how many times more members are thinking the same thing but never post about it and go on with their life completely misguided?  I don't know who would be responsible for considering such a minor amendment, but I think it would be extremely beneficial.

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BBS...+100 on this...the alerts should carry a disclaimer such as...if a score changed, it is not to be assumed that it is due to the subject matter of the alert. They may be unrelated. As it is now, someone sees an alert for say, an inquiry. They also see the score dropped 10 points and get the mistaken impression that an inquiry = 10 points. Then later they have an inquiry alert again and score increases 5 points...that is when their head explodes. People have got to start realising they are just providing 2 facts, just as the newspaper may have on article about a murder, and also say there was a record high temperature in the weather section. You just can't put these 2 things together and say the record high temperature caused the murder.

[Anonymous]

I agree, guys. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I agree, guys. 

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Realistically, is there anything that can be done about this in your opinion?