I think your +15 points came from some other activity besides increasing the number of accounts reporting a balance.
@BobbyInCO wrote:I had a curious score jump of 15 points on my Experian and wasn't expecting it.
Usually I will pay in full each month before statement cuts but let a couple report a small balance to keep my overall utilization at about 1-2%. Since I'm not headed for a mortgage soon, I decided to just let them report and take advantage of the grace period. After a couple of weeks, 13 of my 20 accounts had a reported balance but overall utilization is about the same (tiny bit higher at just over 2%). No aging milestones in the works & no baddies on report or fallen off, but I do have one new inquiry for US Bank where the new account is not yet reported.
I am curious about the number of accounts with balances and how it affects a score. I frequently saw that reason on credit scores as a negative so was expecting my score to go down not up with the balances spread across accounts.
Sometimes it costs a few points, especially in the mortgage scores. As @AllZero points out, an increase in accounts with balances would not cause an increase in scores.
Congratulations! AoYA reaching one year is in line with reported 15 point increase.
