Paid off Credit Card, 0 Balance now, but Score Dropped 6 pts??!!??

[Anonymous]

I don't understand this.

I paid off the remaining balance to a Chase credit card, and it reported on July 17th as 0 balanc and account status Paid as Agreed....yet the same day my Fico score drops 6 points!

I don't understand!

Any ideas why....is this a Fico error?

[Anonymous]

It could be for any number of reasons.  Have you looked at your report?

Is this your only CC?  Do you have others with a balance reporting?

[Shogun]

If this was your only CC, then you are at 0% util.  Fico likes to see a small percentage of use.

[BackInTheSaddleAgain]

I did the same thing last month. As a general rule of thumb and concensus froms this board, I usually keep a small balance 5% to 9% on one of my cards. A small interest price to pay for maximum scores. However, just for shoots and giggles, last month I decided I would pay everything off and leave no balances on any of my cards whatsoever. ZERO across all 4 cards! Bang, my FICO scores dropped 15 points.

[Anonymous]

a bit funny, because a few months ago i found out that i actually gained 8 points when i went do to all 0 balances from having a single card reporting under 5%.

[Anonymous]

This was not my only credit card. I also have 2 Capital One cards (one actually was Ho, usehold Bank but bought out by Cap One few months ago.)

Had both of those about 5-7 years. Have a Helzberg and Firestone cards, student loans, mortgage, auto loan. The Chase may have been the oldest but it was also closed. It is the Chase that I finally paid off last month and it reported the 0 balance July 17 and tbe same day got the myfico alert that my score dropped 6 points as well.

[Shogun]

Do any of your other CCs have a balance?

[Anonymous]

Yes. Around 80-80% util on the Cap One cards, 75% on Helzberg, and 35% on Firestone.
Just weird, can't figure out why it would drop. Will be very curious to see what happens in next 30 days when all the tradelines get refreshed.

[Anonymous]

It could be due to your overall utilization being way too high.

If you paid off one and one of the others went up, it would have dropped.

[Anonymous]

I don't think that is the case either, as I had not used any of the other cards in past couple of months and been making payments on time....so those balances are coming downn as well.