*Updated* 15 pt score drop - trying to figure out the best way to proceed.

[Drwaz99]

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@Anonymous wrote:

OP, do you have access to negative reason statements provided with your report/score?  If so, looking at those can likely hand you the answer.  If you don't see a negative reason statement pertaining to "no recent revolving credit use" it has nothing to do with your payoff on the AU card, as the algorithm is still "seeing" the $299 balance on your other card. 

I think comparing your before/after negative reason statements would be your best bet in terms of understanding what changed.

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Here's a before/after picture from yesterday and today. I did misspeak earlier: I do have an Affirm Loan that was paid off and closed in Jan 2018. But it is still there (and I double checked after seeing the "No loan activity" pop up on the negatives on my report) and it hasn't fallen off. I did notice that "Recent Credit Usage" has fallen off. It's not listed as a negative, but it's gone from the positives. 

[SouthJamaica]

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@Drwaz99 wrote:

This morning I noticed that my EX F8 (via Experian CreditWorks) drop from 761 (yesterday) to 746 (today). While still in the very good range, I'm pretty sure I know why it dropped but I'm a bit OCD so I'd like to see what others have to say given my situation.

The only change that occurred overnight was an AU account I'm on went from 22/18,000 balance to zero. I have no derogs on my report and here's the rest of my balances:

Cap1 AU: 0/18,000
Barclays: 299/4000
TD/Samsung charge card: 0/3200
Sync Amazon Store: 0/3500

First question: It appears the dropping of the $22 balance from Cap1 pushed my score down but I'm not sure exactly why. Would that TL reporting zero be enough to round my utilization down to zero, effectively showing no credit usage? Yes, I have very low aggregate utilization. 1.12% with the Cap1 $22 included and 1.04% after it reported zero. 

Second question: Assuming all the other factors stay the same, (IE all other balances at zero, all paid on time, etc). What would the theoretically ideal amount for Barclays to report to maximize my score? It's my daily driver and so I can easily tune the reporting amount.

Thanks in advance. 

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1. No I don't think the Cap One AU card dropping to a zero balance was the cause.

2. On the Barclays card, 299/4000 is just fine. Anywhere from $20 to $320 is peachy.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Drwaz99 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

OP, do you have access to negative reason statements provided with your report/score?  If so, looking at those can likely hand you the answer.  If you don't see a negative reason statement pertaining to "no recent revolving credit use" it has nothing to do with your payoff on the AU card, as the algorithm is still "seeing" the $299 balance on your other card. 

I think comparing your before/after negative reason statements would be your best bet in terms of understanding what changed.

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Here's a before/after picture from yesterday and today. I did misspeak earlier: I do have an Affirm Loan that was paid off and closed in Jan 2018. But it is still there (and I double checked after seeing the "No loan activity" pop up on the negatives on my report) and it hasn't fallen off. I did notice that "Recent Credit Usage" has fallen off. It's not listed as a negative, but it's gone from the positives. 

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There's your answer, thanks to @Anonymous 's great idea of looking at the negative reason codes. "No loan activity" due to your having paid off the loan. FICO 8 penalizes you for having no open installment loans.

[Drwaz99]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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here's your answer, thanks to @Anonymous 's great idea of looking at the negative reason codes. "No loan activity" due to your having paid off the loan. FICO 8 penalizes you for having no open installment loans.

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Even though it's been paid off and closed for over a year? I haven't had any loan activity since then.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Drwaz99 wrote:

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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here's your answer, thanks to @Anonymous 's great idea of looking at the negative reason codes. "No loan activity" due to your having paid off the loan. FICO 8 penalizes you for having no open installment loans.

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Even though it's been paid off and closed for over a year? I haven't had any loan activity since then.

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It apparently took them some time to catch up to the fact of its having  been closed out.

[Drwaz99]

Well, that's a bummer. Thanks for all the help everyone. 

[SouthJamaica]

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@Drwaz99 wrote:

Well, that's a bummer. Thanks for all the help everyone. 

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I'm wondering if the loss of your positive reason code "recent credit card usage" signifies something too.

[Drwaz99]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@Drwaz99 wrote:

Well, that's a bummer. Thanks for all the help everyone. 

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I'm wondering if the loss of your positive reason code "recent credit card usage" signifies something too.

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That was my original gut feeling. AU account reports zero, Barclays hasn't reported since Feb 20 (and won't until my new statement date in April). To me (a layman), that certainly could look like I am not using any credit. Could that be good for a 15pt ding? *crosses fingers*

[Anonymous]

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@Drwaz99 wrote:

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@Drwaz99 wrote:

Well, that's a bummer. Thanks for all the help everyone. 

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I'm wondering if the loss of your positive reason code "recent credit card usage" signifies something too.

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That was my original gut feeling. AU account reports zero, Barclays hasn't reported since Feb 20 (and won't until my new statement date in April). To me (a layman), that certainly could look like I am not using any credit. Could that be good for a 15pt ding? *crosses fingers*

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Whether or not Barclays reports [a different non-zero balance] really isn't relevant.  What matters is that a non-zero balance is reported on the account, so that constitutes use of your revolving credit.  I had Citi card of mine not update for 6 cycles due to the suffix on my name and it had a balance of around $1000.  A few times during that timespan I went to AZEO, with the AZEO card being the ~$1000 balance that never changed and I never experienced a no revolving credit use penalty.

As far as positive reason codes go, from what I understand they're just fluff and don't have any impact on FICO scoring.  It's all about the negative reason codes when trying to determine adverse scoring impact.  It looks like even though the OP closed a loan some time ago it didn't report as closed until recently.

[Drwaz99]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Drwaz99 wrote:

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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@Drwaz99 wrote:

Well, that's a bummer. Thanks for all the help everyone. 

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I'm wondering if the loss of your positive reason code "recent credit card usage" signifies something too.

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That was my original gut feeling. AU account reports zero, Barclays hasn't reported since Feb 20 (and won't until my new statement date in April). To me (a layman), that certainly could look like I am not using any credit. Could that be good for a 15pt ding? *crosses fingers*

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Whether or not Barclays reports [a different non-zero balance] really isn't relevant.  What matters is that a non-zero balance is reported on the account, so that constitutes use of your revolving credit.  I had Citi card of mine not update for 6 cycles due to the suffix on my name and it had a balance of around $1000.  A few times during that timespan I went to AZEO, with the AZEO card being the ~$1000 balance that never changed and I never experienced a no revolving credit use penalty.

As far as positive reason codes go, from what I understand they're just fluff and don't have any impact on FICO scoring.  It's all about the negative reason codes when trying to determine adverse scoring impact.  It looks like even though the OP closed a loan some time ago it didn't report as closed until recently.

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If I look back through my past reports (I signed up for Experian CreditWorks in Oct of last year) my very first report that is archived Experian shows that loan's status as closed. 

I realize that at best we are taking educated guesses and that seems like the most logical explanation due to the reason codes, but it just doesn't make sense that it would show as closed as far back as Oct '18 then have the scoring lag for as many months; maybe it's just my time to bang my head against the wall. It was after all only 15 points but still kinda irks me nonetheless. 

Again, thanks for taking the time to try and help!