Since the high utilization was from BT, then what was your utilization both individual and overall, when that score was at 771?
I don't have great data around FICO 9 but I did notice it's far more sensitive to recent information like inquiries than anything that came before it. Surely looked like on EX FICO 9 I dropped literally 40 points for an inquiry, but unlike other models I think there may be some additional aging factors in there with regards to inquiries too.
Sadly EX doesn't provide FICO 9 scores with their service, Experian gets all my inquiries when I actually apply for things and Penfed doesn't give me FICO 9 scores often enough to really track anything concretely even with how static my file is.
@msrecruiter wrote:
Okay...I can. I have plenty availability on my NFCU cards. I will balance transfer some of the Chase card. My AAOA was previously around 15 years old...but those 2 cards, evidently, quickly changed that!
AAoA was 15 yrs, what did it drop to with the new accounts? I think you may have a few things attributing to that loss. Maxed UTL on one acct, reset of AoYA, INQ's and if you overall UTL was below 9% and went to 12% that's another factor bu crossing an overall UTL threshold. I suppose all together could account for such a loss. Are you sure there were no other changes by review of before and after and not solely alerts?
@msrecruiter wrote:
Positive I had no other changes but the BT. I didn’t add any debt and my FICO 9 was 771 in December and then I opened the 2 cards to transfer the balances. Again, I can’t pay off immediately but I can in 1.5 years. Since I’m on 1.99% or lower, I thought to leave the savings alone and pay it off in 18 months. I’m assuming my logic is flawed?
No. Always do what's best for you financially. Savings are extremely important and financial health - cash - is QUEEN (or KING). I wouldn't dip into my savings either if I could drag payments out for 18 months at a super low rate. Just move things around a bit to space out the debt between cards to reduce individual util. Your aggregate util is fine.
