<prompt> Human: I recently posted about being proud of paying down a lot of debt, including 2 credit cards amounting to 5,000. I was feeling great about it, but then when I went to check CreditKarma today, my Transunion score dropped 50 points! This is after my cards were reported with 0 balance. Please help me understand this... Im feeling pretty defeated. Does it just take more time?I was planning on trading in my car for a more reasonable car soon that would cut my payments in half, but dont want to if the hard inquiries will further hurt my score.edit: My Transunion dropped but my Equifax score did go up so I guess thats a good sign? Im just really confused.  <response>: Stop putting so much emphasis on the creditkarma score. Its pretty meaningless. Your goal is to have good credit, not a good number. All around, are the balances you owe low? Do you have no missed payments in the last 3 to 5 years? Those two factors are pretty much half the battle. If those are good, youre good.Credit Karma uses a completely different scoring system than what most financial institution uses anyway. When I financed a vehicle a couple years ago credit karma said I had like a 650. When my credit union ran my credit it was actually 740.If youre still worried about it, what likely happened is you paid off all your credit cards and theyre now reporting with a 0 balance. Charge like 10 per month to them, wait for the statement to come, then pay that 10 off by the due date. That way you wont pay interest and your credit report will show both a little utilization of your credit and another on time payment, both of which would help.Alternately, get a card that offers your free FICO score every month. Thats a more accurate depiction of your credit score. Discover It is my favorite. 