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

[Drwaz99]

*Update in message 21*

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. 

[dynamicvb]

Creditwise is a Vantage score so not sure I would pay much attention to it. With that being said then the number of revolvers reporting a balance can cause a change. I got a small decrease of about 7-8 points when I went from 50% of my revolvers reporting to 25%. I was not expecting a drop with this as this put me at AZEO they same as you have here.  These where with my Fico scores, I have not noticed any change in my Vantage scores. So it may have been something else that caused the drop. It was only a few points so I have not sweated it as I would rather owe less money than worry about a few points here and there with my scores.

[CramEiko]

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@dynamicvb wrote:

Creditwise is a Vantage score so not sure I would pay much attention to it. With that being said then the number of revolvers reporting a balance can cause a change. I got a small decrease of about 7-8 points when I went from 50% of my revolvers reporting to 25%. I was not expecting a drop with this as this put me at AZEO they same as you have here.  These where with my Fico scores, I have not noticed any change in my Vantage scores. So it may have been something else that caused the drop. It was only a few points so I have not sweated it as I would rather owe less money than worry about a few points here and there with my scores.

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+1 - Agreed. Creditwise / Vantage scores are overly sensitive and look through a narrow scope. Though good for information purposes, they aren't reliable. Nothing is perfect. You should always check with the actual CB's if you have any questions or concerns.

Good Luck!

[Drwaz99]

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@dynamicvb wrote:

Creditwise is a Vantage score so not sure I would pay much attention to it. With that being said then the number of revolvers reporting a balance can cause a change. I got a small decrease of about 7-8 points when I went from 50% of my revolvers reporting to 25%. I was not expecting a drop with this as this put me at AZEO they same as you have here.  These where with my Fico scores, I have not noticed any change in my Vantage scores. So it may have been something else that caused the drop. It was only a few points so I have not sweated it as I would rather owe less money than worry about a few points here and there with my scores.

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Whoops, those are F8 from Experian CreditWorks not CreditWise, I've edited my original post to reflect that. So it's a true Fico 8. 

Also, interesting that it also could be the number or revolvers reporting. I never even thought about that.

[dynamicvb]

There are some threads around this forum that talk about the number of revolvers. I don't totally understand it myself as it makes no sense. I'm just like you as I have 4 revolvers active on my account. 3 in my name and one that I'm an AU on. I was carrying a balance on 2 of my cards and there was a small balance of a buck on the AU account. I had the bright idea with some extra money I had to just pay off my Amex which was about 40% utilization and let my Discover carry a little higher utilization. It was at 25% util. I did mess up and my Amex reported 12 dollars instead of 0. I still got a nice bump between 10-12 points across my Fico 8's from this change. My wife pad the buck on the AU card and it reported 0, then I lost almost all the points. I haven't been able to figure this one out. I had planned on being at true AZEO this month, but since I did not pay the balance on my CapOne quick enough I'll be back to 3/4 reporting a balance. At this point, I have no idea what is going to happen. I should get a small bump as my Overall utilization is going down, but not sure since I have not crossed any thresholds with overall just individual cards.

This really bummed me out at first because for a brief moment I had 2 of the 3 CRA's reporting me in the Very good range. Now I'm back to only TU reporting that I'ma very good boy. Perhaps I'll get there eventually :-)

[Anonymous]

OP, it looks like you have a non-zero reported balance on one other major bank card account (that's your own) in addition to the AU account.  That being said, you would not experience a FICO score drop related to "no revolving credit use" from the AU account reporting $0, as you are still showing revolving credit use from the other card in your name.

Your score drop must have come from a different factor.  In fact, if the AU account is/was being counted in the equation, you moved from 50% of cards with a balance to 25%, a change that can sometimes result in a 3-5 gain. 

[Drwaz99]

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@Anonymous wrote:

OP, it looks like you have a non-zero reported balance on one other major bank card account (that's your own) in addition to the AU account.  That being said, you would not experience a FICO score drop related to "no revolving credit use" from the AU account reporting $0, as you are still showing revolving credit use from the other card in your name.

Your score drop must have come from a different factor.  In fact, if the AU account is/was being counted in the equation, you moved from 50% of cards with a balance to 25%, a change that can sometimes result in a 3-5 gain. 

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I scoured my report this morning looking for anything else, and there just isn't. Thankfully having such a small amount of accounts it's easy to see any changes. Cap1 is the only account that updated last night, no other changes or updates happened.

The only other "odd" thing (as I asked about here: https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/CC-statement-skipped-a-month-how-will-it-report-to-CRAs/m-p/5552818#M1631396 ) is that the Barclays account is not generating a statement for March due to a payment date change (and as such hasn't reported since my Feb statement date of the 20th). But, I don't think them not reporting (it shows on-time payments and the balance of $299, reported 2/20/2019) would have any effect since it shows as current. *shrug*

I guess I'll try to have the Cap1 report another small balance in April and see if that changes things back to where it was. Ideally, I'd like to keep it at zero but maybe in my case that wouldn't be the best course of action. 

[DollyLama]

I'm with Brutal on this. 

Even with low utilization $299 reported balance on one card is still plenty of percentage to report in regards to the credit limits. 

So, no inquiry changes for CLIs or new credit, the  other 2 cards are not new and first time reporting, you have no closed credit cards nor installment loans that aged off? So it brings me to this. When is the last time you used the Amazon card, and Samsung? If just last month, had it not been used for several months in between? Scores can be dinged from going inactive to active status if only used a couple of times a year, regardless if you paid it to 0, months apart. Does this scenario pertain to your file?

[Drwaz99]

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@DollyLama wrote:

I'm with Brutal on this. 

Even with low utilization $299 reported balance on one card is still plenty of percentage to report in regards to the credit limits. 

So, no inquiry changes for CLIs or new credit, the  other 2 cards are not new and first time reporting, you have no closed credit cards nor installment loans that aged off? So it brings me to this. When is the last time you used the Amazon card, and Samsung? If just last month, had it not been used for several months in between? Scores can be dinged from going inactive to active status if only used a couple of times a year, regardless if you paid it to 0, months apart. Does this scenario pertain to your file?

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No CLI or new credit seeking. Amazon Card is over 2.5yrs old; Samsung is 1.5 years old. Amazon Card gets small (~ $10 a month) charges per month and then immediately paid off. Samsung's last charge was 3/12/2018 and I paid it off completely 1/23/2019; nothing since. The Barclays card was opened on 1/20/2019 but reported the next day.

No installment loans whatsoever. Only have those 4 tradelines. NO closed tradelines coming off, either. 

[Anonymous]

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.