Spent a few grand on my vacation (last week of May)....

[Anonymous]

and my scores continue to plummet even though util was/is under 30%. 

[Anonymous]

your report will tell you the factors that are keeping your score down. what does the report say?

[Anonymous]

Every CC over one with a balance hurts your score marginally, even if it is only a a couple of points. Keeping balances under 10% helps, but my scores fluctuate a few points each month based on the number of cards reporting small balances. Moreover, if you go from under 10% balance on 1 card to under 30% overall utilization across multiple cards, your scores can go down significantly. The 30% rule, or even the 10% rule, are merely guidances for keeping your score from getting hurt too much. Optimally, you have one card with a low balance (under 10%) and every other card at zero balances. 

The good news, however, is that utilization won't permanently depress your score. Once you pay the balances off your scores will bounce back up as long as everything else in your profile is unchanged. Technically, this is impossible since the passage of time itself changes your profile. However, in general, your scores should be roughly the same as before once you pay the cards down. 

I hope you enjoyed that vacation though! 

[Anonymous]

vacations are memories, almost priceless, except they aren't.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

and my scores continue to plummet even though util was/is under 30%. 

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Hope you had a great time.    Sadly, the UT will kill it a bit.  I'm waiting for my furniture to hit.  Making some hefty payments right now but will still owe a bit.  Another one of those eye closers for me!    Maybe I shouldn't look next month at all!  Could be what we need to do when we put some $$$ on our cards.  At least until they're under 9%.  

[Anonymous]

lost 4 on experian and 7 on equifax   :GET THIS:     My Venture card went from less than 1% util to 10% util.  It's madness out there.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

lost 4 on experian and 7 on equifax   :GET THIS:     My Venture card went from less than 1% util to 10% util.  It's madness out there.

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That explains part of the drop