UTL goes up and Score follows ??

[Creditwiser]

So I let my Cap 1 bal report as I normally PIF. 3k CL.  Prev bal was $290 and this latest statement reported $490.  This morning I receieved a notification that my EX score increased by 15 pts and my UTL on the account went from 9% to 16%   REALLY?  Theyre giving me 15 pts for an increased balance ?   I check the report against a previous report and nothing else has reported or changed.  I thought account UTL was optimum between 1 - 9% ?   Just when you think you have this game figured out.  Whatever, I'll take the15 pts.

[Anonymous]

More than likely the increase was caused by some unknown reason that just happened to correspond to the timing of the utilization.  There are specific changes that cause an update to your score ( see link) but there are a lot more things that can cause a score decrease or increase that don't trigger an alert.  This is why we see many threads about someone for example reporting a score decrease when they paid their balances.  The updates can seem contradictory to the reason stated but in reality has nothing to do with the score change.

[Creditwiser]

You make sense when you put it that way. Thanks for that. It seems someone could make some serious money developing consumer software that could "actually" simulate scores based on the CR data you enter. A program with substance and not the typical FAKO Score simutator.

[Anonymous]

not bad!

[NRB525]

OP, you came out of BK7 last July? That means you are putting together a new string of "no baddies" by making payments on time every month. As you add those, your score increases from the low levels held down by the derogs, as it climbs toward average.

The utilization bit is not boosting your score. It just happens to coincide with another month of positive payments.

Remember: The single biggest influence of your score is to not miss any payments. When you have a short credit history, or are rising out of a major derog, then the monthly payments show larger in your score.

[Creditwiser]

Excellent information . Thank you all. And yes, BK disch July 14.  If it wasnt enough of a surprise, my TU just bumped up 4 pts to 689. It says " Balance increase, All Bank Card" and it indicates that my total revolving balance has increased a bit. Not all of my cards have a balance.  I cant believe it, I am 11 pts from 700.

Thanks again for chiming in on this and the great explanations. 

[NRB525]

More good news on your score then.

I thought more about my explanation, and here is my revised version:

Everyone here on MyFICO (or at least those who have been here for a while) does not miss payments on their credit cards. And yet, No Missed Payments is the foundation of FICO scoring. So, because no one misses payments, we don't factor in the opposite of that, making payments on time. We don't see the result of missing a payment (or only rarely) and that, I am sure, is a DRASTIC drop in the FICO score.

For those like OP who are getting back from a significant negative, MyFICO diligently reports the usual triggers as a "cause" of the score change. However, what is not being explicitly reported along with this is, the real CR report item:

1) The balance went up $xx (we see this, and sometimes it makes no sense)

2) The cardholder made another on time payment. (this is presumed, and we lose sight of it because of the explicit notice)

I think that in these cases, we don't see the alert "You made an on time payment! Congratulations! Way to go!" Because it would just look ridiculous. It is expected, it is the baseline behavior. And yet, that is really, at root, what is improving a FICO score, even for those who are getting up to 800 and above: years and years of not hearing "You made another on time payment! Way to go!" years of just making those payments because it's the right thing to do.