How can I fix this score decrease?

[Anonymous]

I had a $16 balance on my Synchrony Amazon card when it reported last month. I paid the balance in full and this month it reported at $0. Nothing else changed on my report. My score dropped 13-14 points with all three bureaus. WHY?

I'm an AU on two cards. If I let one of them report with a similarly small balance will that undo the damage? They both normally report at $0 and I leave a small balance on my Amazon card. I don't know what I was thinking paying it down to $0. Ugh!

[Anonymous]

The AU cards should not be included in your utilization so leaving a small balance on once of them probably will not correct the drop in score. Need to show some sort of utilization on revolving accounts.

[Anonymous]

Thank you. If I let it report with a small balance next month will that correct it? 

[simplynoir]

Yes, as long as it's on your Synch card.

[Anonymous]

That's what I will do then. Thank you for your input. 

[Anonymous]

Always leave 1 with a small balance. And others at 0.

[Anonymous]

As the others have stated, just let 1 small balance report and you'll be right back to where you were.

That's how FICO scoring works.  Any event that drops your score X points, the inverse of the event raises it X points.

If you go from 1% utilization to 78% utilization and your score drops 81 points, going from 78% utilization to 1% utilization will make you gain 81 points.

If you have a negative item land on your credit report and your score drops 52 points, having that negative item removed would cause you to gain those 52 points back.

A new inquiry added may cause you to lose 7 points.  Once it no longer counts (1 year mark) you'll see 7 points come back.

Etc.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymouswrote:

I had a $16 balance on my Synchrony Amazon card when it reported last month. I paid the balance in full and this month it reported at $0. Nothing else changed on my report. My score dropped 13-14 points with all three bureaus. WHY?

I'm an AU on two cards. If I let one of them report with a similarly small balance will that undo the damage? They both normally report at $0 and I leave a small balance on my Amazon card. I don't know what I was thinking paying it down to $0. Ugh!

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FICO 8 penalizes you for having all cards report zero balance. The penalty is removed if you have one card report a small balance.