topic Re: Util dropped from 54%-35%= 1 measly point? in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Util dropped from 54%-35%= 1 measly point?

thankfulheart — Mon, 07 May 2012 04:56:25 GMT

EQ was reporting 2 CCs incorrectly, I disputed and they updated. I received a SW today for 1 point increase. The SW removed the dispute remarks and updated the credit line, but the balance section was left blank. Looking at my USAA update, they also updated the balances to $0. Please tell me that SW just hasn't been updated with the balances, so the CLI was the reason for the measly 1 point. I'm going to be awfully discouraged if a 20% utilization reduction isn't more favorable rewarded.

Re: Util dropped from 54%-35%= 1 measly point?

Revelate — Tue, 08 May 2012 02:46:41 GMT

I don't know the specifics, but anecdotally it appears that there's magic "boundaries" in the algorithm, and it's not necessarily a linear scale when it comes to revolving utilization.

I hate to say it but you're probably a few percentage points shy of it, if you get your utilization down to 32% or 29% I'd be interested in seeing if it made a bigger difference. From my end, I was expecting a pretty significant FICO slap when I went from 5% to 25% utilization last month as I started floating my life on my credit cards while unemployed... my score went up roughly 10 points instead, so either there was a MARKED improvement somewhere else in my credit report to offset the impact (I assure you there was not), or it's a graduated scale much like the inquiry penalties that Hauling had a nice writeup about I believe in the Credit Cards forum.

Edit: it's probably even more complicated than that when you toss in bucketing as well. Trying to make sense of that portion of the algorithm and how they mathematically impact your score is a receipe for a nasty headache.

Re: Util dropped from 54%-35%= 1 measly point?

mtrsprt — Sat, 12 May 2012 18:42:48 GMT

The difference in my CC utilization from 2% to 55% is 2 points...........

Re: Util dropped from 54%-35%= 1 measly point?

llecs — Sat, 12 May 2012 22:15:22 GMT

What do you mean by "the balance section was left blank"? On all 3 reports? Just one? Does your SW alert show $0 for the balance?

Re: Util dropped from 54%-35%= 1 measly point?

thankfulheart — Sat, 12 May 2012 22:53:32 GMT

The left column showed the old info, balance and incorrect credit limit, the right column showed thus updated, correct CL but the balance line was blank

Re: Util dropped from 54%-35%= 1 measly point?

llecs — Sat, 12 May 2012 23:05:45 GMT

FICO ignores the TL from util if the balance is absent, which could impact your util and that point change.

Re: Util dropped from 54%-35%= 1 measly point?

kjm79 — Mon, 14 May 2012 18:46:47 GMT

There are times when I pull a report from EQ here and the balance is missing or the CL is missing. But when I get a full report directly from EQ or one of the other CMS, the info is there. Not sure why myFICO EQ does that.