Balancing Utilization

Anonymous · ‎11-16-2014

I saw a decrease in my score when I increased utilization which I guess is to be expected, but the same thing also happen when at least 3 cards went to $0 balance. My score went from 702 to 646 all from utilization I have nothing deragatory on my report. How do I maintain my score? Just recently I started to leave maybe a $75 or $200 balance on my cards because I am unsure whether I should leave something to report or just totally pay in full. Can someone please give me some advice.

Anonymous · ‎11-16-2014

There was a discussion on credit karma about this. You do not have to let balances report to build credit. Pay your balances off as soon as you can.

Anonymous · ‎11-16-2014

Thank you for letting me know this.

@Anonymous wrote:
There was a discussion on credit karma about this. You do not have to let balances report to build credit. Pay your balances off as soon as you can.

Anonymous · ‎11-16-2014

This is open to debate. The widely accepted best practice is to let ONE card report less than ten percent, and let all others report zero.

Anonymous · ‎11-16-2014

So basically I should use one card at a time? I just want my score to stop flipflopping and stay in the 700's. All of my payments are due this week so I just paid everything off except one and I will see what happens. I have one secured card that is over a year old, but US Bank won't unsecure without a hp and the analyst told me he was cpncerned that my score dropped over 30 points in a month. He asked what happen, but nothing happen except me paying everything to $0. I thought it would only help, but obviously I was wrong.

SunriseEarth · ‎11-16-2014

@Anonymous wrote:
So basically I should use one card at a time? I just want my score to stop flipflopping and stay in the 700's. All of my payments are due this week so I just paid everything off except one and I will see what happens. I have one secured card that is over a year old, but US Bank won't unsecure without a hp and the analyst told me he was cpncerned that my score dropped over 30 points in a month. He asked what happen, but nothing happen except me paying everything to $0. I thought it would only help, but obviously I was wrong.

There seems to be a lot of confusion about how to maximize scores while avoiding interest. There is a difference between letting a balance post and carrying a balance. The second one accrues interest, but the first doesn't necessarily. Let's say I get a new CC with a $2000 CL. The statement closed with a balance of $200. I pay this by the due date during the next statement period and avoid interest and my posted balance shows 10% UTIL.

If you paid all balances down to zero prior to statement close, then your overall UTIL would be 0%. This makes it look like you aren't using your credit. But let's say you paid all but one card down to a zero balance before the statement close. On one card, you let the statement close with a $300 balance on a $5000 card. This would leave you with 6% UTIL on this card, which is a good amount.

thirst305 · ‎11-17-2014

where are you getting your score? are you sure this this FICO and not FAKO?

Ch7 BK discharged 3/2009
Bloomies (10/99): 4k Alliant (8/10): 4k
SCEFCU Visa (9/12): 6k SCEFCU auto (9/12): 22k
Barclays Apple (10/11): 5k iTunes: 3k SLM: 15k
Amazon (8/12): 15k Walmart store (9/12): 6K
Partners (9/12): 20k CapOnex2 (1/10): 10k Discover IT (3/13): 5k
SDFCU: 20k Amex BCE: 8k

takeshi74 · ‎11-17-2014

@Anonymous wrote:
I saw a decrease in my score when I increased utilization which I guess is to be expected, but the same thing also happen when at least 3 cards went to $0 balance. My score went from 702 to 646 all from utilization I have nothing deragatory on my report.

You may also be overlooking other changes that impacted your score. The general advice is one balance reporting at 10% or less but there's no need to obsess over this unless you're applying for something. At all other times keep it under 30%.

@Anonymous wrote:
Just recently I started to leave maybe a $75 or $200 balance on my cards because I am unsure whether I should leave something to report or just totally pay in full.

You never need to carry a balance for scoring purposes. If you have a balance when the account reports then that balance will get reported. Most cards report at statement end so if you're paying after the statement cuts then the balance has already reported.

@Anonymous wrote:
So basically I should use one card at a time? I just want my score to stop flipflopping and stay in the 700's.

IMO you should stop obsessing over your scores. Your scores will vary unless all the factors affecting your scores remain absolutely the same and that just isn't going to happen. Keep you utilization under 30%. Optimize when applying.

However, if you do want to obsess then you need to know when each of your accounts reports. Use whatever you want but pay down your balances prior to report date and then pay in full after report date. It's very tedious and there's the chance that a payment might not make through in time. Your call.

@Anonymous wrote:
All of my payments are due this week so I just paid everything off except one and I will see what happens.

Paying by the due date won't change your reported utilization. Your cards already reported on statement date -- unless you have cards that report at other times and IIRC US Bank is one of them.

Anonymous · ‎11-17-2014

I am getting my 3 scores monthly from another company which I was told today was a fako and I get my TU from Barclay which has always been accurate for me. Where can I get the actual fico scores from for all 3 bureaus?

I probably am obsessing over my scores a bit because I would like to purchase my first home in the Spring so I have to figure out a steady balance.

Anonymous · ‎11-17-2014

@Anonymous wrote:
I am getting my 3 scores monthly from another company which I was told today was a fako and I get my TU from Barclay which has always been accurate for me. Where can I get the actual fico scores from for all 3 bureaus?

I probably am obsessing over my scores a bit because I would like to purchase my first home in the Spring so I have to figure out a steady balance.

I personally just gave up and started shelling out $20 a month for the three-credit-bureau monitoring on MyFico. But I think you can get most/all of the credit bureau Fico scores if you have the right CCs. Such as Barclay, Discover, etc.

Since you were pulling a FAKO, there's a good chance your scores weren't as negatively impacted...or more negatively impacted. I was using a FAKO Experian for over one year before realizing that it wasn't the same as Fico. Which was a bummer becuase I started to do stupid things like attempt to close certain credit cards to raise my AAoA (which works with some FAKO scores), not realizing that this has no effect on my actual Fico score.