FICO SCORING IS STILL A MYSTERY TO ME

Anonymous · ‎09-01-2017

Hi everyone. Today I pulled my 3B scores and reports using Experian Creditworks and I really cannot justify how the scores could jump up or go down so drastically. Everything on my report has remained the same from August through Sept. Factors helping and hurting remained the same way. My scores from August were the ff:

EX: From 727 went down to 724

EQ: From 713 went down to 710

TU: From 726 went down to 713

What triggered this decrease in scores were a mystery since I have not missed any payments. Highest utilization on an individual account was 6% (Capital One) I purposely let that balance report to help with Cap1's annual review since I wanted the card to graduate to unsecured which it did so my plan worked. I had one other card from the previous months cycle that reported which was Discover for $10 0 - 1% utilization. So I could not figure out what trigged the decrease.

So I checked again today, being it's the beginning of the month. Mind you, nothing has changed on my usages just that the balance from Discover is gone since I did not let a new balance report, it just kept the $30 balance from Capital One that got reported in August's billing cycle. I was suprised to see my scores today once again has increased significantly. Now, I guess my question is, how do I keep them from decreasing anymore and to just keep going up and improving?

DollyLama · ‎09-01-2017

At statement cut, only let one card report a balance below the 8.9% of its' credit line. Looks as if your file is thin, 3 cards? So if 2 report a balance, that is over 50% of tradelines reporting.

Anonymous · ‎09-01-2017

I have 3 revolving accounts and one Charge card. So, just let one card report with a balance. Should I allow the same card to report a balance or can I rotate them monthly?

Anonymous · ‎09-01-2017

Rotating is not a bad thing to do, as long as it feels very easy to you. For some folks, it involves too much micromanaging of cards, and these people should not do it.

The key things are (a) keeping all cards at zero except one (AZEO) with the remaining card showing a smll balance and (b) making sure that any particular card gets used at least once every six months (to prevent closure due to inactivity).

As long as you are doing that, rotating does not give you any particular advantage.

Even AZEO is not important to do each month, unless you have some huge desire to have your score at its very highest every single month. Many folks therefore ignore AZEO except in the 40 days prior to an important credit pull.

Do note that the one card you choose to report a positive balance should not be a charge card. It needs to be a true credit card. If you have all credit cards reporting $0 (even if the charge card reports a balance) you will get a scoring penalty of about 20 points.

Anonymous · ‎09-01-2017

Now it's a bit more clear. Thank you so much for the advise CCGiD. For sometime my mentality was that as long as my general Utilization stayed low that it won't impact my scores, even if I had small balances on two or all cards. I do use and rotate all three accounts, but I'll make sure to just let one card report a balance. I am not in the market for any new cards, although next year I would like to qualify for a personal loan with a good interest rate to help with my moving. So I hope what I am doing now will gain me some favorable results next year.

@Anonymous wrote:
Rotating is not a bad thing to do, as long as it feels very easy to you. For some folks, it involves too much micromanaging of cards, and these people should not do it.

The key things are (a) keeping all cards at zero except one (AZEO) with the remaining card showing a smll balance and (b) making sure that any particular card gets used at least once every six months (to prevent closure due to inactivity).

As long as you are doing that, rotating does not give you any particular advantage.

Even AZEO is not important to do each month, unless you have some huge desire to have your score at its very highest every single month. Many folks therefore ignore AZEO except in the 40 days prior to an important credit pull.

Do note that the one card you choose to report a positive balance should not be a charge card. It needs to be a true credit card. If you have all credit cards reporting $0 (even if the charge card reports a balance) you will get a scoring penalty of about 20 points.