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Highest CL goals (to avoid 'ignored' CL in FICO score)?

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h4ldol
Contributor

Highest CL goals (to avoid 'ignored' CL in FICO score)?

I came across some interesting topics on MyFico that were quite surprising.  Basically, the credit bureaus may disregard credit cards/accounts with very high CL.  The exact 'cutoff' seems to vary between bureaus, and no one seems to know the exact number, but possibly $40-50k but could be as low as $30k, or even lower.  So that would be bad for your utilization since those CL would no longer be 'seen' or 'used' in formulating your FICO score, not to mention all the essentially wasted efforts over the months/years to get a high CL which seems to be a goal of many folks here. 

 

Thoughts, suggestions, or info would be great, thanks!

Message 1 of 11
10 REPLIES 10
pakman92
Established Contributor

Re: Highest CL goals (to avoid 'ignored' CL in FICO score)?

I believe that is 50K.  This is done specifically to filter out high HELOC's with high CL's.  I know that HELOC's with 50K+ CL are excluded from revolving utilization.  I do NOT know if the revolver has to be specifically 'noted' as a HELOC for this to happen.

 


My Starting Score: EQ: 691 (11/30/11) TU98: 726 (11/30/11)
My Current Score: EQ: 779 (04/22/13) TU08: 835 (06/03/13)
DW Starting Score: EQ: 742 (03/02/12) TU98: 748 (03/02/12)
DW Current Score: EQ: 784 (03/11/13) TU08: 775 (06/03/13)
Message 2 of 11
MarineVietVet
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Highest CL goals (to avoid 'ignored' CL in FICO score)?


@h4ldol wrote:

I came across some interesting topics on MyFico that were quite surprising.  Basically, the credit bureaus may disregard credit cards/accounts with very high CL.  The exact 'cutoff' seems to vary between bureaus, and no one seems to know the exact number, but possibly $40-50k but could be as low as $30k, or even lower.  So that would be bad for your utilization since those CL would no longer be 'seen' or 'used' in formulating your FICO score, not to mention all the essentially wasted efforts over the months/years to get a high CL which seems to be a goal of many folks here. 

 

Thoughts, suggestions, or info would be great, thanks!


It is true that revolving CL's above a certain amount are often scored as installment loans but there is no hard and fast rule as to where the cut off level begins. I've seen some posts that said this happened at about $30,000-$35,000 CL while others say it's much higher. This is definitely one of those YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary) situations.

 

And it's also true that these amounts are not included in your utilization calculations.

Message 3 of 11
Walt_K
Senior Contributor

Re: Highest CL goals (to avoid 'ignored' CL in FICO score)?

I don't know the exact limit, but it should be pretty easy to tell if you have a high card that is being ignored if you ever notice a discrepancy in your utilization based on that limit not being counted.  And there's a fairly easy fix.  Just ask for a CLD if you need that card to be counted in your utilization.  However, I would imagine most people who are able to obtain a CL of $40-$50K can easily get several other cards with fairly generous CLs that will count in their utilization.  Moreover, if the card doesn't factor into utilization, you can use it as an invisible TL.  Any charges on it won't count either.


Starting Score: ~500 (12/01/2008)
Current Score: EQ 681 (04/05/13); TU 98 728 (01/06/12), TU 08? 760 (provided by Barclay 1/2/14), TU 04 728 (lender pull 01/12/12); EX 742 (lender pull 01/12/12)
Goal Score: 720


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Message 4 of 11
LS2982
Mega Contributor

Re: Highest CL goals (to avoid 'ignored' CL in FICO score)?

@walt +1

CLD should fix it.



EQ FICO 548 3/3/16
Message 5 of 11
h4ldol
Contributor

Re: Highest CL goals (to avoid 'ignored' CL in FICO)?

Thanks for the informative and helpful replies everyone. 

 

It seems odd, after all these years of trying to get higher and higher CL, but I think my goal will now be $20-25k for each individual CC.  I don't have any higher CL so luckily I won't have to request a CLD but now I have to worry about getting auto-CLI that I don't necessarily want anymore. 

 

Has anyone requested 'no auto-CLI' on any of your CC accounts?  I don't even know if that's possible, and I suppose you could just CLD to counteract the auto-CLI (lol...) when it does happen...

 

 

Message 6 of 11
Walt_K
Senior Contributor

Re: Highest CL goals (to avoid 'ignored' CL in FICO)?


@h4ldol wrote:

Thanks for the informative and helpful replies everyone. 

 

It seems odd, after all these years of trying to get higher and higher CL, but I think my goal will now be $20-25k for each individual CC.  I don't have any higher CL so luckily I won't have to request a CLD but now I have to worry about getting auto-CLI that I don't necessarily want anymore. 

 

Has anyone requested 'no auto-CLI' on any of your CC accounts?  I don't even know if that's possible, and I suppose you could just CLD to counteract the auto-CLI (lol...) when it does happen...

 

 


I don't think it's something to worry about.  As I mentioned above, it can even be a benefit.  If you're running charges through the card that is being ignored, you don't need to worry about paying them off before statement date.  The balance is being ignored as well as the limit.  So long as you have some other cards that factor into your utilization, this shouldn't be an issue.  If you only had two cards, one with a $50K limit and another with a $1000 limit, it would be a different story.


Starting Score: ~500 (12/01/2008)
Current Score: EQ 681 (04/05/13); TU 98 728 (01/06/12), TU 08? 760 (provided by Barclay 1/2/14), TU 04 728 (lender pull 01/12/12); EX 742 (lender pull 01/12/12)
Goal Score: 720


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Message 7 of 11
h4ldol
Contributor

Re: Highest CL goals (to avoid 'ignored' CL in FICO)?


@Walt_K wrote:
 I don't think it's something to worry about.  As I mentioned above, it can even be a benefit.  If you're running charges through the card that is being ignored, you don't need to worry about paying them off before statement date.  The balance is being ignored as well as the limit.  So long as you have some other cards that factor into your utilization, this shouldn't be an issue.  If you only had two cards, one with a $50K limit and another with a $1000 limit, it would be a different story.

That's true, although I always PIF every month so I would prefer to have as large a total CL across all cards as possible to ensure my utilization stays under 10% at the very least.  It would be nice if we knew for sure what the cutoff CL is for all three bureaus, but it seems 'safe' (in terms of CL being factored in utilization calculation) to keep it uder $30k at least.

Message 8 of 11
Walt_K
Senior Contributor

Re: Highest CL goals (to avoid 'ignored' CL in FICO)?


@h4ldol wrote:

@Walt_K wrote:
 I don't think it's something to worry about.  As I mentioned above, it can even be a benefit.  If you're running charges through the card that is being ignored, you don't need to worry about paying them off before statement date.  The balance is being ignored as well as the limit.  So long as you have some other cards that factor into your utilization, this shouldn't be an issue.  If you only had two cards, one with a $50K limit and another with a $1000 limit, it would be a different story.

That's true, although I always PIF every month so I would prefer to have as large a total CL across all cards as possible to ensure my utilization stays under 10% at the very least.  It would be nice if we knew for sure what the cutoff CL is for all three bureaus, but it seems 'safe' (in terms of CL being factored in utilization calculation) to keep it uder $30k at least.


But that's what I'm saying.  If you have a card with a $60K limit, and it is being ignored for utilization purposes, you can charge $30K to that card, let it hit your reports, and it won't affect your utilization.  You can use this as a tool instead of worrying about how to avoid it happening.  You don't want all of your cards to be counted out for utilization purposes, but it's not a problem if one of them is.


Starting Score: ~500 (12/01/2008)
Current Score: EQ 681 (04/05/13); TU 98 728 (01/06/12), TU 08? 760 (provided by Barclay 1/2/14), TU 04 728 (lender pull 01/12/12); EX 742 (lender pull 01/12/12)
Goal Score: 720


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Message 9 of 11
shane82388
Established Contributor

Re: Highest CL goals (to avoid 'ignored' CL in FICO)?

I wouldnt really mind having this problem....lol ;-)

Message 10 of 11
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