@Anonymous wrote:
Over the last month, I've been paying my cards off. My scores for each have been increasing on average +13 points for each paid off card except for Experian. I paid off my Citi balance and TU and EQ both increased by 16 but on Ex it says your balance decreased by 1177 and 0 change but I applied for a 5000 loan through a credit union and EX says new inquiry +5. How is that possible that I decrease a balance by 1100.00 and no change but add inquiry and get +5? There is over a 20 point difference between TU/EQ and EX.
Inquiries don't increase FICO scores. It sounds like the net gain between the two events (balance paydown + inquiry) was +5 points. This could mean you gained (say) 11 for the balance paydown, then lost (say) 6 for the inquiry. The result is positive 5.
Keep in mind that your scores can only change when report data changes. If you pay down a card for example and that new reported balance lands on 2 bureaus but not the third, you can only see a score change related to those 2 bureaus as they're the only ones that have new data that can yield a new score related to the balance change.
Paying down balances is always a great thing and will raise FICO scores. It all has to do with crossing utilization thresholds, though. There's no such thing is receiving an average of X points gain per card paid down or anything, as different cards have different balances and limits. It's possible to pay down $100 on a card and see a 10 point gain, then pay down $3000 on your next card and see no gain at all.
