This morning, I received a notification from Experian regarding a score increase. Logged on to check it out, and my score jumped 25 points (from 627 to 652) due to Discover reporting my PIF balance mid-cycle. It was only a $350 balance so I'm pleasantly surprised by the sharp jump. This jump also gives me hope for a massive score increase once my U.S. Bank balance is updated on my reports. Sitting at 652 with a reported 53% revolving utilization, but once Cash+ balance updates total Util will be ~3%.
Hoping to get approved for my first Amex this month. Hopefully this increase will help!
Congrats on the score jump! Did you do anything to your account to trigger the mid-cycle update?
@19eighty5 wrote:Congrats on the score jump! Did you do anything to your account to trigger the mid-cycle update?
Thanks! I know that U.S. Bank always reports at the end of the month, so I spoke with a Discover agent and asked them to update mid-cycle. Since I'm planning to complete an app or two in the coming days, my goal was to have any potential score boost hit my reports within a shorter period of time.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Batsamandrobin wrote:This morning, I received a notification from Experian regarding a score increase. Logged on to check it out, and my score jumped 25 points (from 627 to 652) due to Discover reporting my PIF balance mid-cycle. It was only a $350 balance so I'm pleasantly surprised by the sharp jump. This jump also gives me hope for a massive score increase once my U.S. Bank balance is updated on my reports. Sitting at 652 with a reported 53% revolving utilization, but once Cash+ balance updates total Util will be ~3%.
Hoping to get approved for my first Amex this month. Hopefully this increase will help!
First, congratulations on the score increase.
Second, can you be a bit more specific regarding the details of your balances/utilization? You said Discover reported your "PIF balance" which was $350. A few things need clarification here. Was the $350 the total balance on the card, meaning you paid it to $0 and Discover reported $0, or was the statement balance $350 (and perhaps your current balance greater) so you paid down the $350 leaving a non-zero balance that was reported? The credit limit on this card is crucial here as well. Basically what I'm looking for was your balance/limit on your Discover card as it was reported prior to your mid-cycle reporting request, then your balance/limit post-mid-cycle reporting.
The 53% utilization that you reference, I'm not sure what that represents. It could be your aggregate utilization post-Discover paydown... it could be an individual card utilization, etc. I just want to clarify on that. What was your Cash+ balance/limit before/after that paydown that will report? Are these your only 2 CCs? If there are others, it would be beneficial knowing the data on them as well. Based on what you report back with, it would be much easier for us to ballpark your next potential score gain in knowing the exact cause (from FICOs eyes) of your recent score gain.
Thank you for your reply! To try and clarify based on some of your questions, the $350 Discover balance was the reported balance as of the last statement cut. I only have a $500 limit on that card, so I assume the fact that card went from 70% Util to 0 is mostly responsible for the score increase.
The 53% utilization represents my currently reported overall utilization, including the changes with Discover reporting at $0. The balance on my Cash+ was at $7200/7500 (so maxed out) at the end of last month, but the updated balance that will report this month is $350/7500. I have a few other cards of my own, which all currently sit at $0, and am an AU on another card that reports a high balance. I have asked the cardholder to remove me as an AU on that card because I never use it and it's hurting my scores. The AU card only shows on EQ for some reason. Total balances relative to total limits on this month's report will be $350/13700. No late payments, baddies, etc.
Currents scores:
EQ: 608 (again, this is the one that report AU account, which I believe explains why it's lower than others by wider margin).
EX: 652
TU: 665
Experian is the only bureau to update so far today, so others scores are based on last month's report.
@Anonymous wrote:
Interesting. Based on the data you provided, I'm actually surprised that you saw such a score gain. The 3 factors that can impact score in your situation in order of importance are aggregate utilization, highest individual card utilization and number/percentage of cards with balances reported.
In your situation, paying down that low limit card ($500) balance of $350 didn't impact the first/biggest factor much at all and definitely not across a threshold (upper 50s to 52% aggregate). The second factor also didn't change, as your highest utilization card is still your other (maxed out) one, even though you paid a 70% card down to 0%. What did change was your number/percentage of cards with a balance which went from 2 to 1 and 100% to 50%. I wouldn't think that factor would matter more than 5-10 points though, not 25.
I was equally surprised at the gain. Hopeful that I can jump to somewhere around 700 once the updated U.S. Bank balance reports (hopefully it will reflect by early next week) and that card goes from maxed out to <8.9%.
Update: received a 23 point boost on EQ.
OP do you have any lates of any kind on your reports?
@NRB525 wrote:
OP do you have any lates of any kind on your reports?
No lates/baddies/derogatory marks of any kind.