Credit Card Utilization

[TrueGeminiNC]

Hi All,

I am beginning to really focus on my credit card utilization in an attempt to gain a few additional FICO points.  Notably, I have a question in regards to how the utilization piece is factored into FICO scoring. 

Does the FICO scoring methodology look at your cummulative utilization for all revolving accounts or are you penalized if any one singular account exceeds 30% utilization?  Notably, my combined utilization for all accounts is 41.2%.  However, I have 2 accounts that both exceed 30.0% utilization.  

I am planning to pay $2,300.00 towards my Citi TY Premier account which will reduce the balance to $4,000.00 with a utilization of 44.4%.  Thereafter, my overall utilization for all accounts will be under 30.0%.

BOA Cash Rewards | CLI:  $5,000.00 | BAL:  $1,988.43 | UTL:  39.8%

Discover It | CLI:  $6,000.00 | BAL:  $0.00 | UTL:  0.0%

Citi TY Premier | CLI:  $9,000.00 | BAL:  $6,257.49 | UTL:  69.5%

All Accounts | CLI $20,000.00 | BAL: $8,245.92 | UTL:  41.2%

[destine2grow]

I believe utilization is looked at on all revolving and individually. More vets will chime in.

[xerostatus]

Best case scenario:

Keep all accounts @ $0 balance, except for 1 account @ 1% util.

Worse Case:

Avoid having any single account over 80-90% utlization (this is colloquially considered "maxed out".

So, both matters: individual and overall utilization. 

[TrueGeminiNC]

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@xerostatus wrote:

Best case scenario:

@Keep all accounts @ $0 balance, except for 1 account @ 1% util.

Worse Case:

Avoid having any single account over 80-90% utlization (this is colloquially considered "maxed out".

So, both matters: individual and overall utilization. 

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Thanks for the advice.  Truly, I am only carrying a balance on the BOA card because BOA sent me a balance transfer check with 0.0% interest promo good for 18 months.  I wrote the check out to myself and deposited the funds into my savings account. The original check amount was for $3,500.00.  This past statement cycle, I removed money from my savings and paid a portion of the balance back.

Additionally, the interest rate on my Citi card is ~9%.  Though I know credit card debt is worse than a mortgage; I have really been throwing all of my extra cash at my mortgage principal balance. 

WIth the economic downturn, my mortgage is gravely underwater.  And too, because of the negative equity, I haven't been able to refinance and take advantage of today's low rates.  My mortgage interest rate is sitting at ~7.0%.