FICO 9 Question

[Grim87]

Hi everyone - I recently paid off a credit card with a 13k limit. My utilization is now down to less than 40%. In doing so, my FICO 9 dropped by roughly 30 points, but FICO 8 went up by a few points. So strange!

Should I put a small balance back on the card to bring the FICO 9 back up? If so, what % is the sweet spot?

No negatives on my file or any other things that could have dropped it. 

Thanks everyone

[SouthJamaica]

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@Grim87 wrote:

Hi everyone - I recently paid off a credit card with a 13k limit. My utilization is now down to less than 40%. In doing so, my FICO 9 dropped by roughly 30 points, but FICO 8 went up by a few points. So strange!

Should I put a small balance back on the card to bring the FICO 9 back up? If so, what % is the sweet spot?

No negatives on my file or any other things that could have dropped it. 

Thanks everyone

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No you shouldn't do anything. I assume you're getting your score from NFCU's July 3rd update, which is based on stale data and is incorrect.

Paying off a balance like that wouldn't hurt your FICO 9 in any way, it would only help, just as it helped your FICO 8.

[Grim87]

Interesting. I actually pulled my FICO through MyFico once I saw it update. I'll keep an eye on it, maybe it was too soon to pull. 

[SouthJamaica]

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@Grim87 wrote:

Interesting. I actually pulled my FICO through MyFico once I saw it update. I'll keep an eye on it, maybe it was too soon to pull. 

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1. Is the new account balance reported in the report you pulled?

2. If so, is that new balance reported in all 3 of the bureaus?

3. What are the 3 FICO 9 scores you have?

[Anonymous]

Thanks @Grim87  and @SouthJamaica  I had a similar situation so I'll be listening closely while you two sort this one out! 

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks @Grim87  and @SouthJamaica  I had a similar situation so I'll be listening closely while you two sort this one out! 

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Like I say NFCU's July 3rd EQ FICO 9 update is bogus.

[Anonymous]

Yeah the only way you would possibly see a score decrease for paying down a balance (excluding all zero penalty) is on version 9 is if you came out of the high utilization scorecard, and we don’t know exactly what the predicates are to be placed in that scorecard yet.

What was your utilization percentage on the card you paid off? Was it your highest individually utilized card?

[Grim87]

Yep it was. I was at about 90% utilization on it. 

[Anonymous]

@Grim87 Well then that could be that, but we’re still learning about that, so we don’t know exactly what triggers it.

Would be nice for community data points if you would list all of your individual utilizations. This is something we’re actually trying to figure out.

Since your source was not Navy, we know your fico 9 went down for sure? How much of a point change? And what utilization did that card go to?