TU drop w/less accts reporting balance

[patoot10]

I like to follow FICO 8 model using Discover and Synchrony bank. Discover showed 764 on 4/20 while Synchrony showed 761 today on 4/25.

The only action I had this month are two inquires hitting one year on the 18th and 25th.

On 4/6 my score was 762 so it made sense on the 20th to go up 2 points since 1 inquiry aged but I don't understand why would it go down 3 points when another inquiry aged today even if aging didn't help it should at least stay the same.

I usually keep 1 card reporting $1 to maximize my score (I think?) but this month I decided to change the reporting account to a different card and to avoid the gap both of them would report a $1 balance for a couple of days and given the statement dates I am sure that on the 20th both were reporting but between the 20th and 25th only one was reporting a balance (I know TU is slow with updates and I am keeping that in mind).

I also have an auto loan so a total of 2 accounts reporting balances. Could it be that the score model liked seeing more than one card reporting a balance ? .. Does it matter of the card reporting is a store or bank or charge card ?

[Revelate]

I am nearly 100% confident FICO 8 counts revolvers with balances rather than accounts.

That said if you mean charge card vis a vis AMEX yes that matters, but under FICO 8 I don’t believe there are other credit card/retail cards which are generally excluded though I forget the data on absurd limit cards and this model.

There is usually a date on the Synchrony pull IIRC, is it labeled as the 25th explicitly?

[Anonymous]

OP, it's usually a best practice to allow more than $1 to remain on your account for reporting purposes, as many lenders "forgive" ultra tiny balances (say under $5) and will report them as $0.  You aren't gaining anything with the reporting of $1 verses $10, $20, etc. up to at least 8.9% of the credit limit, so this may be something you want to consider rethinking going forward just to be safe.

[patoot10]

Revelate,

Whenever I want to pull a fresh TU 8 I enroll from FICO then enroll back and it pulls a fresh copy on any of my synchrony cards. I did that today.

I know charge cards don't count under in utilization but both of the accounts in question are regular bank card and a store card.

[patoot10]

Brutal,

Thanks. I am fairly aware of balance cancellation rules per issuer and the $1 usually shows on the report which saves you from falling into the no usage drop.

[Anonymous]

Usually yes, but always no.  If your goal is to be 100% certain that a card reports a [non-zero] balance, using $1 isn't the way to accomplish that.  You can do whatever works for you, I'm just looking out for your best interest here, that's all.

[Anonymous]

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@patoot10 wrote:

Whenever I want to pull a fresh TU 8 I enroll from FICO then enroll back and it pulls a fresh copy on any of my synchrony cards. I did that today.

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Can you elaborate a bit on this process, as I'm a bit confused as to what product you're using exactly and how it ties into Synchrony cards?

[patoot10]

https://i.imgur.com/ybrcE0W.png