How Did I Get a Lower Score with a Generous Credit Card Payment

[PDXBaby]

I am trying to improve my credit to get a renovation loan.  So this month I put a few thousand dollars toward my credit cards.  However, this actually made my FICO score DECLINE!  I am not understanding why.  I did not pay them completely off and I have no other marks.  I was 2 points away from a new loan and now I am 12.  It is so frustrating.  I haven't foudn anything that expalins why this might happen.   Any ideas?

Thanks!

[user5387]

Are you certain that the score was calculated based on updated balances on your reports?

The fact that you've paid down a balance may not be reflected on your report for some time.

Also, where are you getting your scores from?

[PDXBaby]

I got the scores from here.  It also shows the updated balances.  I cannot figue out what happened.  There is nothing else new on my report.  I can't figure it out.

[user5387]

I don't know the answer based on the information available.

Beyond issues of reporting and updating, another angle might be to ask how much your payment lowered your utilization.

Typically the best score improvements occur when utilization is lowered dramatically, for example from 80% to 10%.  In contrast, lowering your utilization from say 60% to 50% will not have nearly the same effect.

FICO scoring also looks at per-card utilization, and high individual utilizations or maxing out a card hurts you, as does a high proportion of cards with balances.

Beyond the utilization angle, it's worth asking if anything else has changed -- derogatories showing up, new accounts, lowered AAoA, hard pulls, and so on.

[AndySoCal]

Compare  the score reasons on the credit report before you made the payments and the credit report after you made the payments.  The score reasons are in order of impact. What changed is the there a new score reason or did the order of the reasons change or both? Below is a link  that might help you with the score reasons meaning. Hope this helps

http://www.scoreinfo.org/FICO-Scores/Pages/Score-Factors.aspx