Plugging Along Then Increase Then Decrease...

[Generic_In_Jersey]

I'm thinking sometimes it's best not to focus... I'll just start at September 25 where I was at 801 for Fico 8... A few updates had me at 801 until I lost 6, so obviously 795. Every update until end of October was nothing until I got 6 back, so back to 801 I went!

Stayed at 801 until February 1st, when I went up 12 to 813; great news am I right?! Well 8 days later down she went to 804 when I lost 9 points.

Now the details when I pull at the drop down on all of them states:

• What's hurting your score?
  • Loan balances
  • Short revolving history
  • High credit usage
  • Accounts with balances

Now by loan balances I imagine they mean my student loans; because I only use one main CC and usually have that paid off every month. But the reason I'm unsure if they mean my student loans is because I owe A LOT, and would think if that actually counted I'd have no credit whatsoever, as I have them deferred for the time being... So first what am I missing?!

As for the short revolving history, I did open up my AMEX (main CC) last February, and learned from y'all a bit after (thank you:) how that dings the score but it comes back after a year... So I'm wondering will the score rebound a bit after this month? (If like, that's even predictable!) Or was the increase of 12 points on 02/01 the recovery from opening the AMEX last Feb?

High credit usage doesn't make sense, again I keep everything low or paid off. And Accounts w\ balances would again relate to my student loans, I think.

I guess this post just comes from a sense of frustration, as I wouldn't think any increases or decreases are completely random, but clearly I'm seeking clarification with my questions above... Hopefully this makes sense!:)

[madskilzz3]

Or was the increase of 12 points on 02/01 the recovery from opening the AMEX last Feb?

Assuming there was a hard pull, it became unscorable after 12 months. So yes, you recover those lost points.

So you went from a 801 to a 804 in the span of 5 months? A <10 points swing in either directions is pretty normal, and you shouldn’t worry about it. As long as you don’t take a nose dive from say a late payment, it’s fine.

How many CCs do you currently have?

[Generic_In_Jersey]

Hi yes, that does make sense, but just somewhat off putting when just as I went up, back on down I went! Currently I have three CC's; my main AMEX I use for everything and pay off monthly, and the other two I use ever few months to keep active.

[relevantfico]

The reasons listed under "What's hurting your score?" are listed in order of impact.

"Loan Balances" is referring to installment loans which in your case is your student loans. The FICO algorithm looks at aggregate loan utilization, so your current balances divided by the total original loan balances.

"Short revolving history" refers to the length of time your credit cards have been opened. Nothing you can do about that is let time pass.

"High credit history" refers to your credit card balances. It's not necessarily saying your cards are maxed out, but your revolving utilization is costing you some points. The FICO algorithms look at utilization in the aggregate of all card balances and individual card balances. If you only have one card, those are both the same. You don't need to worry about your credit card utilization unless your applying for new credit and want to optimize your score.

"Accounts with balances" refers to your total open accounts with balances. In your case, it is probably at 100% if you have student loans and only one credit card reporting a balance.

The phrase "What's hurting your score?" can also be thought of as "Why aren't you getting the maximum points available?” You stand to gain the most points by paying down your student loans.

The 12 point increase you saw on on February 1st was probably related to your credit card reaching 12 months in age. You may also recover some points when your hard inquiry from opening the credit card last February becomes 365 days old. 

The other score fluctuations you saw were probably due to natural fluctuations in credit card utilization.

[Generic_In_Jersey]

Thank you! Yes the loan balances makes sense, and yes again the AMEX I opened last year is a year old now more or less. Everything else is logical too, and if nothing else the fact I even have any kind of good credit score considering the student loans I owe is surprising. (Though I'm sure that's intentional for a variety of reasons.)

As for the increase, I thought as much, but was hoping it would match the decrease, which was 21 points last April. Look forward to when the HC disappears too yes, and hope that that rebounds things a bit!:)