ScoreWatch alert due to increase in utilization = score decrease

[01mommy]

I know alerts are based on my settings, but is a score decrease today "real" if my credit card only reports the balance on the 9th of every month? I paid it down, just in case, but the plan had been to do so before the balance was reported...am I missing something?

[crunching_numbers]

I am not sure I understand what you are asking. Did you get a SW alert? What was the alert for/what did it say? 

There are two kinds of alerts. The first is from a certain type of event happening, like a new account opening or an new inq.  The second type is periodic, and will happen every 7-10 days where scorewatch goes out and calculates your FICO and lets you know if it has changed, and what the new value is.

If you post more details, perhaps I can help clarify things for you.

[Booner72]

Your score, at the moment you pay for it, or someone else pays for it, is a result of the info generated from your reports at that moment in time. 

Unfortunately, I've come to learn, it takes 1-2 days for Myfico.com to get the info from Equifax to give us the SW alerts, so even if you do get an alert for your current balance increase, it is possible that something else changed in that 1-2 day period of time, causing a shift in the info, which MAY or MAY NOT cause  a shift in the score that has nothing to do w/ the balance increase.

So if you buy a SW or use a Scorepower report, then yes, that is your "real" score for that moment.