I have two open CD on my CR. A cap1 Venture 30k limit and a secured PC to a platinum 1.3k limit. My Venture is at 0% UTL (no balance), my platinum was at 2% UTL ($29 balance). My EX score was 735, a couple hours ago I received an alert that I had an EX balance change on one of my accounts. I usually keep 1% on my Venture and 0% on my Platinum, I didn’t pay the balance on the Platinum last month before the card reported to the CB but I wasn’t late because I had $0 due by the due date. I paid the Platinum off as usual before the statement cut this month. The alert said my balance on the Platinum is now $0 (which it should be) but my EX score dropped 20 points, there are no other changes on my CR. TU and EQ haven’t changed.
Why the change in the EX score from going from 2% down to %?
The funny/weird thing is 15 days ago I got an alert from TU “The total balance on all your personal finance accounts has changed.” My mortgage and auto loan balances decreased (because of regular payments) and my TU score went up one point from this balance change.
Please somebody, give me a rational explanation……
Just received another alert...Eq dropped 13 points. 739 to 726?
I want to make sure I'm understanding your post. You have $0 in revolving accouts reporting, correct? This will drop your score, but only until you have a balance report again. The scoring system can't give you all the points for revolving history if it doesn't "see" that you use the card. It see's your usage through showing a balance. Luckily, this is an easy fix because FICO has no memory when it comes to utilization. It will correct itself next time your card reports a balance.
@medicgrrl wrote:I want to make sure I'm understanding your post. You have $0 in revolving accouts reporting, correct? This will drop your score, but only until you have a balance report again. The scoring system can't give you all the points for revolving history if it doesn't "see" that you use the card. It see's your usage through showing a balance. Luckily, this is an easy fix because FICO has no memory when it comes to utilization. It will correct itself next time your card reports a balance.
Yes, as of now I have zero balance reporting. I did not realize that you could actually have a lower score with a zero balance compared to showing a balance. I thought zero balance was a good thing. So I should let one card report a balance but pay it off before the due date to avoid interest? I heard about this but I did not know for sure if it was the right thing to do. I guess I just got lucky with my scores because I would let my Venture show a 1-2% UTL most of the time not realizing my scores dropped when I paid both cards off. Within the past 7 weeks I started getting alerts when changes are made to my CR. Thanks for the info! 
@Anonymous wrote:
Virtually the exact same thing happened to me. Forgot to leave a small balance for reporting purposes. The next time I left a balance the points came back.
Thanks, I'll look for the points next week. My Venture card reports on the 2nd and it has a 1% UTL on it now.