I used one of my credit cards yesterday and charged $54 on it. The CL is $3500 and the $54 is the total balance. It was charged yesterday so it cannot be a delinquency. I have no other credit card debt and total lines of $15K so this charge is minimal in my Utilization. My only other debt is a mortgage which is always paid on time.
Today I get two notifications from MyFICO - that the $54 INCREASED my score at Experian by 3 points and in the same day the same $54 LOWERED my score on Equifax by 2 points.
@Anonymous wrote:I used one of my credit cards yesterday and charged $54 on it. The CL is $3500 and the $54 is the total balance. It was charged yesterday so it cannot be a delinquency. I have no other credit card debt and total lines of $15K so this charge is minimal in my Utilization. My only other debt is a mortgage which is always paid on time.
Today I get two notifications from MyFICO - that the $54 INCREASED my score at Experian by 3 points and in the same day the same $54 LOWERED my score on Equifax by 2 points.
You err when you assume that the notification is indicating that the reported event caused the change of score. It should be thought of as an "and" statement. It lets you know of a triggering change in your report and also lets you know your score which might have changed for an unrelated non-triggering event that also was in your report. This admittedly causes mass confusion for many who wrongly think the reported credit score change is because of the reported alert which rarely is the case.
and on the third CB, Transunion, I lost 14 points. All for the same $54. I am temptred to sock drawer all cards. Use them, your score goes down. Pay them, your score goes down. Don't use them and your score goes up.
@sarge12 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I used one of my credit cards yesterday and charged $54 on it. The CL is $3500 and the $54 is the total balance. It was charged yesterday so it cannot be a delinquency. I have no other credit card debt and total lines of $15K so this charge is minimal in my Utilization. My only other debt is a mortgage which is always paid on time.
Today I get two notifications from MyFICO - that the $54 INCREASED my score at Experian by 3 points and in the same day the same $54 LOWERED my score on Equifax by 2 points.
You err when you assume that the notification is indicating that the reported event caused the change of score. It should be thought of as an "and" statement. It lets you know of a triggering change in your report and also lets you know your score which might have changed for an unrelated non-triggering event that also was in your report. This admittedly causes mass confusion for many who wrongly think the reported credit score change is because of the reported alert which rarely is the case.
The only other event that happened within the same month was I made another payment my mortgage, bringing the balance down another $800 or so, but that hsn't been reported yet. I have three open accounts - Chase (which is this transaction) with a $3500 CL, Amex (no blance, no activity) with a $12,000 CL and my mortgage (original balance $100,000 opened in August 2017, current balance $94,000 and always current). There simply is nothing else there that is open.
@Anonymous wrote:and on the third CB, Transunion, I lost 14 points. All for the same $54. I am temptred to sock drawer all cards. Use them, your score goes down. Pay them, your score goes down. Don't use them and your score goes up.
The balance change is only a trigger to pull data and then have score re-calculated. It is highly unlikely that trivial balance change itself is the influencing factor here. Interestingly, your TU data was pulled a day earlier than EQ and EX. It's hard to offer up a root cause as it would involve too much speculation given the available information.
OP it happens. Just yesterday my anuual fee for the Venture posted. (Forgot to call) I have always been AZEO. Venture has always reported 0. I use 1 card for the 1-3% reporting. 2 and 1/2 yrs of that one card going up and down within 5-10 bucks doesnt change my scores. Now that 2 of 5 cards will have a balance reported. I got the same 3 point deduction. It will go back up once the Venture reports 0 next month. YMMV.
@Anonymous wrote:and on the third CB, Transunion, I lost 14 points. All for the same $54. I am temptred to sock drawer all cards. Use them, your score goes down. Pay them, your score goes down. Don't use them and your score goes up.
I would strongly advise against changing credit behavior based on an alert that triggers a new pull and assuming that the alert is what caused the change. My scores have varied between 790-831 since probably 2010. Just practice what is time tested...AZEO(although utilization is only point in time affect), perfect payment history, no derogs, good credit mix...etc. A person could go insane micro-managing credit and adjusting behaviors on the small drops and rises of their score. You should monitor it for huge drops...if it drops 50 points then yes, you should look for the reason. Any score over 760 is really just for bragging rights anyway and life is too short to sweat the insignificant tiny swings of credit scores IMHO. I have one card that is used only by my sister that is at about 50% utilization, but she pays that, and it is low interest. All my other cards get any balances paid weekly, and I have over 15 of them, so I do not even worry about statement cut dates and such, and if more than the 1 reports, that is fine.