what?! that is so not true! utilization has NO memory,
gdale6 wrote:
The long term effects of high utilization are a lower scoring bucket in the Fico system. You can pay down to 5% and you will recover points but you wont get all you can possibly get right then and there as you have to stay in that area for awhile before Fico will kick you up into a higher scoring bucket, in other words you need to prove you can maintain a lower util before you get the full reward. It can take a few months to over 6 for this to happen its different for everyone. Good rule of thumb is to always keep your revolving card utilization on the low side (less than 30%).. Good luck in your credit journey and welcome to the MF board 
It certainly is true, Fico buckets exists and high utilization suddenly brought down to say less than 10% it will take several months to get yourself jumped back up into a better scoring bucket, though you will recover the utilization based score only immediately.
@Anonymous wrote:what?! that is so not true! utilization has NO memory,
@gdale6 wrote:
The long term effects of high utilization are a lower scoring bucket in the Fico system. You can pay down to 5% and you will recover points but you wont get all you can possibly get right then and there as you have to stay in that area for awhile before Fico will kick you up into a higher scoring bucket, in other words you need to prove you can maintain a lower util before you get the full reward. It can take a few months to over 6 for this to happen its different for everyone. Good rule of thumb is to always keep your revolving card utilization on the low side (less than 30%).. Good luck in your credit journey and welcome to the MF board
@gdale6 wrote:It certainly is true, Fico buckets exists and high utilization suddenly brought down to say less than 10% it will take several months to get yourself jumped back up into a better scoring bucket, though you will recover the utilization based score only immediately.
@Anonymous wrote:what?! that is so not true! utilization has NO memory,
@gdale6 wrote:
The long term effects of high utilization are a lower scoring bucket in the Fico system. You can pay down to 5% and you will recover points but you wont get all you can possibly get right then and there as you have to stay in that area for awhile before Fico will kick you up into a higher scoring bucket, in other words you need to prove you can maintain a lower util before you get the full reward. It can take a few months to over 6 for this to happen its different for everyone. Good rule of thumb is to always keep your revolving card utilization on the low side (less than 30%).. Good luck in your credit journey and welcome to the MF board
Who knew there was a scoring bucket for high utilization. A while back, I got the following information:
"
FICO Scoring Buckets (scorecards):
From my review of this and other forums and other sources, I have this list of the 10 current FICO scoring buckets...let me know how accurate it looks:
Scorecard:
#1 - For those with a bankruptcy on their credit report
#2 - For those with serious delinquencies other than bk's (60+? or 90+ lates, collections, judgments, repossessions, etc.).
#3 - Those with only 1 credit account (very thin files)
#4 - Those with only 2 credit accounts (thin files)
#5 - Those with only 3 credit accounts.
Scorecards 6-10 must NOT have ANY serious delinquencies (not sure if that means 60+ or 90+ lates):
#6 - 0-2 years oldest TL
#7 - 2-5 years oldest TL
#8 - 5-12 years oldest TL
#9 - 12-19 years oldest TL
#10 - 19+ years oldest TL
I have heard that FICO 08 is going to 12 buckets, but for now, we have these 10. I'd like to hear from all mods and super contributors on its accuracy so we can get this right for all members."
I don't recall what thread I pasted the information from, but that's what I got.
@gdale6 wrote:The long term effects of high utilization are a lower scoring bucket in the Fico system. You can pay down to 5% and you will recover points but you wont get all you can possibly get right then and there as you have to stay in that area for awhile before Fico will kick you up into a higher scoring bucket, in other words you need to prove you can maintain a lower util before you get the full reward. It can take a few months to over 6 for this to happen its different for everyone. Good rule of thumb is to always keep your revolving card utilization on the low side (less than 30%).. Good luck in your credit journey and welcome to the MF board
This is good info, gdale6. Thanks for posting this. I wasn't aware of the lag time that can happen with shifts in buckets.
@bdhu2001 wrote:
@gdale6 wrote:It certainly is true, Fico buckets exists and high utilization suddenly brought down to say less than 10% it will take several months to get yourself jumped back up into a better scoring bucket, though you will recover the utilization based score only immediately.
@Anonymous wrote:what?! that is so not true! utilization has NO memory,
@gdale6 wrote:
The long term effects of high utilization are a lower scoring bucket in the Fico system. You can pay down to 5% and you will recover points but you wont get all you can possibly get right then and there as you have to stay in that area for awhile before Fico will kick you up into a higher scoring bucket, in other words you need to prove you can maintain a lower util before you get the full reward. It can take a few months to over 6 for this to happen its different for everyone. Good rule of thumb is to always keep your revolving card utilization on the low side (less than 30%).. Good luck in your credit journey and welcome to the MF board
Who knew there was a scoring bucket for high utilization. A while back, I got the following information:
"
FICO Scoring Buckets (scorecards):
From my review of this and other forums and other sources, I have this list of the 10 current FICO scoring buckets...let me know how accurate it looks:
Scorecard:
#1 - For those with a bankruptcy on their credit report
#2 - For those with serious delinquencies other than bk's (60+? or 90+ lates, collections, judgments, repossessions, etc.).
#3 - Those with only 1 credit account (very thin files)
#4 - Those with only 2 credit accounts (thin files)
#5 - Those with only 3 credit accounts.
Scorecards 6-10 must NOT have ANY serious delinquencies (not sure if that means 60+ or 90+ lates):
#6 - 0-2 years oldest TL
#7 - 2-5 years oldest TL
#8 - 5-12 years oldest TL
#9 - 12-19 years oldest TL
#10 - 19+ years oldest TL
I have heard that FICO 08 is going to 12 buckets, but for now, we have these 10. I'd like to hear from all mods and super contributors on its accuracy so we can get this right for all members."
I don't recall what thread I pasted the information from, but that's what I got.
I wonder which of these buckets count more.... oldest account or number of CCs ??
@bdhu2001 wrote:
@gdale6 wrote:It certainly is true, Fico buckets exists and high utilization suddenly brought down to say less than 10% it will take several months to get yourself jumped back up into a better scoring bucket, though you will recover the utilization based score only immediately.
@Anonymous wrote:what?! that is so not true! utilization has NO memory,
@gdale6 wrote:
The long term effects of high utilization are a lower scoring bucket in the Fico system. You can pay down to 5% and you will recover points but you wont get all you can possibly get right then and there as you have to stay in that area for awhile before Fico will kick you up into a higher scoring bucket, in other words you need to prove you can maintain a lower util before you get the full reward. It can take a few months to over 6 for this to happen its different for everyone. Good rule of thumb is to always keep your revolving card utilization on the low side (less than 30%).. Good luck in your credit journey and welcome to the MF board
Who knew there was a scoring bucket for high utilization. A while back, I got the following information:
"
FICO Scoring Buckets (scorecards):
From my review of this and other forums and other sources, I have this list of the 10 current FICO scoring buckets...let me know how accurate it looks:
Scorecard:
#1 - For those with a bankruptcy on their credit report
#2 - For those with serious delinquencies other than bk's (60+? or 90+ lates, collections, judgments, repossessions, etc.).
#3 - Those with only 1 credit account (very thin files)
#4 - Those with only 2 credit accounts (thin files)
#5 - Those with only 3 credit accounts.
Scorecards 6-10 must NOT have ANY serious delinquencies (not sure if that means 60+ or 90+ lates):
#6 - 0-2 years oldest TL
#7 - 2-5 years oldest TL
#8 - 5-12 years oldest TL
#9 - 12-19 years oldest TL
#10 - 19+ years oldest TL
I have heard that FICO 08 is going to 12 buckets, but for now, we have these 10. I'd like to hear from all mods and super contributors on its accuracy so we can get this right for all members."
I don't recall what thread I pasted the information from, but that's what I got.
+1. Utilization is not considered in FICO score cards/buckets. However, I wouldn't be surprised if long term utilization was used by some internal scores.
Be aware if you have had maxed out cards for a long time, some CCC's may balance chase you. But nothing you can do about that at this point. If you are paying interest, then pay off those cards.
From what I've read there is some memory associated with long-term high utilization. The reply below is from Fico staff:
"Will past high utilization hurt you if you pay your balance down to zero?
Say your credit utilization has been high for years, but you recently wiped out all your debt. Do you have a clean slate as far as utilization goes?
A long history of negative behavior (including high utilization) won’t put you on equal FICO footing with someone who has always carried low balances, according to Sprauve. At least not right away.
“If you have a history of keeping your balances low and doing all the right things, you’re going to have a better score than someone who has had high balances in the past and struggled with keeping their balances down,” Sprauve says.
The good news: “The further in the rearview mirror negative things like high balances are, the less impact they have on your score,” Sprauve says."
Source: Google "Most common questions about credit utilization"
@gdale6 wrote:It certainly is true, Fico buckets exists and high utilization suddenly brought down to say less than 10% it will take several months to get yourself jumped back up into a better scoring bucket, though you will recover the utilization based score only immediately.
@Anonymous wrote:what?! that is so not true! utilization has NO memory,
@gdale6 wrote:
The long term effects of high utilization are a lower scoring bucket in the Fico system. You can pay down to 5% and you will recover points but you wont get all you can possibly get right then and there as you have to stay in that area for awhile before Fico will kick you up into a higher scoring bucket, in other words you need to prove you can maintain a lower util before you get the full reward. It can take a few months to over 6 for this to happen its different for everyone. Good rule of thumb is to always keep your revolving card utilization on the low side (less than 30%).. Good luck in your credit journey and welcome to the MF board